While Caucasians search ‘How to stop eyeshadow from creasing’, Asians typically search ‘How to fake a crease with eyeshadow’.
Before I got more serious into makeup, I only knew I had double eyelids. Crease…what? The only crease I knew was the kind of crease found on a crumpled piece of paper.
But before I start explaining, here’s a little disclaimer. The words ‘Westerner’ and ‘Caucasian’ will be used interchangeably in this post with no intention whatsoever to offend anyone. With ‘Asian’ I refer more specifically to East and Southeast Asians – Mongoloids (LOL! What a funky name!). Western Asians (Middle East) and Southern Asians (Pakistan, India, etc) have anatomical traits more similar to those of Westerners. So we shall only cover the Mongoloids of Asia.
OKIE! Let’s start!
When I got more interested in makeup, I started to read beauty blogs and watch videos that went on and on about ‘applying a darker eyeshadow color to your crease to bring more dimension to the eyes.’ I looked at myself in the mirror and searched for the mysterious crease these makeup bloggers were talking about. Is the word ‘crease’ just another moniker for what we Asians refer to as ‘double eyelids’?
It didn’t occur to me, until much later on, that the blogs I was reading and videos I was watching had Western authors that taught the Western way of makeup application. No matter how hard I tried in emulating the way they placed their eyeshadows, I could never achieve the looks they easily demonstrated.
It didn’t occur to me that our bone structures are completely different and even though I have double eyelids, where my crease and contour area lie is very different from a Caucasian’s. Even though it is a matter of mere millimeters more at which the skin folds above the eyelashes, there is a much greater science that explains our differences in genetics.
The Stereotypical Asian Eye
Eye Type Chart #1
I found this picture online showing the types of eyes. Can you guess which is labeled ‘Asian eyes’?
Guess Guess!
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Did you get it right?
Well, most of my friends didn’t get it right on the first try and some had no clue even after the third guess.
Hello? What does ‘Asian eyes’ mean? I think the Asian eye in this diagram looks very much the same as the rest of the eyes, except for the slight epicanthal fold at the inner corner of the eye and the palpebral slant. Not ALL Asians have epicanthal folds and even Caucasians can have palpebral slants and epicanthal folds too.
By the way, an epicanthal fold is the skin of the upper eyelid that covers the inner corner of the eye. And the palpebral slant is, in layman’s term, the slant of the eye.
The above picture also assumes that all Asians have a crease. Not all Asians have a crease and such eye types are called monolids. Even Asians who have a crease do not have such a thick crease. The one in the picture is considered thicker than the average Asian eyelid.
Hooded eyelid with minimal epicanthal fold
Monolid with prominent epicanthal fold
And here’s another eye type chart that conveniently groups all of us into ONE eye type.
Eye Type Chart #2
Do you see the ‘asian’ eye? It looks so exotic AND offensive at the same time! LOL. Asians don’t look like that, at least not the majority of us. This illustration of the Asian eye is so stereotypical and out-dated I burst out laughing when I first saw it. It looks more like Mulan – a brave Chinese girl who went to war in place of her ailing father. Mulan, from what I see, has ‘Phoenix eyes’ with double eyelids, prominent epicanthal folds and a super palpebral slant.
Lumping all Asian eyes under one type while displaying many types of the Caucasian eye is tantamount to showing this to a Caucasian.
(Picture taken from http://www.asianeyelid.com/faq.html)
See what I mean? Just one ‘typical Caucasian eyelid crease’. I can totally relate to these eyes and know how to apply makeup on them while a Caucasian upon seeing this chart may be perplexed that an eye can have no crease or that the orbital rim (contour area) is nowhere near the crease.
Just a sidetrack. This image was taken from a website that specialises in Asian double eyelid surgery. I believe the (h) was included to let patients understand that the goal of double eyelid surgery is not to westernize an Asian face, but to create a crease that looks natural on an Asian face. Giving a patient too high a crease will only result in an imbalanced overall look. Double eyelids are generally appreciated across many cultures and Asians who undergo double eyelid surgery do so to make their eyes look bigger with a defined crease and to have more lid space for eye makeup. NOT to look more Western.
