Look straight into a mirror in good light, with no eye makeup on, and tap what you see: your eye shape, drawn, with where the eyeshadow and liner go for it, from makeup artists’ and eye-shape guides.
Eye shape: almond
Almond eyesA lighter inner lid, a deeper crease and outer half, and a wing.
Why: A visible crease, eyes wider than they are tall that taper to a point, and the iris touching both lids: no white above or below it.
What the guides say
The three checks and each shape’s shadow and liner quoted from L’Oréal Paris, IPSY’s makeup artists, All About Vision and House of Lashes. Checked 2026-09-28. Ours: which trait names your main shape (the lid first, then the corners, then the outline) and the drawing.
Quick answer: the six eye shapes are almond, round, hooded, monolid, upturned and downturned. In a mirror: a fold hiding your crease means hooded, no crease means monolid; outer corners above a straight line from the inner corners mean upturned, below it downturned; white above or below the iris means round, none means almond. Most eyes are two or three at once.
How to use it
Take off any eye makeup, stand in front of a mirror in good light and look straight ahead. Tap what you see for each of the three checks. The answer is your main eye shape and its other traits, drawn, with where the eyeshadow and eyeliner go for it and the guides’ own words. Pick your eye colour too and you get the shadow colours for it from our eye colour makeup chart.
The three checks
- Your crease, eyes open. “Assess how much of your eyelid and crease you can see. If you see little to no crease, you likely have a monolid. If your crease is hidden, you likely have hooded eyes” (L’Oréal Paris). IPSY’s makeup artists start the same way: “look straight into a level mirror and take notice of how much of your moving lid and crease you see.”
- Your outer corners. Imagine a straight line from one inner corner across your eye. “If the outer corners of your eyes peek up above the line, you have upturned eyes. If they dip below it, your eyes are downturned” (L’Oréal Paris); All About Vision uses the same imaginary line.
- The white around your iris. “If you can see white above and below your iris when looking straight ahead, your eyes are most likely round” (IPSY); on almond eyes “the iris will touch the top and bottom eyelid” (All About Vision).
Eyes are often more than one shape: “you may not just have one eye shape” (IPSY), and “Hooded eyes can be upturned, downturned, or almond-shaped” (L’Oréal Paris). The finder names every trait you tap. Which one it calls your main shape is ours: the lid first (hooded or monolid), then the corners (upturned or downturned), then the outline (round or almond), because that is the order in which they change where makeup goes.
The eye shape chart
| Eye shape | How to tell | Eyeshadow | Eyeliner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Almond eyes | A visible crease, eyes wider than they are tall that taper to a point, and the iris touching both lids: no white above or below it. | A lighter shade on the inner lid and a deeper one in the crease and on the outer half; almost any look works on almond eyes. | A wing, thin at the inner corner and thicker toward the outer corner: angled up for a softer look, straight to lengthen. A little on the lower lash line. |
| Round eyes | A visible crease, eyes about as tall as they are wide, and white showing above or below the iris. | Blend from the middle of the lid outward toward the end of the brow, light at the inner corner and darker toward the outer corner; round eyes suit a smoky eye. | A cat eye, to lengthen the eye; keep the lower lash line light, on its outer third only. |
| Hooded eyes | A fold of skin from the brow bone hides most or all of your lid and crease when your eyes are open. | A darker shade just above the fold, where it still shows with your eyes open; that draws the crease the fold hides. | A thicker wing, drawn looking straight into the mirror with your eyes open so it shows, or tightline the upper lash line; waterproof, so the fold does not smudge it. |
| Monolid eyes | No crease: your lid is smooth and flat from the lashes to the brow bone. | Layer it from the brow down: the lightest shade over the whole lid, darker as you go down, the darkest along the lash line; or a soft, diffused shadow wing. | A thin wing that starts a third of the way in from the inner corner, and nude or white on the lower waterline to open the eye. |
| Upturned eyes | Your outer corners sit above a straight line drawn from your inner corners. | Darker colours on the outer corners, blended upward and outward. | Line the lower lash line too, a little thicker at its outer corner, to balance the lift, with highlighter on the inner corners; a wing past the upper lashes plays the lift up. |
| Downturned eyes | Your outer corners dip below a straight line drawn from your inner corners. | Darker shadow on the outer corners, taken upward to lift the eye; a smoky cat eye in shadow works too. | A wing that flicks up at the outer corner to lift it, and curled lashes. |
Every line above is quoted on the finder from at least two of L’Oréal Paris’s eyeliner guide, IPSY’s makeup artists, All About Vision and House of Lashes. For hooded eyes, All About Vision adds: “Avoid using dark colors on the hood of the eye to avoid a ‘sinking’ effect.”
Three worked examples
A fold hides the crease, corners on the line, iris touching both lids: hooded eyes with an almond outline. Shadow just above the fold, where it shows with your eyes open, and a thicker waterproof wing drawn looking straight into the mirror.
Crease shows, corners below the line, white under the iris: downturned eyes with a round outline. Darker shadow on the outer corners taken upward, and a wing that flicks up to lift them.
No crease, corners above the line: monolid eyes that also turn up. Shadow layered darker toward the lashes, a thin wing from a third of the way in, and nude or white on the lower waterline.
Common mistakes
- Checking with your eyes closed or looking down. The guides check with your eyes open, looking straight into a level mirror: that is how your crease, corners and iris look to everyone else.
- Drawing liner with your eye closed on hooded eyes. “Look straight into the mirror instead of closing your eye” (IPSY), or the line disappears under the fold.
- Dark shadow on the hood itself. Put the depth just above the fold instead.
- Expecting one label. Most eyes are a mix: hooded and almond, monolid and upturned. Do the makeup for the main shape, then the note for each other trait.
More on Needle Style
Eyeliner for hooded eyes that does not disappear, classic and hybrid lash looks, eyeshadow for brown eyes, makeup for older women and how to apply makeup like a pro.
The checks and each shape’s makeup quoted from L’Oréal Paris, IPSY, All About Vision and House of Lashes. Checked 2026-09-28.
FAQ
What is my eye shape?
Look straight into a mirror and check three things: whether your crease shows, is hidden by a fold (hooded) or is not there (monolid); whether your outer corners sit above (upturned) or below (downturned) a line from the inner corners; and whether white shows above or below your iris (round) or not (almond).
What are the different eye shapes?
Six are standard: almond, round, hooded, monolid, upturned and downturned. Guides also name deep-set, close-set, wide-set and prominent eyes as variations.
How do you tell if you have hooded eyes?
With your eyes open, a fold of skin from the brow bone covers most or all of your lid and crease. “If there is a crease but it covers all or majority of the lid, this is a hooded eye” (IPSY).
What is the difference between hooded eyes and monolid eyes?
Hooded eyes have a crease that the fold hides; monolids have no crease at all, and the lid is smooth from the lashes to the brow.
Can you have more than one eye shape?
Yes, most people do. Hooded eyes can also be almond, upturned or downturned, and upturned eyes are almond or round underneath. The finder names every trait and picks the main one for your makeup.
Can your eyes become hooded with age?
Yes. Some people are born with hooded eyes and some become hooded over time (IPSY, L’Oréal Paris).
What is the most common eye shape?
The guides disagree: IPSY counts almond eyes among the most common worldwide, L’Oréal Paris calls upturned eyes one of the most common. We found no survey that counts them.