Winged Eyeliner for Mature & Hooded Eyes

Sometimes when you try to do a winged liner on hooded eyes, it looks perfect until you relax your eyes. Suddenly the wing bends, it disappears into the crease, or looks completely distorted. Today I'm going to show you a soft smoky wing that works with your eye shape and not against it. So what are hooded eyes? Hooded eyes simply means that a fold of skin overlaps part of the eyelid, covering some of the lid space when your eyes are open. Some people are born with hooded eyes, while others notice them developing over time as the brows gradually lower and the skin around the eyes becomes less firm. You may have two hooded eyes, or you may be like me, where one eye is more hooded than the other. Either way, the technique I'm going to show you works beautifully. So let's get started. The first thing I want you to do is curl your lashes. This might seem unrelated to eyeliner, but it actually makes a huge difference. Lifting the lashes opens up the eyes so you can see your natural eye shape much more clearly. If you have downturned eyes or very heavily hooded eyes, spend a little extra time curling the outer lashes because that's what creates that subtle lifting effect at the corners. Next, take a black or a dark brown eyeliner and tightline your upper lash line. Tightlining simply means placing the liner between the lashes rather than drawing a visible line across the lid. This creates the illusion of fuller, thicker lashes without taking up any of your precious lid space. Now, it's important to understand the differences between tightlining and waterlining because they're often confused. Tightlining is placing the liner between the lashes. Waterlining is applying it to the inner wet rim of the eye. If you have watery eyes or you often notice your eyeliner transferring to your lower waterline throughout the day, I recommend skipping waterlining and keep the liner between the lashes. Otherwise, as your eyes water, the pigment will transfer down and make the lower waterline look darker than maybe you wanted. To make the liner last even longer in the tightline, I like to set it with a matching matte eyeshadow. I am using a tiny liner brush. This is refer number 29 and I gently press the shadow into the base of the lashes before lightly sweeping upwards. This locks the pigment in place without adding visible thickness to the lash line. Already you can see the difference here. My lashes look fuller and denser. My eyes look defined but they also don't look like they're wearing any eyeliner and notice how my lower waterline is still completely clean. That's because I kept the liner between the lashes and I set it with a matching powder. Before we create the wing, I just want to mention that the eyeliner that I'm using is my Mature Beauty Velvet Eyeliner. I actually created this product because I couldn't find an eyeliner that behaved the way I wanted on mature eyelids. Most pencils on the market are way too dry so they tug on the eyelids and they skip through all of the little fine lines. They are also so sticky so they feel impossible to soften and blend out and they end up leaving a really harsh and unflattering result. This is a kajal-based formula so it glides on effortlessly without pulling on delicate skin but after you give it about a minute it sets and becomes beautifully long-wearing while still staying soft enough to blend. That's what makes it perfect for techniques like the soft smoky wing. If you'd like to check it out, I'll leave a link in the description box below at maturebeauty.shop. Now let's create the wing. Start by looking straight into the mirror with your eyes completely relaxed. This is really important because we want to design the wing for how your eyes actually look not how they look when you're stretching the skin or raising your eyebrows. With your eyes relaxed, place a small dot where your upper and your lower lash lines meet. Then using an angled brush with the pointed end facing towards your eyes, gently stretch that dot outwards. Notice that I'm pulling it out, not up. If you angle the wing too high, you're gonna run into the crease again which is exactly what we are trying to avoid and why we are struggling in the first place, right? So go out, not up. Once I have that first line where I want it, I flip my brush so the pointed end is facing outwards and I connect it back into the outer corner of the eye. Now you'll probably notice that my right eye is much more hooded than my left eye and that's actually very common. Most of us don't have perfectly symmetrical eyes and trying to force these identical wings usually can lead to a lot of frustration. So if one eye is more hooded than the other, I suggest always starting with the more hooded eye first. It has more limitations so it's a lot easier to match your less hooded eye to it than it is the other way around. Now it's time for my favorite part and that is softening the wing. This is really what makes this technique so flattering on hooded eyes. A crisp graphic line tends to highlight every fold and crease while a soft diffuse edge blends beautifully into the natural contours of the eyes. I like to use a small pencil brush for this. I'm using Nikkie's N21 today and I dip it into a deep shade that's just a little softer than black. Today I'm using a dark brown but I often reach for charcoal as well when I'm doing this look. Starting at the outer edge of the wing, gently buff the liner to diffuse the edges. As you do this, keep most of the shadow concentrated on the outer third of the eye. Try not to carry the shadow too far towards the center of the lid. If you smoke the entire eyelid out, you'll create more of like a classic smoky eye which is still beautiful but it will close the eye in more. So by keeping the depth on the outer corners, you maintain that lifted winged effect while leaving the center of the lid looking brighter and more open. Now if your liner tends to transfer onto your crease throughout the day, here's a little trick that makes a huge difference. Take a small fluffy brush, dip it into a translucent setting powder and lightly buff it through the crease. This helps absorb excess oil and creates a smoother surface making it much less likely that the liner will stamp onto the crease as you blink throughout the day. If you'd like a little more separation between the crease and the eyelid, which is what I like, you can also sweep a neutral mid-tone brown through the crease with a fluffy blending brush. This will give just enough definition to give the eye more shape without taking away from the soft wing. And then finish it off with mascara making sure to really lift those outer lashes. Now if you accidentally make the wing a little thicker than you wanted or you just want it to look a little bit sharper, here's my favorite cleanup trick. Take a tiny concealer brush like Nikkie's N23, dip it into a small amount of foundation and use it like an eraser to clean up the edges. It's a really simple way to sharpen the shape without having to start all over again. I actually prefer using foundation for this instead of concealer because concealer is much thicker and much more opaque so it's easy to apply too much and accidentally erase more liner than you wanted. Foundation gives you a little more control making it much easier to perfect the shape while still blending seamlessly into the skin. Now this last step is completely optional but I never skip it because I think it makes the eyes look so much bigger. Using Ruffer's Shotto 2 brush, I like to pick up that same soft neutral that I used in the crease and lightly buff it under the lower lash line. This will give the illusion of larger, more open eyes without making them look darker or heavier. Next, I take a matte ivory or a soft white eyeshadow on that same brush and I apply it to the inner corner. This will instantly brighten that area too and help you look much more awake. The one exception to this is if you have very wide set eyes. Brightening the inner corners can make them appear too far apart but if you have average or even close set eyes, this little trick can make a surprisingly big difference. Finally, I finish with a coat of mascara on my lower lashes as well. And here is the finished result. Once you get the hang of it, this technique is surprisingly quick and very easy to do and I think it looks polished in just about every situation. It's soft enough to wear to like the grocery store but it's elegant enough to wear to a wedding. I really hope this tutorial gives you the confidence to keep wearing winged liner no matter how your eye shape has changed because our features are going to change over time and with age and that's okay because our techniques can change right along with them. I'll see you in the next one.