So. As I was saying.
Not all Caucasian babies look like…
And not all Asian babies look like…
This baby makes me smile every time… =)
No, seriously, we all know not all Caucasian babies look like that and not all Asian babies look like that too. In fact, ‘Asian’ is too broad a classification. With so many countries making up East and Southeast Asia, the Mulan-esque ‘Asian eye’ does not even represent half of us.
(Pictures taken from Google and modified by me)
See, both Thanh Huyen and Vicky Zhao Wei:
1. have double eyelids,
2. do not have the epicanthal fold that people think distinguishes Asians from Caucasians,
3. do not have eyes that slant upwards,
4. do not look like Mulan
Thanh Huyen has alluring almond-shaped eyes with parallel crease that are slightly triangular.
Vicky has gorgeous big round eyes with parallel crease, with the right eye being more hooded than the left.
(Wow, adjectives, adjectives)
Ah, I sometimes have asymmetrical eyelids like that too. If I sleep too much or too little, my left eyelid becomes more hooded. Because I see things with grid lines in my eyes, I like both eyelids to be of about the same height. So I use eyelid tapes (aka eyelids stickers) to correct the fold.
While there is extensive literature on how to apply eyeshadow for Caucasian eyes, the same cannot be said for Asian eyes (at least not in English!). Not only do Asians have different descents, the type, shape and size of eyes differ between countries and even within a country. These factors must be taken into consideration when applying eyeshadow or eyeliner on an Asian eye.
My point in showing the eye charts and pictures is to demonstrate that the depiction of the ‘Asian eye’ is incorrect and it is not fair to simply wave Asians off with a one-size-fits-all eye type.
Therefore, how Asians apply eyeshadow will be different from Caucasians, and different types of Asian eye will require different eyeshadow placement.
So…
Are you saying that an Asian eye is similar to a Caucasian eye?
Yes. And NO!
The out-dated eye charts display an array of eye types – wide set, deep set, close set, almond, hooded, down turned, protruding, round small – and then the infamous ‘Asian eye’. You mean they don’t know that Asians have those eye types too? Aren’t eye shapes and sizes just… shapes and sizes? If the shapes and sizes apply to both Caucasian AND Asian eyes, why must there be as isolated ‘Asian eye’ then?
They should’ve just shown,
and we’d be all pissed off because, just like Caucasian Eyes don’t mean anything to a Caucasian, Asian Eyes don’t mean no nothing to an Asian either.
Yougetwhatimean? =)
Since the eye shapes and sizes of both Caucasians and Asians are the same,
Since not all Asians have slanted eyes,
Since not all Asians have epicanthal folds,
What makes an Asian eye different from a Caucasian eye then?
The crease and the eyelids, yo!
Now that you know there is more to an ‘Asian eye’ seen in magazines, how many types exactly are there? Just so you know, 50% of the Asian population have a crease while the other half don’t. If anything, I believe the Asian eye has an even more complex structure and poses a greater challenge to a makeup artist than a Caucasian one.
The additional underlying layer of fatty tissue and thicker skin of Asian eyelid not found in Caucasian eyelids prevents the formation of a lid crease on 50% of the Asian population. Lids that are crease-free are called monolids. There are some really interesting facts about the anatomical differences of Asian and Caucasian eyes. So, like I mentioned earlier, people who go for double eyelid surgery do so not to ‘westernize’ their eyes, but to look more like the other 50% of the Asian population who do have double eyelids.
I created a simple mindmap to show the similarities and differences between an Asian eye and a Caucasian eye.
[Click to see larger image]
You can see that the ‘Asian Eye’ has an additional eye shape – Phoenix eye, which is a beautiful eye shape named so because it resembles the eye of the mythical phoenix. And there’s a whole new category for the types of Eyelids as well, something that Caucasian Eyes do not have.
