Eye shape reference
Eye Shape Chart
An eye shape chart beats every verbal description of eyes ever written. "Wide" means one thing to you and something else to a makeup artist, and "deep" means nothing until you see it drawn. The chart puts the common types on one page so you compare your face against clear descriptions instead of decoding adjectives.
This page is the chart. You'll find the core eye shapes in a table with plain-language descriptions, a second eyelid shapes chart for crease types, notes on eye shapes chart female and eye shapes chart male tendencies, and combination examples, because most people land in two boxes at once.
And if you came to name your own eyes, start with the chart, run the spot check in the last column, then confirm the match with the free detector below.
The quick answer
An eye shape chart lines up the common eye types, almond, round, hooded, monolid, deep-set, and the rest, so you can match your own eyes by looking, not guessing. Find your closest row in the chart below, expect to fit two categories, and use the match to guide makeup and glasses choices.
Want the short version from a photo? The free eye shape detector reads your crease, tilt, and spacing from a single upload.
How to use this eye shape chart
Ten minutes, a mirror, and honest lighting. Stand in soft daylight or take a straight-on photo at eye level. Angled selfies stretch the outer corner and invent an upturned tilt that isn't there, and overhead bathroom lighting makes deep-set eyes look cavernous.
- Relax your forehead before you look. Raised brows fake a visible crease and hide hooding completely.
- Ignore color.
- Compare against each row and expect to match more than one category, because chart measures several axes at once and most faces land in two boxes.
- Work feature by feature. Crease first, then tilt, then spacing.
For a slower walkthrough, the self-test guide runs the same process step by step.
The eye shape chart with core categories
Read each row as a sketch in words. The opening column describes the outline you'd draw first, the crease column describes what the lid does, and the spot check is the fastest mirror test for that row.
AI-generated illustrations. Examples show selected features, not exact matches for every face.
| Shape | How the opening reads | Crease behavior | Quick spot check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Almond | Oval, tapering to soft points at both canthi | Crease visible above the lash line | Iris touches the top and bottom lids with no white showing |
| Round | Circular and open, reads larger than average | Crease visible, lid space generous | Sclera shows above or below the iris |
| Hooded | Smaller opening, outer half partly covered | A skin fold hides some or all of the crease | Crease vanishes with the eye open and relaxed |
| Monolid | Smooth lid with a flatter overall profile | No supratarsal crease at all | Lid runs from lash line to brow without a fold |
| Double eyelid | Open oval with one defined fold | Clear supratarsal crease, sitting high or low | A fold line sits between the lashes and the brow |
| Deep-set | Recessed beneath a strong brow ridge | Crease visible but shadowed by the orbital bone | Brow bone casts shade over the lid in overhead light |
| Upturned | Opening lifts toward the temples | Any crease type; the tilt is the marker | Lateral canthus sits above the medial canthus |
| Downturned | Opening dips at the outer corners | Any crease type; the tilt is the marker | Lateral canthus sits below the medial canthus |
| Close-set | Normal opening, narrow gap between the eyes | Unrelated to crease | Space between the eyes is smaller than one eye width |
| Wide-set | Normal opening, generous gap between the eyes | Unrelated to crease | Space between the eyes is wider than one eye width |
| Protruding | Forward and prominent, lid space on display | Crease visible, often with a deep fold above it | Eyes sit ahead of the brow and cheek plane in profile |
No row is a verdict. Charts compress and real faces sprawl, so take the closest match and move on. If almond is your row, the almond eyes guide goes deeper on liner and lash choices for that taper.
Eyelid shapes chart for crease types
The main chart mixes several axes, so the crease earns its own table. Searches for hooded vs non hooded eyelids all ask one thing, whether skin covers the crease when the eye is open. The rows below split that out, along with the double eyelid meaning people look for when a fold is present.
AI-generated illustrations. Examples show selected features, not exact matches for every face.
| Crease type | What you see with the eye open | Also searched as |
|---|---|---|
| Non-hooded visible crease | The fold stays visible with the eye open, lid space shows below it | Non-hooded side of the hooded vs non hooded eyelids split |
| Hooded | A fold of skin from the brow bone drops over the crease and hides it | Hooded eyes, hidden crease |
| Monolid | No crease forms at all, the lid is one smooth plane | Single eyelid |
| Double eyelid, high crease | The fold sits well above the lash line with a wide lid strip below | High double eyelid |
| Double eyelid, low crease | The fold hugs the lash line with only a narrow strip below it | Low or tapered double eyelid |
Hooded and monolid live on a spectrum. Some lids show a crease only when the eye is half closed, and some hoods cover the outer third while leaving the inner crease alone. The hooded eyes guide and the monolid eyes guide cover those in-between cases.
Eye shapes chart female and male tendencies
Search an eye shapes chart female version and the emphasis lands on makeup, lid space for shadow, where a wing can start. Search an eye shapes chart male version and it shifts to deep-set placement, hooding, and canthal tilt, the traits that decide whether a face reads rested or intense.
