Do you have round eyes?

What round eyes look like

Round is the name for an eye whose opening is tall for its width. Where an almond eye tapers to a point at the outer corner, a round eye keeps curving, so the lids meet in an arc. The outline is not a circle, but it is closer to one than most eyes.

Three things go together. The white of the eye shows below the iris, and often above it, because the lids sit further from the coloured part. The highest point of the upper lid is near the centre of the eye rather than over the inner half. And both corners are rounded rather than sharp.

The crease is usually visible and sits high, with a generous strip of lid between the lashes and the fold. That is a lot of surface for shadow, which is why round eyes carry colour so well and why heavy liner on them shows more than it does on other shapes.

Round is a ratio, not a size. A small eye that is tall for its width reads round, and a large eye that is wide for its height does not. The eye shape test reports eye width separately, so a result can be round and compact, or round and wide, and both are ordinary.

How to tell if you have round eyes

Stand facing a mirror in even light, relax your face and look straight ahead. Brows down, no smile, because a smile narrows the opening and can turn a round eye into an almond one for the length of the photo. Then check three things in order.

1. White below the iris. If a clear band of white shows between the bottom of the iris and the lower lid, the eye is round. If the iris rests on the lower lid, continue to the next check.
2. The outer corner. Round eyes curve there, with the two lash lines flowing into each other. A corner that comes to a point leans almond.
3. The height. Hold a finger horizontally at the top of the opening and another at the bottom. If that gap looks more than a third of the eye's width, you are in round territory.

The test does the same job with numbers. It divides eye height by eye width for openness, averages both eyes and corrects for head roll. Round is the reading when openness lands in roughly the top fifth of the 3,000 frontal faces the scale was built on, which is about one face in five.

Openness is the second rule the test checks, after tilt. A very flat or downward tilt is read as downturned before openness is considered, so a tall eye with a low outer corner comes out downturned rather than round. Everything else that is tall for its width is round, whatever its tilt.

If the openness marker sits just inside the round band, a second photo is worth taking. Bright light, tiredness and a slight squint all narrow the opening. Camera height matters too: a phone held below eye level opens the eyes and pushes the reading toward round.

Round vs almond and protruding eyes

Round and almond eyes are separated by one number: how tall the opening is for its width. Both can have the same tilt, the same spacing and the same colour. The almond eye shows no white under the iris and points at the outer corner; the round eye shows white and curves there.

Many eyes sit near the line. If your openness reading is in the upper part of the almond band, you have almond eyes that lean round, and advice for both shapes will suit you. The gauge on the result card shows where you sit; the label is only the category.

Round and protruding eyes are confused for a different reason. Round is an outline seen from the front. Protruding is a position, the eyeball sitting further forward in the socket, and it is only visible from the side. A protruding eye often reads round because more lid and more white are on show.

The reverse is not true. Plenty of round eyes sit at an ordinary depth, and a deep-set eye can be round too. If you want to know about depth, turn your head and look at the profile, or use the side check on the protruding page. The front photo cannot tell you.

Makeup for round eyes

Round eyes carry more visible lid than any other shape, so the first choice is whether to lengthen the eye sideways or to keep the roundness and open it further. Both are legitimate. Most guides only describe the first, which is a habit rather than a rule.

To lengthen, keep liner thin along the inner half of the upper lash line and let it thicken toward the outer corner, finishing in a wing that runs out horizontally rather than up. Blend shadow outward past the outer corner, not upward into the brow, so the eye reads wider than it is tall.

Shadow placed in the outer third and swept toward the temple pulls the outline into an almond. Keep the centre of the lid a medium tone rather than a bright one, because a pale centre adds height. A darker shade along the outer lower lash line, smudged, closes the gap under the iris.

To keep the roundness, do the opposite. Tightline the upper waterline, curl the lashes, and put a light shade or a small highlight at the centre of the lid. Leave the lower lash line bare or use a soft brown pencil in the outer third only. The eye reads bright and open.

Avoid heavy liner all the way round the eye on the waterline. On a round eye it draws a ring that makes the opening look smaller, which is the opposite of what most people want from liner. If you like a dark lower line, keep it under the lashes rather than on the waterline.

For men who want to look rested rather than made up, curled lashes and a clear brow gel are enough. Round eyes already read open, so a fine dark-brown tightline adds definition without a visible line. Concealer at the inner corner brightens the whole eye.

Shadow colour should follow your colouring rather than the shape. The color analysis test gives the palette that suits your undertone, and each season page lists specific eye shades.

Lashes, brows and glasses for round eyes

Lashes longer at the outer third stretch the eye sideways and lean it toward almond. Lashes of even length, strongly curled, keep the roundness and open the eye further. Strip lashes with a heavy centre add height, which most people with round eyes have plenty of.

Brows suit a defined arch rather than a rounded one. Two stacked curves, a round brow over a round eye, read rounder still. A brow with a clear peak above the outer third of the iris and a tail that ends level with the outer corner adds structure and a little width.

Glasses do the same job as brows. Angular frames, rectangular or squared-off, balance a curved outline, and a frame that is a little wider than the face adds horizontal length. Round frames on round eyes can look charming, but they double the curve. The face shape guides cover the frame outline itself.

Hair frames the eyes from above. A fringe that ends at the brow suits round eyes; one that falls over the brow shortens the space above them and makes them read smaller. Side-swept fringes and cheekbone-level layers add width beside the eyes.

Round eyes and the rest of the face

Eye shape is one reading among several, and the others move how it looks. Round eyes on a round face repeat the curve and read gentle; on a square face or an oblong face they contrast with straighter lines and read more striking. Neither is better.

Spacing changes the picture too. The test divides the gap between your inner corners by your eye width. Close-set round eyes suit shadow that builds outward and a lighter inner corner. Wide-set round eyes can carry definition at the inner corner without looking crowded.

Tilt is measured separately. Round eyes with a strong positive tilt have an upturned quality even though the test reports round, because openness is checked first. Round eyes with a flat tilt read calm. The canthal tilt test shows the angle on its own.

Age moves the reading. The upper lid descends and the outer corner drops, so a round eye at twenty-five often reads almond or hooded at fifty-five. The eye has not changed shape so much as the lid above it has changed, and the result card lets you record that separately.

Photographs shift the reading more than any of this. A camera below eye level opens the eyes and reads round; one above eye level narrows them. Hold the phone at eye level, at arm's length, in even light, with a relaxed face, and the test sees the shape you see in the mirror.

Frequently asked questions