If you’ve ever spent a Saturday night in front of YouTube with a tub of ice cream watching makeup tutorials (wait… just me?) you’ve probably gazed longingly into deep set eyes telling you how to do a cut crease look, but when you try to test it out, all of the lighter color and the sharp line you worked so hard for, suddenly disappears when you open your eyes normally.
Possibly this has happened to you with your eyeliner too. I know I can spend all the time I want perfecting a cat eye, but as soon as I’m moving normally about my day, all anyone can see is a little bit of the black above my eyelashes.
We can spend all the time we want dreaming about deep eye sockets, but that’s not going to get us anywhere. I’ve been spending some time collecting my favorite looks on how to embrace my beautiful lil eyelids for all of you. Hopefully this will be helpful for all my hooded/monolid sisters out there. Our eyelids are the special snowflakes we didn’t ask for but they’re our special snowflakes so let’s celebrate them.
1. Faux Cut Crease
It really irked me that I wasn’t able to do a proper cut crease. It’s so artfully crafted and takes a lot of patience to achieve and I love makeup that makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something. I figured if I couldn’t have a line across the deepest part of my eye socket, I’d just make one up instead. I’ve seen this a lot lately in fashion magazines and on runways, but it’s a really easy look that you can try in any color you’re feeling.
You can use any liquid or gel eyeliner with an angled brush to do this. I think my next endeavor with this look will be trying different colors. I’ve been hearing good things about Makeup Monsters gel liners and at $8.95 a pop, they’re an affordable investment to mix up your look.
2. Inner Corner Color
The inner corner of mono and hooded eyelids is usually really visible but often overlooked. I like to pop a little silver or gold shadow in there with my fingers and it really brightens up my eyes and makes them look wider, plus the shine is super lovely outside when it catches the sunlight.
This is Makeup Forever’s Flash Color Pot in Gold.
3. Dots!
I saw something similar to my inner corner metallics while shooting backstage at Chromat SS15. Their makeup artists were applying perfect little circles of color with clean pencil erasers to get the shape right on all of the models.
Nyamuoch Girwath, Backstage at Chromat SS2015, Photo by Tayler Smith
Symmetrical dots of eyeliner also look great under your eyes. Either one under the center of your lower lash line or lots in a row along the lash line are super fun.
4. Go Full Alien
Put the faux cut crease + inner corner color together and go full alien. Achieve your #alienactualites.
Here I used MAC Blacktrack Fluidline and Makeup Forever’s Aquamatic Eyeshadow in I-30.
5. They’re Full of Secrets
If all else fails, they’re a great place to hide your money.
Wow, I had no clue why my ‘cat-eye’ attempts looked so lame (ignoring my kindergarten eyeliner skills)! I didn’t even realize that it was because of the shape of my eyelids. My life has been a lie :PP
Loving the inner corner color and the dots, though i can’t pull off the latter cause i wear glasses.
Thanks for enlightening me :)
I’ve also struggled with cat-eye liner for YEARS before I realized what my problem was. I’ve never felt more betrayed by reality in my life lol!
“Saturday night in front of YouTube with a tub of ice cream watching makeup tutorials” = Definitely not just you!
Bookmarking this because I definitely have the same issue. So, thank you for writing this! All of these looks are so great. And your hair is amazing.
And for me, it’s usually cookies instead of ice cream.
Taylerrrrrr, your looks are TOO GOOD. I especially love the inner corner colour, I will have to try this.
This is great. The “inner corner color” is my favorite. And I absolutely love your style, Taylor. Also, thanks for the makeup monsters link: I’m always looking for awesome vegan companies that aren’t afraid of color.
that inner eye gold!! I neeeed ittttt
fuckin yeah !! this has been way overdue for a long time. thanks for making this tutorial
Ah the inner circle dot is so rad!!
Also – coloured mascara… I think should make a comeback. I recently won some hot pink mascara and it’s actually hella cool when you put on normal mascara (black/brown) and then the hot pink over the top just on the tip of the lashes. (At least, I think it’s cool)
what brand is your hot pink mascara? i’d love to try it out!
I think it’s Dior? It’s so pink! But the trick is not to apply too much (because then it looks like you’ve got rabies)
See, I really like the cut crease in my hooded eyes because it shades the crease and adds drama! I just let the color creep a liiiiitle bit above the crease too. And a nice pop of color on the outside third of the eyelid too.
This is probably my number one go-to eye makeup look. In fact, I’m wearing it today!
It honestly took me a ridiculous number of years for me to finally understand why I too was trying countless makeup tutorials only to be discouraged and frustrated when I couldn’t get my eyes to remotely resemble the finished look~* in the video/blog/whatever (cue image of distressed teenage angst). And once I realized it was my eye shape I was so disheartened because I thought I’d never be able to do all these cool makeup things.
It’s weird that you published this today because I’ve very recently gotten back into experimenting with makeup. And all week I’ve been searching the internet for similar ideas! So thank you SO MUCH for this and I hope I can find even more ways to get creative with what I’ve got!
I really appreciate this article! Thanks! I love the bright-shimmery-corner technique; I often forego it, but it’s great.
My face is really asymmetrical. Like, extra. My right eyelid is more deepest, with one crease. My left eyelid is somehow puffier, and a double eyelid. I don’t know if anyone else has this feature, but here’s what I’ve learned anyway:
-mascara is my friend
-cateyes are not my friend
-neutral shimmery eyeshadow over the whole lid is great
-eyebrow defining is a must (and mascara works fiiiine for this)
I don’t often wear makeup, but when I do, I try to make it not look like I got punched on the left side of my face.
These are all such awesome ideas! Bright eyeliners along the bottom lid are also fun, and so are huge graphic cateyes like the one Kristen Stewart wore recently.
I swear by Stephanie Lange’s tutorials. This is a good starter video, but she has tons of hooded eye makeup looks on her channel.
https://youtu.be/fDHsv6Fgies
This is all so great, but mostly I am distracted by how glorious your pink eyebrows are!
My sister was just talking to me about how hard it is for her to do eye make-up because one eye is monolid and the other is creased… hapa problems
I love these looks, especially the big bold dots. I’m definitely adding inner circle eye dots to my life.
I actually find cat eye liner to work great with my monolids. You’ve just got to be willing to go big and bold with it and work with the natural shape of your lid. Maybe it works better with monolids or deeply hooded lids, though.
Agree about the cat eyeliner! I just started doing it, and I love how much more alert it makes my sleepy eyes look. You def have to be willing to be bolder, but it totally pays off!
(Tayler, yay.)
I grew up with hooded eyes that are practically a family trait so until like the age of 22 I didn’t realise that “proper” cat eye was something that involved the top of your eyelid or that eyeliner was something that even went on the top of the eyelid.
When I was a about maybe eight or nine years old and in love with ancient Egypt I developed my own version of cat eye using my under eye and socket crease or if I was feeling especially bold, my temples.
Just one line from the start of the under eye to the socket crease, go diagonal with the tail end if you feel like it. You can go back and make it look tapered the same way some cat eye does.
Winged eyeliner remains the hardest thing for me, but I find that if you start the wing a little lower and at a wider angle it can look great! I keep the line very thin at the inner corner and gradually thicken it at the end.
I also really like thick eyeliner. It does make my eyes look smaller, but the harshness combined with my (usually) black clothes and big boots creates an overall don’t-fuck-with-me look that I love.