10 Genius Pro Makeup Tips for Hooded Eyes

Like the rest of the body, eyes come in all shapes and sizes, and one of these variations is the hooded eye. They are actually incredibly common, including among some of the world’s most stunning celebs. Of course, I too, was “blessed” with hooded eyes. Joy! But once you learn how to apply your eye makeup to enhance this shape, the world is yours.

Hooded eyes feature excess skin folding down from the brow bone to the lash line, which obscures your crease, shrinks your eyelids and can make you look drowsy. Lots of people have this eye shape from birth, but it could also be the result of your lid drooping with age. The problem is that for those of us with hooded eyes, trying out the latest makeup trend or mastering a classic look can be a little tricky. But just because your eyelids are a bit different, doesn’t mean you can’t rock the look you want.

1.  Prime your eyes to minimize creasing and transfer.

Due to the hooded part of the eye overlapping on your eye liner, you need to make sure you prime your eyelids and use a good transparent powder to set the primer and reduce the oils that tend to accumulate on our lids. I recommend LimeLife’s Translucent Powder because it’s light weight, has no color, and does an excellent job on setting all of your makeup.

2.  Keep the hood light in color.

To compensate for the hidden crease, don’t use too dark of an eye shadow shade, especially if you are older. This will give the appearance of a “sinking in” look, and we don’t want that. This does not mean you can’t create a smokey eye, just be careful. Use the Halo effect, where essentially you want to put a swipe of one shade in the middle of both your upper and lower lid, surrounded by a contrasting color on each side to create a halo effect.

3.  Apply your crease color above your actual crease.

Hooded eyes loose the appearance of their crease so to counteract that, I suggest applying your crease color slightly above the actual crease area. This will give you the appearance of a more open eye. Just simply blend that color up from the actual crease line.

4.  Blend light to dark at an upward angle.

Apply a light shade to the inner corner of your eyes and across your lid, bringing the shade up toward your brow bone. Be generous with the shade at the inner corners to bring light (and the illusion of space) to that area. Make sure you are using eye shadow shades that are very blendable too. I have found LimeLife’s Perfect Eye Shadows are great professional shades that are extremely blendable and easy to work with, and you can customize you very own palettes too! Use a little of your eye shadow under your bottom lashes while you’re at it, instead of a harsh eye liner pen.

5.  Line your upper lid with a fine eyeliner pen.

Your liner on your lid should be applied in a very thin line. Too thick of a line will overrun the eye shadow and give your eyes the appearance of looking smaller. I would also suggest finding a good waterproof liner so as to minimize the chance of transfer to your hood. Create an instant eye lift with a little flick of the liner up toward the tail of your brow. You’ll get great precision with LimeLife’s Perfect EyeLiner Pen, and once dry, it’s waterproof.

6.  You can use some shimmer to awaken the eye.

Yes, you heard me correctly! Sparkle-lovers, rejoice. For most women, shimmery shadow can be aging, but on hooded eyes, it has the opposite effect. Gleaming eye makeup wakes up this eye shape by creating the illusion of light where there is usually darkness. Are you as excited as I am??!!! Find a beautiful, subtle tone of eye shadow and dust a tiny bit into the inner corners of your eyes to catch the light, and add a little below the tail of your brow to lift your eye. Check out Jennifer Anniston’s day time glimmer and narrow eye liner. It makes a terrific daytime to evening look.

7.  Give your brows some attention.

The socket shape of the hooded eye puts your brows in the spotlight, so it’s important to style them as much, or even more, then you’d style the hood itself. Create an arch with some light brushstrokes and use a light eye shadow color underneath your brow to emphasize the brow bone. Turn those brows into a work of art ladies.

8. Create lashes for days.

Who doesn’t like long and thick eye lashes? But if you weren’t blessed with much in the category of eye lashes (like me), use false eye lashes. I swore I’d never use them, but now I can’t live without them. I was never able to get dramatic lashes, because there’s only so much the world’s best mascara can do, so I turned to false lashes. They “hide” the appearance of hooded eyes, literally. The emphases of your eyes turns towards your lashes, and away from your hooded eye itself. I dare you to try it!

9.  Contour your cheeks to lengthen your eyes.

Using highlighter on the upper cheekbone will draw more attention to your eyes. Find a multipurpose highlighter palette that you can use on your cheeks and inner corners of your eyes. The Danessa Myricks Creme Palette contains 8 perfect shades, to include a luminescent shade. These create a beautiful look to any part of your face you’re needing to bring forward.

10.  Use a white eyeliner to make eyes look bigger.

Grab a white eye pencil and apply it to your tear line on the bottom to increase your eye’s brightness. This tip will expand the appearance of the size of your eye and create an illusion that your eye is larger than what it really is. Good luck!!!

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