In my next post, I will write about eye makeup tips for different types of Asian eyes.
Where is the mysterious Asian crease?
For the 50% of Asians who do have a crease, it is commonly referred to as ‘double eyelids’ instead of ‘crease’. The crease is where the double eyelid fold stops. For most Caucasian eyes, the crease and contour of the eye coincide.
Therefore when Caucasian makeup gurus instruct to ‘place the darkest shade on the crease’, they really mean ‘I actually mean to tell you to place the darkest shade on the contour of the eye socket. But I don’t say it just because my crease and contour coincide’. LOL. I took a long, long time to finally understand this by myself.
Where is the Asian contour area then?
Regardless of whether you have a crease or not, your contour area lies above the crease and you CAN apply contour shade even if you have monolids. Some have a more obvious contour area than others as well.
You can try raising your head and looking down to see it. If you still cannot see it, feel it. Use a fluffy eyeshadow brush like the MAC #217 and push the outer corner of the eyelid into the socket. Gently, please. There, my friend, is where you ‘place the darkest shade’ on an Asian eye. =)
Click on the picture below to read ‘Where to apply contour eyeshadow color on an Asian eye‘.
So you see, there is more to Asian eyes than the outrageously homogenous perception of ‘Asian Eye’. I’m not offended that all Asian eyes are generalized under one eye type; I find it rather funny actually, to see how people perceive how an ‘Asian eye’ should look. I remember vividly the ending picture in Harold and Kumar Go To Whitecastle. It was a picture of the stereotypical Chinese man (yellow skin, thin slit slanted eyes, 2 strokes as mustache, wearing a straw hat) and Indian man (dark skin, big eyes, thick beard, super white teeth). Super hilarious.
While most makeup artists learn from the standard charts such as those above, I think it is high time that more artists realize there is more to a standard ‘Asian eye’ than a slant, epicanthal folds, and monolids (or high crease as in the Eye Chart #1). Beauty bloggers who do a great job with eyeshadow tutorials for Asian eyes are Jen (from Korea) frmheadtotoe, Connie (from Malaysia) skindeco, and Nikki (Philippines) askmewhats.
My intention of writing this post is to share with all Asian girls that it is okie to not look like the makeup bloggers or vloggers, even if you’ve used everything they used, because we are, after all, genetically different. Embrace what you have, know where your crease and contour area are, learn how to use the right makeup brushes, work on the technique, and let your true Asian beauty shine.
Lotsa love from a girl who has Asian eyelids with parallel crease and an unstable left double eyelid,
Juli
(Psst! My girlfriends have agreed to be my models to show how to apply eye makeup on different types of Asian eyes. Stay tuned! ^_^*)
Related articles:
Tutorial: Where to apply contour eyeshadow color on an Asian eye
Eye Makeup Tips For 14 Different Types of Asian Eyes
So interesting! And for the record, I’m caucasian with epicanthal folds!
That’s awesome, and really sexy. =D
I gotta say this is one of the best blog post I have ever read on eyes
And it makes sense. We all have different Asian eyes and my eyes are as stubborn as yours 
Thank you Juli. I am bookmarking this post!!
x0x0
a!kO recently posted..Project 365- 105 The eagles are flopping
Thank you very much a!kO for bookmarking! Yup, Asian eyes are truly unique and beautiful in their own way. =)
Thanks for linking me and for mentioning about my site! Great post and I’ll definitely share this to readers who email me for queries as ours
More posts from you ! Take care!
Hi Nikki, thanks for dropping by! You take care too! =)
I think Mulan is beautiful, and I don’t think she was created to further a stereotype: I just think that slight ethnic physical characteristics are difficult to distinguish when viewing a cartoon, so they made her the most “extreme” version of Asian eyes.
