How To Apply Eyeliner For Different Eye Shapes

The perfect eyeliner can elevate any eye look. Whether you choose a bold, dramatic eyeliner or a softer, blended eyeliner, it’s important to consider what eyeliner style best suits your eye shape. The shape of your eyeliner can significantly change your eye shape so it’s important to experiment and see what liner suits you best and what overall look you want to achieve. There are a few different common eye shapes, and it may be that you have a combination of a couple of them.

Hooded Eyes

A hooded eye shape is where the crease of your eye isn’t visible when you look straight ahead because there is excess skin that folds over the crease. It’s a common eye shape, however, this eye shape can make it difficult to apply eyeliner as there is less space to work with, and there is the risk of the liner transferring to your upper lid.

With this eye shape, a thin tight eyeliner close to your lash line works well and will give depth to your lashes. For a winged eyeliner with hooded eyes, we would recommend doing your eyeliner with your eyes open. This will help you to see exactly how your eyeliner will look when your eyes are open/ looking straight. If you do your eyeliner with your eyes closed, the final look can look significantly different from what you imagined!

Winged eyeliner tutorial for hooded eyes:

Make sure your eyes are open and looking forward
Draw a line from the outside corner of your eye, towards the corner of your eyebrow (but not as high as your eyebrow!) at a 45-degree angle.
From the end of that wing, draw a line back to your lash line. The thickness of the wing will depend on the angle of this line.
Then fill in the gap created.
Finally, add a thin line of the liner just above the lash line (for this part, if it’s easier to have your eyes closed that’s fine).

Almond Eyes

Almond eyes resemble an almond shape. With this shape, you can’t see the whites of your eye above and below your iris. Any eyeliner will suit this shaped eye. The only thing you may want to consider is the amount of lid space you have visible. If you don’t have much eyelid space, a thick eyeliner could make your eyes look more narrow.

Round Eyes

If you have round eyes, you should be able to see the white of your eyes around the iris when you look straight into a mirror. If you aim to elongate your eye, an extended flick-winged eyeliner will help to do this. A ‘cat eyeliner’ look would also help to elongate your eyes.

Cat Eyeliner Tutorial:

First draw a line from the outside corner of your eye, towards the end of your brow at a 45-degree angle.
Next, connect the end of your wing back to your lash line. If you want a thick wing, you will connect the wing further across the eye (more towards the centre of the eye), if you want a thinner wing you will connect the wing further towards the outside corner of the eye.
Then fill in the gap created
Next, create a very thin line of the liner just above the lash line
Finally, add liner to the inside corner of the eye, with a small amount on the lower lash line in the inside corner of your eye

Deep Set Eyes

With this eye shape, the brow bone is quite prominent, which can make your eyes appear smaller. It’s likely that, if you have deep-set eyes, you will want to make your eyes appear bigger. We recommend applying a thin eyeliner just above your lash line. For a winged liner, we recommend creating a thin wing rather than a thicker one to avoid your eyes looking smaller/ more deep-set. Keeping the wing straight rather than going upwards can also help your eyes to look wider. Another tip to making your eyes appear bigger is to avoid using a black pencil in your waterline, instead, apply a nude pencil in your waterline.

Mono Lid Eye

A monolid eye shape is where it appears to have no crease. Using eyeliner is a great way to enhance the natural shape of your eye if you have a monolid eye shape. To do this, we recommend creating a slightly thicker line of eyeliner at the centre of your eyelid, then continuing this line towards the outside corner of your eye, creating a small straight flick at the end. The cat eyeliner also works great to accentuate this eye shape.

Upturned Eyes

As you can imagine, an upturned eye is where the outside corners of your eye are pulled upwards. A winged liner that is straight, rather than flicked up, can help to balance out this eye shape well. You could even experiment with a ‘V shaped’ eyeliner which is whether there is a wing on the outside corner which is also connected to the lower lash line to create a V shape on the outer corner of your eye.

Downturned Eyes

Downturned eyes are where the corner of your eyes is lower than the inner corner. For this eye shape, we recommend a thick wing that’s flicked upwards towards the end of your eyebrow at a 45-degree angle and a thin line of liner close to your lash line. This will help to create an upwards illusion. To balance out your eyes, avoid using a black pencil in your waterline. Instead, opt for a nude coloured pencil in your water line.

Although these eyeliner styles generally work best for these eye shapes, it’s important to remember that there really is no right or wrong with makeup. We recommend experimenting! Test out different eyeliner techniques and see which ones work best for you!