The Best Eyeliner For Your Eye Shape (& Tips To Apply It)

Do you know what is the right technique to wear your eyeliner depending on the shape of your eyes?

It’s possible you have a bit of a love–hate relationship with your eyeliner. You’ve tried them all, gels, liquid eyeliners, pencils, and still can’t seem to get it to look good. But it’s one thing learning how to apply eyeliner properly (we’ve all been there!), but another to find the right technique for the shape of your eyes.

Just like you pick your outfit based on your body shape, or hairstyle depending on the shape of your face, some eyeliner styles look better (or worse) on different eye shapes. For example, thinner lines look better on hooded eyes as thicker lines may disappear when your eyes are open.

Keep reading if you want to find out which eyeliner style will complement and enhance your eye shape.

The Best Eyeliner Technique For Your Eye Shape

The following list includes each type of eye shape and what makeup hacks work best when choosing eyeliner styles to try out for yourself.

Monolid Eye Shape

With monolid eyes, there tends to be no clearly visible crease on the lid. And chances are, your brow bone is also less prominent, making many eyeliner styles disappear when your eyes are open.

The best way to accentuate monolid eyes is a line that starts thin in the inner corner and thickens as you draw the line toward the other corner. For a stunning evening look, you can even use a pencil and smudge the pencil in the outer corner to create that smokey eye effect.

Hooded Eye Shape

Hooded eyes tend to look smaller than they really are, mostly because the brow bone is more prominent while your crease is buried underneath the upper eyelid.

If you have hooded eyes, stick to thinner and elongated lines that open up your eye and make your eye appear curved and draw attention away from the eyelid. For a more defined and bolder look, try making the line thinner in the center of your eye, while keeping the corners thin and simple.

Round Eye Shape

If you have round eyes, your crease is always noticeable and you can see whites of your eyes underneath your iris. Round eyes are usually brighter and more prominent than other shapes.

So when it comes to applying the eyeliner, consider waves that elongate or even change the shape of your eyes completely. Don’t be afraid to play around with an extended wave that smudges into your lower lash line, or to make the line thicker in the inner corner of your eye.

Downturned Eye Shape

If you’re trying to determine if you have downturned eyes, take a look in the mirror and look at the outer corner of your eyes. If they drop below an imaginary line going through the center of your eyes, that’s their shape.

And since your eyelids are pointing down, opt in for eyeliner waves that elevate your eye. Try drawing a thin line that curves and lifts toward your templates in the outer corner of your eye.

Almond Eye Shape

As the name suggests, almond eye shape looks like an almond — they’re almost symmetrical and turn slightly upwards in the outer corners. If you have almond shaped eyes, you can pull off pretty much every eyeliner technique and look fantastic!

Still, the most eye-opening look for you is to follow the natural line of your eye, starting with a thinner line in the inner corner that thickens as you get closer to the outer corner, finishing it with a slight flick.

Key Takeaways

Eyeliner is something that everyone should really try at least once. We’ve covered quite a few different techniques and styles here, so hopefully you’ll now feel more confident grabbing that eyeliner and drawing out the perfect cat eye or winged look. Eyeliner can be a difficult thing to learn at times, but with practice it gets easier—and the more we practice, the better we get!