10 Genius Makeup Hacks For Women With Hooded Eyelids

The Tip: Create a "cut crease" above your natural lid.

Why It Works: By creating a cut crease, you’re giving the illusion that your eyelid is a lot larger than it is.

DIY It: Use dark, smudgeable pencil liner to draw a fake crease above your natural lid. Blur the top of the line only, leaving the bottom of the line sharp. Finish by adding a dark shadow above the newly drawn crease and blend outwards. The final result is a dramatic look that makes your eyes look bigger and erases any evidence of those hoods.

The Tip: Give hooded lids drama with a metallic smoky eye.

Why It Works: Adding shimmery flair to a regular smoky eye will help to open up the hooded eye.

DIY It: Number one: add sparkle. Number two: add more sparkle. On top of your usual smoky look, add a shimmery shadow like Gucci Magnetic Color Shadow Mono in Liquid Silver ($37) and apply across the entire lid. Top it off with Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadow in Moonspoon ($21). Dab a small amount of shimmery white eye shadow, such as Jane Iredale PurePressed Eyeshadow in White ($22), on the inner corners of your eyes.

The Tip: Focus on your bottom lash line and try the "upside-down smoky eye."

Why It Works: If you'd rather skip the hassle that comes along with creating a cut crease, but you still want a generous canvas for creating a smoky look, this is the perfect alternative.

DIY It: Instead of focusing the dark shade of your smoky eye on the lid crease, put it below your bottom lash line. A champagne shade on the lid, slightly winged out will made your eyes seem bigger and brighter. Either use a dark shadow or easily blendable pencil on the bottom, then run an eye shadow brush across to smudge it. Use a creamy concealer below to make it look purposeful rather than messy.

The Tip: Brighten the inner corners of your eyes and above your brow bone with light shimmer.

Why It Works: Applying light shadows strategically can dramatically brighten and open up your hooded eyes for a fresher, more awake look.

DIY It: Focus on two areas in particular: the inner corners of your eyes and underneath your eyebrow arch. You can highlight using any light-colored eye shadow, whether it’s a powder, like MAC Eyeshadow in White Frost ($16), a cream such as RMS Beauty Eye Polish in Lunar ($28), or a stick like Forever 21 IM MEME Stick Shadow in White Swan ($9).

The Tip: Go heavy on the glittery, shimmery, metallic-y eye makeup.

Why It Works: Hooded eyes can’t get enough of sparkles. Shimmery eye makeup can be a bit much on larger lids and overwhelm the whole face, but hooded eyes create more shadow that the sparkles can help illuminate.

DIY It: Try swiping Charlotte Tilbury Eyes to Mesmerize Cream Eyeshadow ($32) all over your lids, including the corners and above the crease toward your brow bone, then finishing with a few coats of black mascara.

The Tip: Prime hooded lids before applying anything else.

Why It Works: Anyone with hooded eyes has probably experienced the frustration of their eye makeup smudging, but a good primer will prevent your eye shadow or liner from wandering or creasing.

DIY It: Try a high-quality primer, such as Too Faced Shadow Insurance 24+ Hour Anti-Crease Eye Shadow Primer ($20) or Christian Dior Backstage Eye Prime Longwear Eye Primer ($28). These both go on velvet smooth and keep eye shadow in place for hours.

The Tip: Gently stretch your lid to create a perfect cat eye.

Why It Works: Anyone familiar with creating a cat eye knows that it depends on a smooth flick of your liner, but if there’s extra skin in the way, it can get messy. Manually flattening the skin above your eye will allow for more precise drawing.

DIY It: To help your liquid liner (we like: Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner, $22) run easily along you lash line, close your eyelid and gently tug at your lid from the outer corner. This makes a flatter surface for your flick to be on point.

The Tip: Make your hooded eyes pop even more with rich, vibrant eye shadows.

Why It Works: Bright colors and jewel tones will help offset a drowsy look that hooded eyes sometimes have.

DIY It: The trick is to extend the color past your lids, toward your brow bone and to line your entire bottom lash row. To really maximize the color’s punchiness, choose shades that stand out against your eye color.

For blue eyes, try a contrasting bronze, such as Clinique All About Shadow Duo in Day to Date ($21). For green eyes, a purple shade will make them pop. Try Bobbi Brown Eye Shadow in Heather ($25). For brown-eyed girls, got for an earthy green, like MAC Mineralize Eyeshadow in Smutty Green ($22).

The Tip: Keep your eyes mostly bare and accentuate other features.

Why It Works: Sometimes putting your energy on other parts of your face instead of fighting against the excess skin can have twice the impact.

DIY It: You can still do a simple line across your top lash line, but stop before the hood so you don’t have to maneuver around it. Then finish your look with mile-long lashes and vibrant red lips (like Jennifer Lawrence!).

The Tip: Go big with your eye look or go home.

Why It Works: Override your hooded lids with emphatic makeup, like Kristen Stewart’s dramatic cat eye here. You should be the master of your eyelids, not the other way around.

DIY It: Create an oversize cat-eye wing, and then fill in your entire lid with a dark shadow for major drama.