I was standing at my vanity this morning, trying to get my eyeliner wings even, when it hit me again: most tutorials assume your lid is visible. Mine isn’t. Not really. A curtain of skin drapes over the crease every time I look straight ahead.
If that sounds familiar, you might have hooded eyes — and you’re not alone. Blake Lively, Jennifer Lawrence, Taylor Swift, Kate Hudson, Emma Stone, and Claudia Schiffer all do. I did too, for most of my life.
The Quick Test
Here’s how to tell in about 30 seconds:
- No visible crease at all? You likely have monolid eyes.
- Crease hidden under a curtain of skin? That’s hooded eyes. Congratulations — you’ve found your tribe.
- Draw an imaginary horizontal line across your pupils. Do the outer corners pull up? Upturned eyes. Pull down? Downturned. (Mine were slightly downturned before my surgery.)
There are six basic eye shapes in total — round, monolid, hooded, downturned, upturned, and almond — plus descriptors like close-set, wide-set, asymmetrical, big, small, or deepset. Most of us fall somewhere between two categories.
What Are Hooded Eyes?
Hooded eyes have excess skin from the browbone to the lash line that drapes over your crease and hides part of your mobile lid when you look straight ahead. If most makeup tutorials leave you feeling like nothing translates, this is probably why. The majority are shot on almond or protruding eyes, not ours.
Look at yourself in the mirror — really look. Does that extra skin between your eyebrows and lashes obscure your crease? That’s the giveaway. The mobile lid (the part right by your lash line) sits partially or fully hidden behind a fold from above.
Other Ways to Tell
Your makeup might give it away before you do:
- Eyeshadow creases, fades, or disappears during the day?
- Eyeliner smears after 20 minutes?
- You swear your eye product looked fine five minutes ago?
When I had fully hooded eyes, that excess skin rubbed together every time I blinked. Makeup was gone in 20 minutes or less unless I used eyeshadow primer and set it with powder first. My go-to is Canmake Lasting Multi Eye Base — it keeps everything in place all day.
Celebrities Who Rock Hooded Eyes
This is where my mood always lifts: some of the most beautiful faces in the world have hooded eyes. Blake Lively, Jennifer Lawrence, Taylor Swift, Claudia Schiffer, Kate Hudson, and Emma Stone all do. I’ve always felt my eye shape looked closest to Kate Hudson or Emma Stone.
Seeing how these women wear their makeup — especially eyeliner — makes a huge difference in what you try on your own eyes.
Cat Eye Liner for Hooded Eyes
For my particular shape, I found that building the wing from the lower lid first gives me the right angle for my face. It’s all about working your best angles.
The key: don’t draw the line you see — draw the line you want people to see when you open your eyes wide. Start thinner, build up, and check in a mirror with your eyes open straight ahead, not looking down into it.
Why Do I Have Hooded Eyes?
I was born with them, which means they weren’t going anywhere on their own. Some people are born with hooded eyes; others develop them with age. Health can play a role too — if you’re concerned, your eye doctor can help clarify.
Do Hooded Eyes Affect Vision?
Yes, they can. In my 20s I had no issues at all. By my 40s the hood over the outer part of my eyes started messing with my vision — blurry spots, difficulty reading, some loss of peripheral vision.
The sag got worse over time because mine were congenital (born that way), and it eventually interfered enough that I had upper blepharoplasty surgery on July 28, 2026. My eyes are now considered deepset, but everything in this guide still applies if you’re trying to figure out your shape.
Do Hooded Eyes Go Away With Weight Loss?
I lost 40 lbs and people kept asking if I expected my hoods to disappear. The answer is no — because mine were genetic, not weight-related. If you developed hooded eyes due to weight gain, losing weight may reduce them. But eyes that are born hooded stay hooded.
Do Hooded Eyes Make You Look Tired or Older?
Honestly? They can. In my 20s they didn’t bother me at all. By my 40s I felt like the heaviness over my outer corners was doing some of the aging for me. For years my eyes were the only telltale sign of how old I was.
Can I Change My Hooded Eyes?
Blepharoplasty is the most permanent option — and it’s one I ultimately chose once my hoods began interfering with my vision. It isn’t a decision to make lightly, and you shouldn’t do it on a whim either.
But there are less invasive ways too. Lid-correcting strips like those from Contours RX or other eyelid tape brands can dramatically change your appearance. They take practice — I never got makeup to sit perfectly on top of them — but they truly reshape how your eyes look. Before my surgery, 7mm correcting strips were my favorite non-invasive experiment.
A Quick Note on Eye Shape and Ethnicity
I get asked whether Irish people or Scandinavians tend to have hooded eyes more than other groups. I don’t think any one race has identical eye shapes — I’ve got Irish ancestry myself, but that doesn’t mean every person with it shares the same lid structure. Hooded eyes show up across all ethnicities.
The Glow Ritual
Today’s 5-minute practice: Stand in front of a mirror with your eyes looking straight ahead (not down). Gently press a clean fingertip along your crease. Can you feel the fold? If skin drapes over it and hides part of your lid, you’ve got hooded eyes — and now you know to search for tutorials that actually match your shape instead of guessing.
FAQ
Do hooded eyes go away on their own?
If you’re born with them, they won’t. The only permanent fix I know is blepharoplasty surgery. Weight-related hoods may ease if you lose weight.
What’s the best eyeliner for hooded eyes?
A thin wing built from the lower lash line upward works best for my shape. Start small and check the angle with your eyes open straight ahead — that’s the look people actually see.
Can makeup primer really help hooded eyes?
Absolutely. Without primer, my eye makeup disappeared in 20 minutes or less because the excess skin rubbed together with every blink. Primer plus setting powder made all the difference for me.
A Note from Johnson
I’ve spent years learning to work with — not against — my eye shape, and that same patience applies to everything on this vanity. Your skin doesn’t need a 12-step routine. It needs five minutes of consistency. Same goes for your eyeliner.
Glow is a habit, not a product.