Do you have deep-set eyes?

What deep-set eyes look like

Deep-set is a word about position, not outline. The eyeball sits further back in the socket than average, so the brow bone stands forward of it and the upper lid slopes inward toward the eye. Everything else about the eye, its width, height and tilt, can be anything.

The most visible sign is shadow. In even light, a band of the upper lid between the crease and the brow sits in the shade of the bone above it. That shadow makes the eye read smaller and more recessed than it measures, and it is what people notice first.

The crease is usually deep and sharply defined. Because the lid folds back into the socket rather than lying flat against the eye, the fold line is clear when you look straight ahead. The strip of lid below the crease can look short, since part of it tucks under the bone.

Deep-set eyes appear in every population and with every outline. They are common in people with strong brow bones, and they become more visible with age and with weight loss, as the fat pad behind the eye and around the socket thins. The eye shape test reports the outline; depth is yours to add.

How to tell if you have deep-set eyes

The mirror check is a side view, because depth lives on the axis a front view cannot show. Stand sideways to a mirror in even light, or have someone take a photo of your profile at eye level. Relax your face and look straight ahead.

1. Find the brow bone. Imagine a vertical line dropping from the most forward point of your brow.
2. Find the front of the eye. On a deep-set eye, the cornea and the lashes sit clearly behind that line, tucked under the bone.
3. Look at the lid. The upper lid runs inward and down from the brow to the lashes and falls into shadow beneath the bone.

From the front, two clues support the side view. The crease stays sharp and dark when you look straight ahead, and a shadow sits between the crease and the brow in light that leaves the rest of the face even. If the lid is hidden rather than shaded, read the hooded eyes page too.

The test does not report depth, and this is deliberate. A front photo flattens the socket; the same eye reads deeper in top light and shallower in flat flash. Estimating depth from shadow would depend on the lamp more than the face, so the tool measures the outline and leaves depth to you.

What the test does give you is still useful. Deep-set eyes often read almond, sometimes elongated if the lid shadow narrows the visible opening. The openness and tilt gauges tell you how your opening compares with 3,000 measured faces, and the spacing reading tells you where your eyes sit across the face.

Deep-set vs hooded and almond eyes

Deep-set and hooded eyes are the pair most often mixed up, because both make the upper lid hard to see. The difference is what hides it. On a hooded eye, a fold of skin drapes over the crease. On a deep-set eye the crease is open; the lid is shaded, not covered.

The test can only ask about the fold. Its crease question after the reading offers visible, partly hidden or not there. A deep-set eye with a visible crease answers "visible", even though the lid is shaded. If the fold and the depth both apply, answer for the fold; depth is separate.

Deep-set and almond eyes are not alternatives; a deep-set eye is very often almond in outline. The confusion comes from size. Shadow makes a deep-set almond eye look smaller than a shallow one with the same measurements, so people assume a different shape when the difference is position.

With age the two traits meet. Brow and lid skin descend over a socket that was always deep, and a deep-set eye at thirty can be a deep-set, hooded eye at sixty. The side-view check still shows the depth; the crease question on the result card records the fold.

Makeup for deep-set eyes

The aim is to bring light forward onto the lid and keep the socket from reading darker than it already is. Most classic guidance, a dark shade in the crease to create depth, is written for eyes that need depth added. A deep-set eye has it built in, so the same step doubles the shadow.

Start with the lid. A light, satin or softly shimmering shade across the whole mobile lid, from lashes to crease, catches light under the brow bone and makes the eye read larger. Matte pale shades work too; what matters is that the lid is lighter than the skin around it.

Keep the crease light or skip it. If you want definition, use a medium shade no darker than your skin's own shadow, placed slightly above the true crease so it shows when the eye is open. Blend upward toward the bone, never downward onto the lid.

Liner stays thin. A thick line across the upper lashes takes back the lid space you have just lightened. A fine line, or tightlining the upper waterline, defines the lashes without shrinking the opening. A soft, light pencil on the lower waterline opens the eye further.

For men who want to look less tired rather than made up, the one step that shows is concealer. A shade a touch lighter than the skin, pressed into the inner corner and the shadow under the brow, lifts the socket. Clear brow gel that lifts the hairs finishes it.

Colour matters as well as placement. Warm and cool light shades behave differently against different undertones, so pick lid shades from your season. The color analysis test gives the palette, and each season page lists the eye shades that sit well against the skin.

Lashes, brows and glasses for deep-set eyes

Lashes do a great deal for a deep-set eye, because they project forward out of the shadow. Curl first, so the lashes lift toward the brow rather than pointing at the mirror. Lengthening mascara over volumising: length reaches out of the socket, while heavy volume adds a dark line where the eye is already dark.

For strip or individual lashes, choose a lighter, longer style with the longest fibres at the centre and outer third. Very dense bands sit in the shadow and read as more liner. A clear or brown-black mascara softens the contrast on fair colouring.

Brows are the biggest lever after lashes. A heavy, dark brow makes the bone above the eye stand further forward. Groom the brow a shade lighter than the hair, keep the arch but thin the underside slightly, and brush the hairs up so the space between brow and lid opens.

For glasses, avoid a thick, dark brow bar, which sits exactly where the brow bone already casts its shadow. Frames with a thinner or lighter upper rim, or rimless tops, let light into the socket. A frame that is lighter on top and darker below balances the face.

Lens height helps too. A frame whose lower rim sits well below the eye gives the opening room and stops the rim from cutting across the shadowed lid. Anti-reflective lenses matter more than for most eyes, since reflections sit in the shadow and hide the eye. The face shape guides cover the frame outline.

Hair around the eyes follows the same logic. A fringe that stops at the brow frames the eyes; one that falls over the brow deepens the shadow further. Sweep a fringe to one side, or keep layers starting at the cheekbone, so light reaches the eyes.

Deep-set eyes and the rest of the face

Depth changes how every other reading looks. A strong brow bone with deep-set eyes reads as structure on a square face and as intensity on a narrow, oblong face. On a round face, deep-set eyes are often the sharpest feature and draw attention to the centre.

Spacing interacts with depth. The test divides the gap between your inner corners by eye width. Close-set deep-set eyes concentrate shadow at the bridge of the nose, and benefit from a light inner corner and brows that start slightly further out. Wide-set deep-set eyes carry more definition at the inner corner without looking heavy.

Tilt is unchanged by depth, but it is read differently. A deep-set eye with a downturned corner can look tired because the outer shadow and the lower corner sit together. The canthal tilt test gives the angle on its own, so you can see which of the two effects is doing the work.

Photographs exaggerate deep-set eyes more than any other trait. Overhead light, the default indoors, drops the whole socket into shadow. Light from in front, a window at face height, fills it and shows the eye as it is. Hold the phone at eye level, at arm's length, and the test sees the opening.

Frequently asked questions