Best Makeup Techniques for Hooded Eyes: The 2025 Pro Guide
Tired of your eyeshadow disappearing? Master the "Bat-Wing" liner, the "Straight-Line" technique, and vertical gradients to transform your hooded eyes.
If you have hooded eyes, you know the struggle: you spend 20 minutes blending a perfect eyeshadow masterpiece, only to open your eyes and watch it vanish completely under your brow bone. Or worse, your eyeliner stamps itself onto your upper lid mid-day. Fear not—hooded eyes are stunningly beautiful (think Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone, Blake Lively), they just require a different "engineering" approach.
Rule #1: The "Open Eye" Technique
The single biggest mistake people with hooded eyes make is applying makeup with their eyes closed or looking down. When you do this, you are painting on a canvas that disappears when you interact with the world.
Look straight into the mirror with your eyes open and relaxed. Apply your transition eyeshadow shade above your natural crease, directly onto the visible skin of your brow bone. This creates a "fake crease" that remains visible when you are talking to people.
Technique 1: The Bat-Wing Eyeliner
A traditional swooping cat-eye often looks disjointed or hooked on hooded eyes because the fold of skin interrupts the straight line. Enter the Bat-Wing.
Step-by-Step:
- Look Straight: Keep eyes open and look directly into the mirror.
- Mark the Wing: Draw the outer flick exactly where you want it to be visible.
- Connect Over the Fold: Instead of dragging the line down into your lash line immediately, draw a straight horizontal line from the tip of your wing inward towards your eye, crossing right over your skin fold.
- Fill the Gap: When you close your eye, you will see a strange "step" or diamond shape notch. Fill that in.
- The Result: When open, it looks straight. When closed, it looks graphic.
Technique 2: The "Straight Line" Brows
For hooded eyes, maximizing lid space is key. Highly arched eyebrows can sometimes make the fleshy part of the hood look more prominent. A straighter brow (popular in Korean beauty trends) can help diminish the look of a heavy hood and lift the eye visually.
Top 3 Mistakes to Avoid
Thick liner takes up all your visible lid space, making your eyes look smaller and heavier. Switch to Tightlining (lining the upper waterline) to define lashes without losing lid space.
Light reflects and projects forward. Putting shimmer on the "puffy" part of your hood makes it look swollen. Keep shimmers for the mobile lid and inner corner; use matte shades on the hood to push it back visually.
Hooded eyes create friction. Your skin rubs against skin all day. Without a heavy-duty gripping primer, transfer is inevitable.
Still Not Sure? Let AI Decide.
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