Eye Shape Detector

Vocabulary for eyes was built by two professions that needed it daily. Makeup artists wanted to explain why one liner technique flattered a client and closed down the next one. Clinicians wanted terms for lid position and orbital depth.

Today's ten categories merge both vocabularies, which is why some name an outline and others name a setting. The merger has a consequence worth knowing before you read a result: the families are not mutually exclusive. You can be almond in outline, hooded in lid structure and wide-set in position at the same time, and most people are exactly that combination of three. Sorting them apart takes measurement.

Landmarks used here run to five per eye: the medial canthus, the lateral canthus, the highest point of the upper lid margin, the lowest point of the lower lid margin, and the pupil center. Everything reported is derived from those five.

• Aspect ratio divides the width of the palpebral fissure by its height at the tallest point, separating elongated openings from circular ones.
• Canthal tilt measures the corner-to-corner line against horizontal once head roll has been removed from the mesh.
• Intercanthal ratio compares the gap between the inner corners against the width of a single eye.
• Crease visibility records whether a supratarsal crease exists above the lid margin, and whether skin above it overhangs that margin with the eye open.
• Orbital projection estimates how far the corneal apex sits forward of the brow ridge and lower orbital rim, read from shading gradient and lid curvature.

Those five values map onto the ten descriptors in the table that follows.

Almond serves as the reference outline, iris just touching both lid margins. Round shows sclera all the way around, which the eye reads as openness. Upturned and downturned are pure tilt and attach to any lid type. Monolid gives you a lash line as the only structural line to work with, while hooded hides its crease in the open position, which is why product placed on the lid disappears. The four positional descriptors say nothing about the opening itself, only where it sits, and each combination calls for different product placement.

Technique follows one idea: put emphasis where you want the eye to look larger or shifted, and keep weight off whatever already dominates.

• Almond eyes take nearly any approach; a gradient with the darkest tone in the outer third is the safe default.
• Round eyes lengthen when liner extends past the outer corner instead of thickening all the way around.
• Upturned eyes balance out when the lower lash line carries weight along its outer third.
• Downturned eyes lift under a wing aimed at the brow tail, with lower liner stopping two-thirds along.
• Monolid eyes need a wider horizontal gradient built up from the lash line, since pigment has no fold to sit in.
• Hooded eyes keep their transition shade visible only when it goes above the natural crease, with liner thin and tight to the lashes.
• Close-set eyes push apart when the inner corner is lightened and depth concentrates outward.
• Wide-set eyes draw together the opposite way: definition carried inward, outer edge left soft.
• Deep-set eyes open up under light reflective tones, with dark shadow kept out of an already shadowed crease.
• Protruding eyes recede under matte mid-tones; shimmer pushes the lid further forward.

Every one of those readings assumes the photograph was taken properly, and eyes are the least forgiving feature on that count.

Capture matters more here than for any other facial measurement, because the structures are small and lid position changes by the second.

Look straight at the lens, expression relaxed, both eyes open but not widened. Raising your brows lifts the upper lid and can hide a hooded fold completely. Keep the camera exactly level with your eyes. Shooting from below exposes sclera under the iris and can turn an almond reading round.

Light should be even and frontal. Overhead light drops shadow into the orbit and makes any eye look deep-set, while hard side light exaggerates brow overhang. Take the glasses off, clear hair and fringe from the brow line, and photograph bare eyes where you can, since liner exists precisely to alter apparent outline and tilt. Even a careful photo has boundaries, and it helps to know which numbers sit inside them.

Numbers hold up well for the first three values. Aspect ratio, tilt in degrees and inner-corner spacing repeat closely between photographs taken under matched conditions, and they're the trustworthy part of any result.

Labels hold up less well. Depth classifications are the weakest of the set, because orbital projection is a front-to-back quantity that a frontal photograph does not contain. The tool infers it from shading and curvature, and strong light produces false readings in either direction. Hooding is a matter of degree rather than a switch, and it increases gradually across adult life, so plenty of people sit legitimately in between.

None of this is a clinical assessment. Mild differences between your two eyes, small variations in crease height and gradual changes in overhanging skin are ordinary. But they aren't something a geometry tool should interpret. Concerns about vision, drooping or a change you've noticed recently belong with an optometrist or ophthalmologist.

Ten descriptors, three families, one browser tab. The vocabulary merges makeup practice with clinical terminology, the five landmark points per eye produce aspect ratio, canthal tilt and intercanthal spacing, and the comparison table shows the defining signal behind each label. Technique follows the lid structure rather than the outline alone, capture conditions decide whether a small-feature measurement means anything, and the depth-based labels carry the widest error bars of the set. Nothing here diagnoses. Open the eye shape detector, take a level bare-eyed photo, and read the degrees alongside the names.