You must have watched a hundred eyeliner tutorials to get the perfect cat-eye. You've tried the wing, the tightline, the Euro-liner and everything else in between, but every single time, the same thing happens, by the time you open your eyes, half your liner has vanished into your crease, smudged onto your lid or disappeared under a fold of skin entirely that is because you have monolid or hooded eyes.
The frustration is natural, most eyeliner tutorials are filmed on eyes with a visible, deep-set crease. But monolid eyes have little to no visible crease, so there's no natural skin to draw a wing on. Hooded eyes have the opposite issue, a fold of skin drapes over the crease, covering up any liner drawn close to the lash line the moment your eyes open.
So no matter the eyeliner style you follow, the eyeliner that looks perfect with your eyes closed will go invisible the second you open your eyes. In this blog, we will discuss different eyeliner styles that are simple to follow to enhance the look and beautify monolid or hooded eyes.
Are Monolid and Hooded Eyes the Same Thing?
No, they are not the same, but most of the time, they are confused for each other, as both types of eyes have very reduced visibility of the eye crease. But let us tell you the main difference:
Monolid eyes have little to no visible crease at all. The eyelid is smooth and flat from the lash line up to the brow bone, with no skin fold separating the two. This is common among people of East Asian descent, though it can occur in any ethnicity.
Hooded eyes do have a crease, but it's just hidden. A fold of extra skin drapes down from the brow bone over the crease, covering it partially or fully when the eyes are open. Hooded eyes can appear on any eye shape (round, almond, downturned) and often become more pronounced with age as skin loses elasticity.
The easiest way to find out whether you have monolid or hooded eyes is, look in the mirror with your eyes fully open. If there's no fold or crease line visible at all, you have monolid-type eyes. If you can see a crease when you look down but it vanishes or gets covered by a skin fold when your eyes are open, that's a hooded type of eye.
Best Eyeliner Styles for Monolid & Hooded Eyes
Monolid or hooded eyes appear small because of no to single skin fold on the eyelid. But with the proper eyeliner for hooded eyes, you can beautify and make the eyes appear larger. Let’s discuss a few eyeliner styles that you can try at home in simple step-by-step technique.
1. The Extended Winged Eyeliner (Not a Sharp Flick)
Instead of a tiny, sharp flick at the outer corner, extend the line further out and slightly upward, following the lower lash line's natural angle as a guide. Keep your eyes when you are drawing the flick, draw small strokes than one long line. This creates the illusion of lift and elongation without disappearing into the hood.
2. The Floating Winged Eyeliner for Hooded Eyes (Reverse Cat-Eye)
For hooded eyes especially, a floating wing, which is a wing drawn slightly above the crease and a small gap left between it and the lash line is a game changer. Because it sits above where the hood folds and stays fully visible when your eyes are open. Fill in the gap with a soft shadow, or you can also leave the space empty, giving your whole look a bold, graphic eye look.
3. Tightlining for Monolids
Since monolid eyes often have less room to work with along the upper lash line, tightlining, applying liner directly into the upper waterline and root of the lashes, this adds definition without adding visible bulk. It makes lashes look fuller and eyes look more awake and it won't crease or smudge into a fold because there's no fold to smudge into.
4. Graphic Liner Above the Crease
Hooded eyes are actually perfect for bold, graphic liner shapes like double wings, negative space cutouts, colorful geometric lines because placing the design above the natural crease means it's fully on display and unobstructed by the hood.
Quick Eyeliner Application Tips That Make the Biggest Difference
- Always check your work with your eyes open. Close-eye application is the #1 reason basic eyeliner styles "disappear" on these eye shapes.
- Use a mirror that lets you look straight down, not up. This mimics how your eyes actually look to others when open.
- Use a thin brush with liquid or gel liner, which gives you more control than thick felt-tip pens for building different eyeliner looks.
Monolid and hooded eyes are very common in people of Asian descent and trying an eyeliner style for Asian hooded eyes is perfect to make the eyes look attractive. Once you shift from copying a technique made for a different eye shape to working with your own, eyeliner stops being a daily struggle and becomes one of the most flattering tools in your routine. From basic eyeliner styles to trying different styles of eyeliner like extended wings, floating liner, tightlining and graphic shapes, you can try whatever style you want and beautify your eyes.
FAQs
Q.1 Which eyeliner shade is best for hooded eyes?
Ans. Hooded eyes are mostly related to Asian people and they normally have black or brown eye color. The best eyeliner shades you can try are jet black color, deep brown or colors matching with your outfit. It is the eyeliner idea that you need to take care of for hooded eyes.
Q.2 Can monolid eyes wear winged eyeliner?
Ans. A small wing can maybe diminish because of no skin crease on monolid eyes. But a long winged eyeliner drawn with your eyes fully open so you know what you are drawing and how your eye is going to look with the long wing.
Q.3 What kind of eyeliner formula to use for Asian winged eyeliner?
Ans. A formula which is transfer-proof, waterproof and smudgeproof is perfect to use as an eyeliner for Asian hooded eyes. The product should not transfer or disappear during the day to maintain the perfect eyeliner style.
Q.4 Can I draw graphic eyeliner looks on hooded eyes?
Ans. Yes, for monolid or hooded eyes, you can experiment with different eyeliner makeup ideas. Draw the eyeliner with your eyes open, so you know the space where you are drawing and how visible it will be.
