Struggle with shadow and liner on hooded eyes? These are the makeup tips you need to know

If you have hooded eyes, you’re probably all too familiar with having little space to create eyeshadow looks or a proper wing with liquid liner. You may even experience it smudging all over the place as a result of your slightly overlapping lids.

But there are so many great makeup tips for hooded eyes out there that will still allow you to create beautiful eye looks. Take makeup artist Katie Jane Hughes, for example, whose recent TikTok applying a winged liner look to open eyes recently went viral.

“There are so many absolutely beautiful women with this eye shape – Gabrielle Union, Gigi Hadid, Kate Moss and Claudia Schiffer,” makeup artist and podcast host Rose Gallagher tells OK!. “One that I would really call out is Shay Mitchell, because her makeup is always absolutely immaculate. I think she’s a really good example of someone on whom you can still see a really full makeup look with this eye shape.”

On that note, we asked Rose to share some of her top tips for hooded eyes to help you achieve excellent eye makeup every time. Consider this your need-to-know guide.

Getty Images two models with graphic eye makeup

Look straight ahead when you apply your eye makeup, with your eyes open

We’re so used to applying eye makeup with our eyes shut that this might feel weird at first, but try applying it with your eye slightly or fully open, looking straight ahead. This will give you a better idea of the final look as you apply.

“We have this tendency to tilt our heads back as it gives you a better view of your eyelid,” Rose explains. “But actually, when you look head-on you’re going to get a better measure of what your makeup will look like when you’re sat in front of someone.

“So many people feel frustrated that their colour is lost when their lid is that shape,” she adds. “But if you do your makeup looking front on, you’re not going to lose anything because you’re always going to be looking at the finished angle.”

Map out your look with eyeshadow first, before going over with eyeliner

Rose says that eyeliner is one of the things she is asked about most when it comes to hooded eyes.

“The first thing I do is start to build those wings with eyeshadow,” she says. “Then when you feel comfortable that you’ve got the right shape, you can retrace your steps with a dedicated liner.”

TikTok/Rose Gallagher Rose Gallagher

Choose gel pencils rather than smudgy formulas

If you’re using a pencil eyeliner, a formula that dries down will really help you here.

“Really creamy pencils are great for buffing and blending and using as your eyeshadow,” Rose tells us, “but when it comes to a hooded eye shape, you might prefer a pencil with a gel consistency, because they set to more of a solid finish.”

“You could also use a mixing medium to get a longer lasting finish out of your eyeliner,” she adds. “Peaches and Cream sells a mixing solution [£5.95 here] that you can add to any existing liner or eyeshadow and it will give it a waterproof, slightly lacquer-like finish. That definitely won’t move, even if your lids fall over where the eyeliner has been applied!”

Make the most of the space you do have

It can often feel like you should follow a specific “shape” when it comes to eye looks, but there are no rules when it comes to makeup. “Go outside the lines, draw the shape on where you want it to be rather than where it ‘is’,” Rose says. “And remember to make the best of the space between the brow and the top of the lid. We’ve all got different eye shapes, but if you do have space you can buff more colour in there, and use that to make your colour pop.”

TikTok/Katie Jane Hughes Katie Jane Hughes

Use your lower lash line to create a stand-out look

Who said that eye makeup is all about the lids?

“We get so hung up on what isn’t there when we look at ourselves – whether it’s our hair, our makeup, our figure, whatever – and we forget what IS there,” says Rose. “With a hooded eye shape, if you want to weave in colour don’t forget that you’ve got all that space on your lower lash line.

“Use your pop of colour under the lash line and you can still incorporate any kind of colour you like into your makeup.”

Consider your crash course in makeup for hooded eyes, complete! 

Reference: OK : Lucy Abbersteen