Monolid Eye Makeup Basics & Tips

Having monolids, also called Asian eyes or eyes without a crease, can be tricky, especially because it's not that easy to follow conventional makeup tutorials! (Huhuhu but that doesn't stop me from watching Miss Phan!) But once you've mastered the basics, it's a piece of cake!

1. Pick the right products.
A primer is a must. Gel liners are good for the area that is hidden when you close your eyes - they stay on for the most part. (I've found pencil and liquid liner always smeared with all the constant contact of the lids every time you blink!)

2. Emphasize the center.

Slightly. Some monolids have a straighter shape on the upper lid due to the lack of a crease. You don't want your eyeliner to be too thick on the outer or inner corner, but going a little thicker in the center makes for rounder looking eyes. Once you're sure all your liner is visible when your eyes are open (see below), then you can adjust the shape.

Emphasize it here!

3. Using eyeliner: focus on the upper lid.
Eyeliner is key key key. One of the beautiful things about monolids is that you can change your eye shape with your handy eyeliner, without the restriction of a crease line. If you have monolids, you've probably noticed that any liner you apply to your upper lashline disappears as soon as you open your eyes. While it has no problem showing up on your lower lashline, you want to avoid putting it here too much because they make the lids look quite heavy.

Begin applying eyeliner with your eyes open. I find it easiest to make a mark in the center while you have your eyes open, and then working from there!

As you can see, there is going to be space on the hidden area of your lid that you have to fill in later, but in the meantime, just focus on making a defined visible line, following the natural curve of your eye. It's always easiest to do this whole process with your eyes open. You can later adjust the shape to your liking.

Lined upper lashline!

Then, fill in the space that isn't visible when your eyes are opened last.

4. Using eyeshadow: don't blend too much!
Eyeshadow has been a tricky thing for me when it comes to my monolids. I always strayed away from using any because I found it overwhelmed my eyes and made them look smaller instead of bigger, so I just admired all the pretty colors and palettes from afar. But that doesn't have to be the case!

Now I find eyeshadow to be very usable, helping create depth to my depthless eyes. When applying eyeshadow, instead of applying it to the "imaginary crease area" around your eyesocket and blending, just apply it directly above your eyeliner in a straight line/v-shape/other shape, without any blending (except the edges perhaps, I like to taper where it starts or ends). Or do very minimal blending, because I find that eyeshadow can outweigh the eyeliner and create the illusion of smaller eyes occurs when I overblend.

I find that a small angle brush works the best for this. This adds dimension and makes the lids look less flat.

In my experience, making nearly all eyemakeup crisp and having a defined line works the best for monolids. However, that doesn't mean that blended eyeshadow can't still work to your advantage!

I like using brown for a natural shadow (lol yes it is eyeshadow, I know) look, but try experimenting with different colors, too! Having monolids doesn't limit us to anything >:D


5. Using eyeshadow: apply it after the eyeliner.
If you do wish to use eyeshadow, try to use it after you have achieved the eyeliner you want. It's better to control the shape and form you desire this way, because eyeliner for monolids are already quite thick. You can go back over the eyeliner afterwards if it needs redefining.


6. Open your eyes with lashes!
It's typical for monolids to hide and push eyelashes down, making them very straight and invisible. But if you frame your lids with lashes, eyes can look a hundredfold more awake. Of course, you can achieve visible eyelashes with either falsies or mascara.

False eyelashes are a quick way to get full, fluttery lashes. Just glue them on and voila! Sometimes if they have a thick band, they can even open your eyes more and make a bit of a crease. But with the glue and extra weight, I find it troublesome for everyday wear, and better suited to occasional events.

Mascara is also a hard thing to get to work (is there any makeup for monolids that doesn't require extra thought?), but luckily, it is possible! I wrote a post previously about mascara for monolids that explains how I do it. Again, remember not to go bottom heavy!

With mascara!

7. Don't go overboard with eyebrows!

Especially with monolids, having eyebrows too extremely thick/dark can easily overwhelm your eyes. Otherwise, go crazy with however you want to shape your brows - thick, skinny, thin, arched, straight, etc.! Whatever compliments your eyes best!

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That's all I have to share for now! I wish I had known these things when I was beginning to wear makeup. Poor 15-year-old me, confused and sad makeup wouldn't work right. It would have definitely saved me from looking back at pictures of myself in makeup where it didn't suit my eyes at all... Oh well, live and learn!

I really hope that this has been of help to somebody! And I'll be sure to try to write more tips and tutorials based around monolids.

From picture 1 to picture 2 - now you know the secrets! : D

<3 San