Makeup Tips for "Hooded" Eyes, Yes You Can Wear Eye Shadow.

If you aren't familiar, the "hooded" eye shape is one where your natural crease is camouflaged by excess skin and it kind of creates the appearance of a hood over your eye lid which also hides the crease area. Some eyes are severely hooded and some aren't so drastic. Hooded eyes naturally happen with advancing age when everything starts to droop but then there are the really lucky ones that get to experience hooded eyes at a much younger age resulting from good old genetics. And for that I say, NOT FAIR! I don't mind growing older gracefully (with a couple of minor tweaks here and there) but I refuse to look older before my time. I do have hooded eyes but I've learned to work with them and not against them by watching a lot of tutorials (I've linked a few of the best ones below) and playing around with different looks.

And by the way, I hate the term "hooded". I even prefer the word "droopy" or "saggy" because "hooded" sounds like a damn disability that should require me to drive around with a handicapped parking sticker in my rear view mirror due to my obscured vision being a a potential safety hazard. And one more thing, hooded isn't the same as mono-lid although they are often lumped together as two unfortunate eye shapes when it comes to tutorials. I would actually rather have a mono-lid because I happen to think Asian girls who have them are gorgeous and look so amazing with just winged liner and whatever eyeshadow just blended slightly above their lash line peeking over all sultry like. However, if you have hooded eyes, nothing peeks over because its all hidden under a slab of skin. OK, now that I've made all of you hoodies want to bury your heads in the sand and give up eye makeup forever, I will share with you some tips that may allow you to embrace what God gave you if you haven't already and see that your eye shape can be quite sexy and mysterious. I will also add videos where necessary so that you have a visual for what I'm trying to say! 

Disclaimer: I am not saying that if you have hooded eyes, you should WANT to hide them or change the appearance of them. I feel that personally this eye shape can be challenging to work with because of the lack of a defined crease and thus, these tips are justa way to do the best with what you've got. Take it as you will. 

MAKEUP TIPS FOR THE HOODED EYE SHAPE

1. According to Pixiwoo on YouTube, you should not use the lightest shades on the lid because it draws attention to that part of the eye which makes your hooded-ness more apparent. Remember, light brings things forward and dark pushes things back (kind of like in contouring and highlighting the face right?). Contrary to popular belief, you should actually use the darker shade on the lash line/lid area and blend upwards. Check out this great video for a simple smokey eye.

Start at the lash line with a darker shade and build upwards to blend it out kind of like the smokey eye technique. So you may want to start with a dark shade such as black for a night time look and plop it on the lid but then take a clean blending brush and blend from the lid upwards. This is all a matter of preference, if you think you look better doing something different, then by all means do it!

2. If you want a day time look, put a light shade in the inner corner and the inner 1/3 part of the lid, but then take a medium-tone shade to apply to the rest of the lid and blend it all the way up to just below the brow bone (leave room for your highlight shade). Then take a darker shade in the same color family as your midtone shade and focus on the outer corner or outer "v" area. This will draw the eye outwards and create more dimension. Take a flat shader brush and put the darker shade on the outer 1/3 of the eye lid and crease area but take it up as far as you need to to be able to see it when you look in the mirror and open your eyes. Blend accordingly. 

3. FALSE LASHES! If you have never tried them, and you have hooded eyes, you are missing out! Big luscious lashes totally hide the hooded eye area and make the eyes look so much wider and more awake. The absolutely beautiful Blake Lively has hooded eyes and almost always has on false lashes. They don't change the eye shape but they really maximize the sexyness of the shape but still hiding the part that we may want hidden. If you are saying no way to false lashes, make sure you at least pile on the mascara and maybe curl them after you have your mascara on so the lashes kind of curl up and over the hood.

4. Thick black liquid liner. If you can still see some of your eyelid (those that aren't severely hooded), a nice thick black line will make it look like you do have a more prominent lid area. Depending on your eye shape, you may be able to wing out that liner and really make your eyes stand out. No eyeshadow necessary! The video below is for hooded eyelids especially.

5. Shape those brows! Make sure your brows are in tip top shape with a lovely arch. Get waxed, get plucked, get threaded, just get something to create an arch to life your eye area. Make sure the brows are filled in if they are sparse and even if you don't want to mess with shadow one day, make sure you still use a little brow bone highlight to make the brow arch stand out and lift the eye area upwards. 

6.  Look in the mirror when you are applying your shadow (duh) but what I mean is, look straight on so that you are able to see which part of the eye is visible when you have your eyes open so that you can put eyeshadow in this location. Its common for girls with hooded eyes to want to place their shadow in the typical places that they see others doing. However, when they open their eyes, they can't see the shadow anymore. This is why its important to look into the mirror straight on when applying the shadow to make sure you can actually see it when your eyes are open. Check out this Lisa Eldridge video that is great for showing where to place the shadow.

7. This last tip is not something I'm recommending that you need to do. It will depend on your own personal feelings about how you look, your age, and your economic situation. However, if you are at least in your 30's or older and you've thought about getting a little Botox, a couple of little injections over the brow area can lift the eye area slightly which can take years off your appearance. It's not a drastic change and it won't change your eye shape, it will just lift and brighten that area.. At least that is what I've heard... ssshhhhh.