A Guide to Eye Shapes, Lash Mapping and Curls

A Guide to Eye Shapes, Lash Mapping and Curls!

Being a lash artist, you’ll know that no two clients are the same. You will come across all different eye shapes in your lash career. You may also find that some clients will have a mixture of eye shapes. Before you lash a client, you should look at the eye shape and positioning to determine their eye structure. This will then help you determine the client's eye shape and recommended style.  

The best way to determine your clients eye shape is to get them to send you a photo ahead of their appointment. When trying to determine your clients eye shape you need to look at your eye structure, you'll need to check for two things: Do you they have a crease on their lid, and can you see the crease? 

There are six common eye shapes: monolids, round eyes, almond eyes, downturned eyes, upturned eyes, and hooded eyes. 

Monolids

If your client doesn’t have a crease on their lid, then they have monolids.

  • Recommended Styling: Cat, Doll or Squirrel.
  • Curls: If the lashes are straight and down pointing use a curl that has a flatter base like M or L. Otherwise a CC or D will also work with a Cat, Doll or Squirrel styling.

If your client does have a crease then their eye shape will be one of the below eye shapes: 

Round

Your client has a round eye shape if they have a visible crease on their eyelid and the iris of the eye is surrounded by just a touch of white, disconnecting it from the top and bottom eyelid.

  • Recommended Styling: Cat and Squirrel
  • Curls: Use shorter lengths in a softer curl and elongate towards the outer corners to give a slimming effect.

Almond

Your client has an almond eye shape if: they have a visible crease on their eyelid and, unlike those with round eyes, the iris touches both the top and bottom of the eyelid.

  • Recommended Styling: Almond eyes suit a variety of lash styles.
  • Curls: C Curl - Helps give an extra lift and curl look.  CC Curl is a very popular curl for a more dramatic appearance but can be worn day to day.

Downturned

Identifying downturned eyes is easy. This is when the outer corners of the eyes turn downwards. If you can’t quite tell, imagine drawing a straight line across the clients’ eye. If the outer corners turn down beneath the line, then they have downturned eyes. 

  • Recommended Styling: Squirrel is best for this eye shape. Use an open or lifting style that will help take focus away from the down-turned outer corners.
  • Curls: Use a strong curl if the lashes are really straight. Concentrate the length in the area you want to lift or heighten.

Upturned

This is the opposite of downturned. Do the outer corners of your client’s eyes flick upwards? Use the same approach as you did when checking for downturned eyes. If the outer corners turn upwards above the line, then your client has upturned eyes. 

  • Recommended Styling: Use a Cat Eye style or Squirrel style depending on the final look required.
  • Curls: Use a soft curl, adding length towards the outer corners and shorter inners.

Hooded

Hooded eyes regularly occur as we get older, as the skin begins to lose its elasticity. Your clients have hooded eyes if they have a crease, but it isn’t visible because it’s hidden beneath a flap of skin.

  • Recommend Styling: Squirrel
  • Curls: Use strong curls with length to get them out and up from underneath the lid. An L curl is ideal for clients with hooded lids or downward pointing lashes to create a glamorous lash lift look to their eyes. Top tip: tape back the lid so you can get as close to the lash line as possible.

We hope this blog post has been helpful, as always if you have any questions then get in touch with us on Instagram @LashBase_US and we’ll be happy to help!

Team LashBase x