Treat both as loose tendencies. Women get hooded, deep-set eyes. Men get round, wide-set ones. The overlap dwarfs the gap. Any chart that genders a shape is guessing from a population average.
Combination examples worth knowing
The axes stack, so most people carry a two-word shape. Three common pairings.
Hooded almond eyes
Tapered opening, hidden crease.
The classic pairing. The eye keeps its almond outline, but a skin fold swallows the lid space, so crease shadow vanishes when the eye opens. Liner along the fold edge survives the day. Liner on the mobile lid does not.
Deep-set downturned eyes
Recessed placement, dipped outer corner.
The brow bone projects forward while the lateral canthus sits low, so these eyes read soulful in photos and tired under office lighting. Highlight under the brow tail and a lifted wing counteract both.
Round non-hooded eyes
Open circular shape, visible crease.
All that lid space is a gift for shadow, and the visible crease hands you a built-in blending line. Heavy liner shrinks the openness fast, though, and the openness is the charm of the shape.
Two boxes is the norm, and three happens. Hooded, downturned, close-set is a real face.
Eye shape chart drawing basics for artists
Open any portrait tutorial and the artist draws an almond first. Always an almond. The almond is the generic eye, an oval tapering to a point at each canthus, and every other shape is an edit of it. Raise the lateral canthus and the eye turns upturned. Widen the oval until sclera shows and it turns round. Drop a skin fold over the outer third and you have hooding.
Makeup face charts use the same shortcut. The printed chart shows a neutral eye, and the artist sketches the client's real crease and tilt over it before planning placement. If you draw, learn the almond base plus the tilt and crease edits and you can render nearly every eye you'll meet. (Spacing matters too, and beginners underestimate it.)
How common is each eye shape
Honest answer, nobody has hard percentages, and anyone quoting them is guessing. What exists is qualitative, which still helps.
- Almond gets cited as the most common shape in beauty writing, partly because the the category is generous and absorbs any eye with a mild taper.
- Monolids dominate across much of East Asia and appear in every other population at lower rates.
- Deep-set and protruding eyes track bone structure more than soft tissue, so they run in families. If one parent's eyes sit deep, the kids usually inherit a version.
- Nobody publishes honest counts for the rest.
Using the chart for makeup and styling
Once you know your row, the styling advice follows from it.
- Wings follow tilt. Downturned eyes lift with a wing that angles toward the brow tail. Upturned eyes can carry a longer, straighter flick.
- Hooded lids want shadow blended above the natural crease, onto skin that shows when the eye is open. Otherwise the work disappears the moment you look straight ahead.
- Close-set eyes stay calm at the inner corner and push darker shadow outward. Wide-set eyes take the reverse.
- For lashes, deep-set eyes carry length without touching the brow. Protruding eyes do better with curl than with length.
- Frames follow spacing and depth. Wide-set eyes balance with a wider bridge, and deep-set eyes need a shorter vertex distance so lashes don't brush the lens.
The 3pm smudge test.
A friend of mine spent years calling her eyes "small-lidded" until a flash photo at a wedding showed a fold of skin resting on her lash line. Hooded, clearly. The giveaway had been there all along. Any liner she drew at 8am left a noticable stamp on her brow bone by 3pm, exactly where the fold touched down.
In my experience, tilt matters more for liner than any other row on the chart. I could be wrong here, but crease work forgives mistakes while a wing angled against your canthal tilt looks off from across the room.
Frequently asked questions
Can I have more than one eye shape?
Yes, and most people do. The categories measure different axes. Crease type (hooded, monolid, double eyelid) is one, opening shape (almond, round) another, tilt a third, spacing a fourth. You collect one answer per axis, so hooded, almond, slightly downturned is a completely normal result.
Why don't I match any picture perfectly?
Because charts show averages and you are a specific face. Illustrators draw the cleanest version of each type. Real eyes sit between rows, and one eye often differs from the other. Match the closest row per feature and stop chasing a perfect fit.
Do eye shape charts work for all ethnicities?
They work when the chart covers the full range, which is why monolid and double eyelid rows matter. Charts that skip monolids fail a huge share of East Asian readers, and charts that skip deep-set and protruding rows fail plenty of others. The categories themselves are universal. Lazy charts are the problem.
Are rare eye shapes shown on standard charts?
Usually no. Standard charts cover the common categories because those match most readers. Strong asymmetry, one hooded and one non-hooded eye, or changes after surgery or injury rarely get their own row. You can still describe them with the same vocabulary of crease, tilt, depth, and spacing.
Can my eye shape change as I age?
Slowly, yes. Skin above the crease loses elasticity, so mild hooding can grow heavier over the years, and deep-set eyes can look deeper as facial fat shifts. A sudden change is different. If one lid drops over a few weeks or starts covering part of your pupil, see a doctor. That pattern can be ptosis, and it deserves a proper exam.
Next steps
You've got the chart, the crease table, and the combination vocabulary. Start with the full eye shapes guide for the cluster overview, then read the page for your closest match, maybe almond eyes, hooded eyes, or monolid eyes. Still torn between two rows? The self-test narrows it down in a few checks.