Have Hooded Eyes? This Simple Makeup Trick Will Make Your Peepers Pop

For those of us with hooded eyes, applying makeup can be a little bit more complicated. On the one hand, eye makeup can make your face appear brighter and help you look more energized and awake. On the other hand, it can make your peepers look small and beady, and no one wants that. With this in mind, we went looking for some hooded eye makeup hacks that can help you achieve a sultry look without going overboard — and we stumbled upon one that’s absolutely genius.

White Eyeliner for Hooded Eyes

This beauty tip comes from makeup enthusiast and YouTuber Nikkia Joy. In her video on hooded eye makeup, she spills on how she applies makeup to her hooded eyes, and goes into things you should do (and avoid) if you have them.

According to her, the way you apply makeup to hooded eyes can either make them look big and bright or droopy and tired. To make them appear larger and more energized, she swears by one product — white eyeliner. But before you go trying to smear it across your lashline, read on.

The method Joy talks about in her video is called tightlining. It refers to lining the waterline (or the bottom lash line) with your eyeliner pencil. While tightlining with black or brown liner is typically used to add more drama and emphasis to the eyes, doing so with white liner will actually make your eyes look more open and brighter – which is key if you have hooded eyes. Check out her explanation at 7:20 in the video below!

In general, Joy and other makeup experts suggest that less is more when it comes to eyeliner if you’re working with hooded eyes. When using dark eyeliner on your upper lash line, make sure to keep the line thin so that it doesn’t give your eyes a darkened appearance. And placing more emphasis on your eyebrows by filling them in with a brow pencil or mascara, then applying a shiny or light-colored eyeshadow on the brow bone, can help highlight your eyes even more.

So there you have it. When you’re doing your makeup and want to make your hooded eyes appear big, bright, and energized, reach for a white eyeliner pencil (we love this one from Maybelline, Buy on Amazon, $7.98) and line that bottom lashline. With super simple tricks like these, your simple yet gorgeous look will be a showstopper!

This article was updated on August 10, 2022 at 11:30 a.m. It originally appeared on August 21, 2021 our sister site, Woman’s World.