Do you have almond eyes?

What almond eyes look like

Almond is the name for an eye whose opening is wider than it is tall and narrows to a point at the outer corner. Picture an almond lying on its side, one end a little higher than the other. That small lift, and the pointed corner, are what separate it from a round eye.

Three things go together. The iris touches both lids, so little or no white shows above or below it. The upper lid peaks above the inner half of the iris, then slopes down to the outer corner. And that outer corner sits slightly higher than the inner one.

The crease is usually visible, with a strip of lid between the lashes and the fold. That is the surface eyeshadow guides assume you have, which is one reason almond eyes are treated as the default in makeup writing. It is a starting shape, not a superior one.

Almond eyes appear in every population and with every eye colour. They can be large or small, close-set or wide-set, and sit under a heavy brow or a fine one. None of that changes the shape word; those are separate readings, and the eye shape test reports them separately.

How to tell if you have almond eyes

Stand facing a mirror in even light, relax your face and look straight ahead. Brows down, no smile, because a smile lifts the corners and narrows the opening. Then check three things in order.

1. White above or below the iris. If you can see a band of white between the iris and the lower lid, the eye is on the round side. If none shows, or only a sliver, continue.
2. The outer corner. Almond eyes come to a point there, with the upper and lower lash lines meeting at an angle. A rounded corner, where the two lids curve into each other, leans round.
3. The tilt. Lay a pencil across the inner and outer corners. Slightly uphill toward the temple is almond. Steeply uphill is upturned; flat or downhill is downturned.

The test does the same job with numbers. It divides eye height by eye width for openness and measures the angle from inner to outer corner for tilt, averaged across both eyes and corrected for head roll. Almond is the reading when openness sits in the broad middle and tilt is mildly positive.

That means almond is decided last. The test checks for downturned first, from tilt, then round and elongated, from openness, then upturned. If none of those rules fire, the eye is almond. A borderline reading, with the openness marker close to either end of its gauge, is worth a second photo.

If the result says almond and you expected something else, look at the two gauges. Openness near the top of the middle band means your eyes are almond leaning round. Tilt in the upper part of the band means almond leaning upturned. The label is a category; the gauges show where in it you sit.

Almond vs round and upturned eyes

Almond and round eyes are separated by one number: how tall the opening is for its width. A round eye shows white below the iris and often above it, and the corners are curved rather than pointed. On the test, round starts where openness enters roughly the top fifth.

Almond and upturned eyes share an outline and differ in tilt. Both narrow to a point at the outer corner, but on an upturned eye that corner sits clearly higher than the inner one and the lower lid runs uphill for most of its length. The canthal tilt test gives the angle on its own.

Almond eyes are also confused with hooded eyes, usually because the person is looking at the lid rather than the opening. A hooded eye can have a perfectly almond outline; the fold above it is a separate trait. If your crease disappears when you look straight ahead, read both pages.

Finally, almond and elongated eyes sit next to each other on the openness scale. Elongated is the narrower reading, with lids close to the iris and a long, low opening. A squint or a bright light pushes an almond eye into that band, so a surprising elongated result usually means a retake.

Makeup for almond eyes

Almond eyes take almost any placement, so the useful question is what you want to emphasise. The shape already has lift and a defined outer point. Makeup that follows those lines looks effortless; makeup that fights them, like a heavy downward smudge at the outer corner, looks like more work than it is.

For liner, follow the upper lash line from the inner third outward and let the line thicken slightly toward the outer corner. A short flick that continues the angle of the lower lash line extends the natural point. A longer wing adds drama without changing the shape.

For shadow, the classic three zones were designed for this eye: a light shade across the lid, a medium shade in the crease, a darker shade at the outer corner blended upward. Because the crease shows when the eye is open, the medium shade can sit exactly on it and stay visible.

Tightlining the upper waterline makes the lashes look thicker without adding visible liner. A soft pencil along the outer third of the lower lash line, smudged, deepens the outer corner. Keep the inner half of the lower lash line bare, or the eye reads smaller.

For men who want to look rested rather than made up, a clear brow gel and a touch of concealer at the inner corner do more than anything on the lid. If you want definition, a very fine tightline in dark brown reads as shadow rather than liner.

Full-face makeup should sit with your colouring as well as your eye shape. The color analysis test gives the palette for lips, blush and shadow tones that suit your undertone, and each season page lists specific shades.

Lashes, brows and glasses for almond eyes

Lashes of even length across the lid suit the balanced shape. A curl at the outer third emphasises the lift; a curl at the centre opens the eye. For strip or individual lashes, a natural taper that is slightly longer toward the outer corner follows the almond outline.

Brows that follow the eye's own lift keep the proportions. The arch sits above the outer third of the iris and the tail ends above the outer corner, not below it. Very rounded brows soften the outline; a straight, flat brow makes the eye read more elongated and slightly closer to the brow.

Almond eyes are not fussy about glasses. Frames whose lens height gives the eye room above and below keep the outline visible. If the eyes are close-set, choose a clear or thin bridge; if wide-set, a darker or thicker one. The face shape guides cover the frame outline itself.

Hair matters less than people expect. A fringe that ends at the brow frames the eyes; one that falls over the brow hides the lift that makes the shape read as almond. Face-framing layers that start at the cheekbone draw attention across to the eyes.

Almond eyes and the rest of the face

Eye shape is one reading among several, and the others move how it looks. Almond eyes on a round face read softer; on a square face they read sharper, because the surrounding lines are straighter. Neither is better; styling advice just points in slightly different directions.

Spacing changes the picture too. The test divides the gap between your inner corners by your eye width. Close-set almond eyes draw attention to the bridge of the nose and suit liner that builds outward. Wide-set almond eyes open the centre of the face and can carry definition at the inner corner.

Age moves eyes toward downturned and hooded, because the outer corner descends and the brow and lid skin drop. An almond eye at thirty may read as almond with a hooded lid at fifty. The outline word stays the same; the lid answer on the result card changes.

Photographs shift the reading more than any of this. A camera held above eye level tilts the eyes down and narrows them; one held below opens them and lifts the corners. Hold the phone at eye level, at arm's length, in even light, and the test sees the shape you see in the mirror.

Frequently asked questions