4 Easy Makeup Looks For Hooded Eyes, Just In Time For Party Season

Admittedly, I'm very much a novice when it comes to makeup. I know how to do my everyday face well – concealer, blush, eyebrows and a little mascara is hard to get wrong – but when it comes to making more of an effort with my face for parties, especially around the festive season, I struggle. This is made all the more difficult as I have hooded eyes, which means the majority of 'glamorous' and 'easy' eye makeup looks I see on Pinterest and Instagram (smoky eyes, feline flicks, graphic eyeliner) won’t look anything like that on me or other people with my eye shape.

In the past, this has left me feeling deflated, but years of trial and error means I’ve had to hunt high and low for eye makeup trends that will work for my eye shape. And once you get the hang of them, they aren't actually that tough to master. Ahead, I tried and tested four simple party eye makeup looks for hooded eyes. Here's how to make them work for you.

A great cat eye often evades those of us with hooded eyes because it either ends up completely the wrong shape or the eyeliner smudges all over your lids. The trick to nailing a wing is to keep your eyes open and relaxed, then to sketch out the shape of the wing using a thin brush like the Revlon Double Ended Smokey Eye Brush, £7.99, and a black eyeshadow. I used the shade Pitch from the Revolution Iconic Pro 1 Palette, £6.99.

Start at the outer corner and work your way towards your temple. Then, draw the top of the wing straight across so that it meets the top of your crease. When you close your eyes, you will be left with an empty angle.

Follow the line you sketched out using a felt-tip liner, like NYX's Epic Ink, £9, which I find much easier to control than liquid or gel. Fill in the gap of the angle so that when your eyes close, it makes a fun graphic shape. You won't see this when the eye is open, though, so it'll simply look like a seamless wing. Finally, apply lashings of mascara, such as Glossier Lash Slick, £14.

The block colour lid

One of my favourite eye makeup trends is the block colour. Lilac, electric blue and gold reign supreme on Instagram, but I chose a pop of orange to complement my green eyes – the shade Roxy from the Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture Palette, £43, to be exact.

Apply a thin layer over your entire eyelid up past your crease and onto your brow bone using the Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush, £10.99. Build the colour above your crease by packing the shade on in a smoky shape along the crease and towards the end of your brow bone using the Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush, £7.

Once you are happy with colour payoff, apply a very thin line of Glossier's Colour Slide in Jumbo, £13, along your top lash line and underneath the lower lash line, about a third of the way along your eye. Fashioning a much thinner line than usual means that even when your eyes are open, the colour is less likely to transfer, a common gripe for those with hooded eyes.

Using the Revlon Double Ended Smokey Eye Brush, £7.99, apply the shade Cube, also from the Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture Palette, to the inner corner to complement the colour, and finish with a slick of mascara. I used the Lash Slick again.

This is yet another eye makeup trend that often escapes those of us with deeper set eyes because it so often relies on the use of the entire lid. That said, it can look just as good if you're clever with placement. The key is to blanket the lid but apply just as much eyeshadow to your brow bone, too, to give the illusion of more lid space.

I used the Revolution Iconic Pro 1 Palette again, but the Wet n Wild Colour Icon 32 Pan Palette, £14.95, and Beauty Bay EYN Fiery 16 Colour Palette, £11.50, both have a great selection of neutral shimmer shades. Using a fluffy brush, I applied shade Must over my entire eyelid and up to my brow bone to create a base for the shimmer to cling on to.

Using a similar brush, slowly build up your chosen shimmer shade (I opted for Getter) across your crease and up to your brow bone. Shimmer shades can be notoriously difficult to work with and often result in product fallout, so gently layering them offers more control than packing it on at once.

Using the tip of the same brush, apply a darker shade, such as Afflicated, along your upper and lower lash line, mixing this slightly deeper shade with the leftover shimmer on the brush. A lighter hue like Dawn works well in the inner corner. Using a fluffy brush, blend this into the gold. To finish, add a swipe of mascara on top and bottom lashes. I then rate the Mary Kay Lash Intensity Mascara, £16.50, to give me drama.

Makeup artists will have you believe that you can’t go wrong with a smoky eye. Somehow though, you always end up blending too many different shades together, producing a racoon-like result. If you have hooded eyes, you'll also know that the usual shape experts stick to on almond eyes doesn't quite work for those which are a little deeper set.

For this look, I opted for four shades. Using a do-all palette such as the Huda Beauty Rose Gold Remastered Palette, £56, apply a matte taupe shade like Suede across your entire lid and up to your brow bone using a fluffy brush. Again, I like the Real Techniques Eyeshadow Shade And Blend Makeup Brushes, £10.99. Using the same brush, apply a darker shade such as Black Truffle across the outer two thirds of your eye. Then pack on the same shade, focusing on your brow bone and outer corner. I layered the colour until I was happy with the saturation, and smoked out the edges using the Base Shadow Brush to create more of a 'grunge' look.

To maximise the smoky look on hooded eyes, apply eyeshadow to your lower lash line with a smaller brush (I like Huda's Dubai) and don't worry about being too neat. Smudge it out to look imperfect and lived-in. Next, concentrate on the inner corner. A much lighter colour like Bubbly applied with fingers makes for a pop of brightness. Top it off with two coats of dramatic mascara, such as Marc Jacobs Beauty Velvet Noir Major Volume Mascara, £22, or MAC's In Extreme Dimension 3D Black Lash Mascara, £20, so that lashes don't completely disappear.