Eyeliner for Hooded Eyes: How to Apply Liner on Hooded Eyes

Hooded eyes are a natural facial feature, in which the skin below the eyebrow—around the brow bone—folds down to cover part of the eyelid, making the eyes look smaller than they are. Since the skin below the brow covers part of the eyelids, it can be tricky to apply eye makeup (especially eyeliner) on hooded eyes so that it doesn’t disappear in the crease or get smudged. However, there are several hacks you can use when applying eyeliner on hooded eyelids to ensure visibility.

While hooded eyes are sometimes called droopy eyes, these terms are not interchangeable. Hooded eyes are a typical eye shape, but they can also naturally occur due to aging. On the other hand, droopy eyes occur when the upper eyelid sags and obstructs a person’s ability to open their eyes fully.

Whether you’re a makeup artist in training or a novice, follow these step-by-step instructions and makeup tips to apply a flawless eyeliner look to hooded lids.

1. 1. Apply the eyeshadow. Looking forward with your eyes closed, apply eyeshadow on your eyelids. Open your eyes, and blend the visible part of the shadow over your lid, up to your brow bone. Blending your eyeshadow up onto the visible part of your eyelid gives the illusion of a visible eye crease.
2. 2. Use the right eyeliner. When applying makeup on hooded eyes, always use a very precise liner (like a cream eyeliner, liquid liner pen, or gel eyeliner) along with an extra-sharp, thin eyeliner brush. Purchase these products at drugstores, beauty supply stores, or online. Avoid using waxy-finish eyeliner pencils, which pull at the skin during application, making lines that can appear sloppy and imprecise.
3. 3. Apply the eyeliner. To construct a winged eyeliner look, apply a thin line of liquid eyeliner to your top eyelid with your eyes open, starting at the inner corner. Use your extra-thin liquid liner or eyeliner brush to create the thinnest line possible, just on top of your lash line, which will ensure that your shadow will remain visible. Be gentle during application because pressing and dragging the liner will result in a thick line that covers the rest of your eye makeup look. If you’re using a liquid eyeliner pen, allow your eyeliner to dry for a moment before moving on. If you are not planning to do a winged eyeliner look, apply it to your upper waterline instead of your eyelid. Learn more about applying eye makeup with these eyeliner tips from beauty icon Bobbi Brown.
4. 4. Keep your eyes open. Applying winged liner on closed eyes means that the critical parts of the makeup will disappear when you open them. To avoid this effect, keep your eyes open as you draw the wing at the outer corner of the eye.
5. 5. Draw the wing. Start your wing at the tip of the flick (on top of your eye fold) and connect it to the outer corner of your eye to prevent your work from getting lost in your crease. The line may look slightly disjointed when you close your eyes, which is okay. The primary goal is for the wing to look straight when your eyes are open.
6. 6. Clean up the edges. Saturate a cotton swab with makeup remover and run it along the edges of your wing to sharpen the lines. Add a small amount of matte under-eye concealer to clean up any errant smudges.
7. 7. Finish the eye look. Add mascara to your upper lash line. Adding mascara and lining your lower lash line (also called tight lining) will add even more depth, and it’s a great way to finish a smoky eye look.

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