Eye shape detector: what is my eye shape?

The eye shapes

Each shape has its own guide with eyeliner, eyeshadow, lashes, brows, and glasses that suit it. See all eye shapes side by side, with the mirror test and a comparison table.

Almond eyesWider than tall, tapering to a point at both corners, with the lids just covering the top and bottom of the iris.Round eyesTall for their width, with a curved upper and lower lid, so the whole iris shows and some white sits above or below it.Hooded eyesA fold of skin from below the brow bone covers the crease, so little or no lid shows when your eyes are open.Monolid eyesA single, smooth lid with no crease from the lashes to the brow, often with a soft fold over the inner corner.Upturned eyesThe outer corners sit higher than the inner ones, so a line from corner to corner climbs toward the temples.Downturned eyesThe outer corners sit a little lower than the inner ones, so a line from corner to corner slopes down toward the temples.Deep-set eyesThe eyes sit further back under a prominent brow bone, so the lids fall into shadow.Protruding eyesThe eyes sit forward of the brow bone, so more of the lid shows and it curves outward.Close-set eyesThe gap between the eyes is narrower than the width of one eye.Wide-set eyesThe gap between the eyes is wider than the width of one eye.Hunter eyesDeep-set, with a positive tilt, a low brow, little visible upper lid, and a fairly straight lower lid.

How the eye shape detector works

A face model running in your browser places 478 points on your face, including the corners and lid margins of each eye and the edge of each iris. We level the photo on the line down the middle of your face, so a tilted head doesn’t tilt your eyes, then measure three things from those points:

• Tilt: the angle of the line from each inner corner to its outer corner, against the level. Above +5 degrees reads upturned, below 0 reads downturned, and in between is level, on the tilt rounded to a tenth of a degree. These are the three classes of a published classification of canthal tilt (Lee, Choung, and Choung, 2020), and the canthal tilt calculator uses the same bands.
• Opening: the height of each eye, measured square to its corner line, divided by its width. Under0.40 reads almond, and 0.40 or more reads round. We also check where the lower lid crosses your iris, because white showing below it is part of a round eye.
• Spacing: the gap between your inner corners, divided by the average width of your eyes. Under1.10 reads close-set and over 1.35 reads wide-set. The face model marks each inner corner where the white of the eye ends, a little outside the pink corner you would measure from in a mirror, so its gap reads a bit wider than a ruler’s; the bands allow for that.

Millimeters come from your iris, which is close to the same size in most adults: about 11.7 mm across on average (Rüfer et al., 2005). Measured adults have eyes about 26 to 28 mm wide, about 8.4 mm tall when open, and 29 to 33 mm apart at the inner corners (Fry et al., 2017), so you can set your numbers next to theirs.

What a photo can and can’t tell

A straight-on photo is good at angles and proportions, so tilt, opening, and spacing come from your photo. It is poor at depth and folds. Whether a fold of skin covers your crease (hooded) or there is no crease at all (monolid) depends on light and shadow a flat photo can’t separate, and how far your eyes sit back under your brow (deep-set or protruding) only shows from the side. So the detector asks you those two questions and marks which parts of your result came from your answers.

If your tilt is positive, your opening is almond, and you say your eyes sit back under your brow, your result also notes the hunter eyes pattern.

How to take a photo for the eye shape test

1. Hold the camera at eye level, at arm’s length or further, and look straight into the lens.
2. Keep your chin level. Tipping it down makes your eyes look more upturned and tipping it up makes them look less; in one study a 15 degree change moved the outer corners by about 2 mm (Vaca et al., 2021).
3. Relax your face. A smile pushes your lower lids up and makes eyes read narrower and more almond.
4. Take off glasses and pull your hair away from your eyes and brows.
5. Face soft daylight, so your lids and lashes are clear.

Curious about the rest of your face? The face shape detector measures its outline, and the attractiveness test scores your proportions, symmetry, and eye tilt together. The skin around your eyes changes faster than their shape: the GoodSkin app scores 14 skin traits from one selfie, including wrinkles and puffiness.