Understanding the different eye shapes

Almond eyes are longer than they are tall, and they taper towards both corners:

• The lids cover a little of the iris at the top and the bottom
• There is a visible crease in the upper lid
• The outer corner usually sits level with or slightly above the inner one

This is the most common shape and the one most makeup tutorials quietly assume. Almost any liner style works on it, which is why advice written for almond eyes often falls flat on everyone else.

Round eyes are close to as tall as they are wide:

• White shows all the way around the iris when you look straight ahead
• Little lid space is visible when the eye is open
• The inner and outer corners sit roughly level with each other

Round eyes read as open and awake. If you ever want to lengthen them, liner pulled slightly past the outer corner does more than anything on the lid.

Upturned eyes lift at the outside:

• The outer corner sits above the inner corner
• The lower lash line looks longer than the upper one
• Easy to confuse with almond, which is about length rather than tilt

This is what people mean by a positive canthal tilt. If you have it, you already have the lift that winged liner is usually trying to fake.

Downturned eyes drop at the outside:

• The outer corner sits below the inner corner
• The upper lid can look larger towards the outside
• Sometimes called a negative canthal tilt

It gives a soft, gentle expression. Everything that flatters downturned eyes comes down to the same move: add lift and weight at the outer third and curl the outer lashes.

Wide-set eyes sit further apart than average:

• More than one eye width between the inner corners
• Can make the nose look narrower
• Gives the face an open, approachable look

One eye width between the inner corners is the rough average, which makes it easy to check in a mirror. Darker shadow towards the inner corners pulls wide-set eyes visually closer together.

Close-set eyes sit nearer to each other:

• Less than one eye width between the inner corners
• Can make the bridge of the nose look wider
• Concentrates the gaze and makes eye contact feel direct

Keeping the inner corners light and the outer corners dark opens up the space between close-set eyes. The same idea applies to glasses: a lighter or higher bridge helps.