I think Mulan is beautiful too! Yes, I guess the editors of eye charts simply saw Mulan and thought we all look like that and drew it in Chart #2. lol
I loved this post haha it was both informative and absolutely hilarious
I feel represented! Take that asian stereotypes!
Yea! Take that! *throws something* LOL. Glad that you enjoyed reading this post, Grace! =)
Wah what an informative post on eyes!! But really awesome post!!!
Thank you! =D
I’m a Caucasian, but I apparently have a parallel crease. I think the type of double eyelid are relevant to Caucasians — we don’t all have the same double eyelid either!
Thanks for this great information. I am a Caucasian artist living in a multicultural community. I have tried doing portraits of Asians but found it very difficult. Understanding the underlying physiological differences will make it much easier, I hope. Thanks again.
Hi Suzanne, glad my post helped you in understanding more about Asian eyes. There’re specific makeup techniques for Asian eyes, especially when there’re so many different eye types. Hope to see more of you here! =)
Ah, okay. I have never delved into make-up, so whenever my fellow Asian peers talked about “monolids” and “double lids,” I was confused. Double lids? I thought they meant Asians with multiple eyelid creases.
Based on this post, I have a nasally tapered crease. The tapering is more prominent in my left eye. I am once again surprised about how this topic has been researched before, and that all the general Asian eyelid crease shapes have been recorded, haha. Thanks for the interesting post!
Haha! That’s exactly what went through my mind when I first saw the word ‘crease’! And oh, so you have Phoenix-nasally tapered eyes? Sexy~!
Another fabulous post! I wish for lots of people to become educated about this issue, a lot of people have been making noise about people in the asian community wanting to look more ‘white’ which rarely is the case. It’s just another ideal, like in any society…breast implants, smaller nose? Aren’t those changing looking just as much?
I have medium round monolids! But they magically become deep asian double lids with waterproof mascara!
lovely post!
Awww, we know that’s NOT TRUE right! I don’t think Asians yearn to be ‘white’ either. Every society has its idea of the ‘perfect face’, ‘perfect body’, ‘perfect hair’… It’s just not nice to say that people are turning ‘white’ just because they alter some part of their face to look better.
Thanks for reading Sharlynn, and hey, that’s my wish too! =D
It’s my hope that future eye type charts are created with your mind map as a reference. It’s so easy to see and understand all the various eye shapes & possibilities when you lay it out that way. Useful not only for cosmetologists or home makeup enthusiasts, but artists and anyone with more than a passing interest in human physiology as well. I love this article!
Just as an anecdote, and one reason I found this article so compelling — I’m Caucasian, my husband is Asian (Taiwanese), and I am so over explaining why our kids don’t have “Asian eyes.”
They don’t have “Asian eyes” because my husband doesn’t have “Asian eyes.” Well, he does, but you know what I mean. His eyes don’t conform to the stereotyped Asian eye image they have in their heads and that you’ve pointed out on the outdated eye charts. It baffles me when people ask me this question, because c’mon. Have you ever looked at the guy? Yes, he is Asian! Clearly! Now, really look at his (beautiful) eyes. They are bigger than my eyes, rounder than mine, they have small epicanthal folds, double eyelids with parallel creases, etc. I’ve got the stereotypical “Caucasian eye” with double eyelids, no epicanthal folds, blah blah etc. Take his eye DNA, my eye DNA, swirl, and you won’t get kids with “Asian eyes.” They have eyes that display certain features from both of their parents. Why is that so hard to understand?
Wow Kay, thank you so much for liking my article!! I feel happy and encouraged when my readers appreciate articles that I put in time and effort to create. Keeps me going! =D
I like the way you describe your husband; he sounds VERY sexy! LOL! What with the big eyes, double eyelids and parallel creases. And yes, the term ‘Asian eyes’ is just passé, I do hope people stop thinking we all look the same!
Thanks for taking time to read and leave a comment, Kay!
