Eye shapes, tilt
Upturned eyes: how to tell, and makeup that works
Upturned eyes have outer corners that sit higher than the inner corners, so a line drawn from corner to corner climbs toward the temples. The angle of that line is called the canthal tilt, and a small upward tilt is normal for most adults; upturned eyes have a tilt you can see at a glance. They give the lifted, feline look that winged liner tries to create, so makeup mostly follows what is already there.
How to tell if you have upturned eyes
Look straight into a mirror in daylight, with your face relaxed and your chin level, and check these:
- Hold a pen level across your face at your inner corners: your outer corners sit clearly above it.
- Your lower lid rises as it runs toward the outer corner.
- A wing drawn along your lower lid already points up toward the tail of your brow.
- Your eyes look lifted in photos even without liner.
How upturned eyes vary
A slight upward tilt is the norm, and the average differs between groups. In one photo study of adults, the outer corner sat on average about 2 to 3 degrees above the inner corner in non-Latino white participants, about 6 degrees in Latino participants, and about 8 degrees in East Asian participants (Fry et al., 2017). So upturned is relative: the same tilt can be average in one face and striking in another.
Head position changes the reading. Tipping your chin down makes your eyes look more upturned in a photo, and tipping it up flattens the tilt; in one study, a 15 degree head tilt in either direction moved the height of the outer corner by around 2 mm (Vaca et al., 2021). Judge your tilt with your chin level and your eyes straight ahead.
Your two eyes can tilt differently by a degree or two. That is normal, and it is often the reason a wing looks higher on one side.
Upturned vs almond vs hunter eyes
Upturned vs almond
Many upturned eyes are almond-shaped too. The difference is the corners: an almond eye sits about level, while an upturned one climbs. If you are unsure, compare both corners against a straight edge.
Upturned vs hunter
Hunter eyes are an upturned tilt plus deep-set eyes, a low brow, and little visible lid. An upturned eye with plenty of lid space and a high brow is simply upturned.
Makeup for upturned eyes
Eyeliner
Follow your own angle: extend the line of your lower lid outward and up, and connect it back to the upper lash line. Keep the inner half thin so the outer lift stands out. A dramatic upswept wing on an already upturned eye can look exaggerated, so keep it short.
Eyeshadow
Balance the lift by adding a little color under the outer third of the lower lashes, which grounds the eye. On the lid, blend the deepest shade from the outer corner toward the end of the brow.
Mascara and lashes
Even, all-over volume suits upturned eyes; you do not need extra length at the outer corner to create lift. A soft lower lash coat balances the shape.
What to skip
- A long, steep wing: it can push the tilt into a cartoon cat eye.
- Leaving the lower lash line completely bare with a heavy upper wing: the eye looks top-heavy.
An everyday look, step by step
- Blend a warm matte through the crease and toward the end of the brow.
- Line the upper lashes thinly, then extend the lower lid angle into a short wing.
- Smudge a little of the crease shade under the outer third of the lower lashes.
- Add mascara to top and bottom lashes.
Brows and glasses for upturned eyes
Brows
A brow that rises gently and keeps its tail level or slightly lifted continues the line of an upturned eye. Very straight, low brows can contrast with it nicely; a steep, high arch repeats the tilt and can look severe.
Glasses
Cat-eye frames echo an upturned eye, and round or softly square frames balance it. Make sure the top rim does not cut across the outer corner, where your eye rises.
Common combinations
Each eye shape describes one part of the eye, so most upturned eyes come with other traits too. These pairings come up most often:
Upturned almond eyes are the shape a classic wing imitates. Keep liner thin and short; the shape does the work.
Upturned monolids carry their lift in the lower lid. A gradient shadow that fades up and out follows it.
An upturned tilt with deep-set eyes and a low brow is the pattern people call hunter eyes.
Check your eye shape from a photo
The detector levels your face on its midline, then measures the angle of the line from each eye's inner corner to its outer corner against the level. A tilt above +5 degrees reads upturned, from 0 to +5 reads level, and below 0 reads downturned, the three classes of a published classification of canthal tilt for surgical planning (Lee, Choung, and Choung, 2020), measured on the tilt rounded to a tenth of a degree. The canthal tilt calculator uses the same bands.
Frequently asked questions
What is a positive canthal tilt?
Canthal tilt is the angle of the line from the inner corner of the eye to the outer corner. It is positive when the outer corner sits higher, which is the case for most adults, and upturned eyes have a clearly positive tilt.
Are upturned eyes attractive?
In one experiment, judges preferred photos of female faces with the eye tilt slightly increased over the unedited photos most of the time (Bashour and Geist, 2007). Attractiveness depends on the whole face, though, and level or downturned eyes are just as common in faces people find beautiful.
How do I find out my eye tilt?
Look straight into a mirror with your chin level and hold a straight edge across your inner corners. The eye shape detector measures the angle of each eye from a photo, in degrees.
Can makeup make my eyes look upturned?
Yes. A wing angled toward the tail of the brow, shadow blended up and out, and lashes that are longest at the outer corner all add lift. They change how the eye reads, not the angle of its corners.