Fantastic and informative article! I really appreciate the time you took to write it. It helped me see what I was doing wrong with my daughters eye make up, we are both “western whities” but my eyes are very round and hers are very almond with a much thinner lid. Too my dismay when I stopped at the crease the results were not as expected, now I know to travel further on her and stop at the orbital dip!
Hi cstatic!
Glad my article helped solve the mysterious difference in eye makeup looks between your daughter and yourself!
Thank you for commenting and have a great day! =D
Wow. Love your website and the descriptions. Make so much sense. Been taking a beauty course but they been teaching all the Caucasian tricks, and my model and I being Asian, i seriously struggle with most of the eye techniques. After reading your blog, I’ve understood a lot more now.
Thanks Nathasha! I think most people prefer to teach the Caucasian way of applying eye makeup because it is just so much easier since the crease and contour area coincide. I am currently working on a whole new series of eye makeup tutorials for Asians. I hope that will help even more people with their woes. =)
Where are you taking the beauty course?
Terrific review! This is exactly the type of article that should be shared around the web. Sad on the Bing for not positioning this article higher!
ok so in one hour of ready ur articles i have learn more about my eyes than one year of youtube tutorials LOL… but i did found out that i have been doing something right i put the darkest color (for the most part) on my contour area.. not my crease.. (sometimes i do but now i know why it looks odd)
Im not Asian nor Caucasian… like i said before im Mexican with almond eyes that are about 2 mm slanted up.. my orbital rim does not match my crease (actually is pretty low) and I have an epicanthal fold…
bottom line i love my eyes…..Thank you so much for all ur info..
Wow, I’m honored to hear that ximena! I believe my upcoming eye makeup tutorials will interest and benefit you. Looking forward to hearing from you again! =D
really thank you for all this wonderful info and Im looking forward to those tutorials..
You are definitely welcome Ximena! Have a great weekend! =D
I have never had any idea what to do with my eyes but here is what I have, they are dark brown, average width, average size, almond shaped, double lidded, hooded, deep-set, & with a moderate epicanthic fold. When I put eye liner on it’s never very noticable, plus it always smudges in a bad kinda way. Eye shadow is just pointless pretty much, one can never see it lest it’s all over my “eyeskin” like a drag queen. If you could give a clue as to what I might do, that would be a miracle. I am caucasian with some native american indian and norwegian in me if that matters at all. I mention that because indians & those of scandinavian types can have the epicanthic fold, my mother has this as well & her fold was so severe that they almost did surgery on her eyes. Her eyes are small very wide apart. Her eyes look just like Bjorks in fact!Same hazel color even.
Hello zazz! Haha, I sense some exasperation in your words. At the same time, the way you describe your eyes, it’s as if you’re describing what I commonly see on the streets in Asia. The hooded lids, epicanthic fold, eyeliner that smudges in a bad way, eyeshadow that seems pointless to apply… Not new to me! I have many personal friends who have the ‘problems’ you face too, but they somehow managed to overcome it. I helped in some way or another. *ahem* LOL.
I’m trying to imagine how your eyes look, and don’t think you’ll look like a drag queen if eyeshadow is well blended. Hmmm, I’d suggest checking out the series of Eyeshadow Tutorials for Asian Eyes.
Part 1: Where to Apply Eyeshadow
Part 2: Horizontal Gradient Method
Part 3 – Defining the Outer V
I hope you find them useful, coz I was very lost when I first started out applying eye makeup and there weren’t many tutorials out there catered for Asian eyes, or any kind of eye other than the typical deep set Caucasian eye.
Oh my goodness. Your blog has been the godsend I was looking for! I’ve been into watching youtube makeup videos for a long long time, really admiring how amazing the girls could make their eyes look, but every time I tried the looks on myself, it would look horrible. My eyes are similar to yours, but around my main fold I have another little one so the fold looks even bigger and drowns out any colors i put in the area. And Above my fold is pretty fatty haha.
I’m in the process of reading your other posts as well and I want to commend you on your thoroughness and background research and informative pictures! I hope with this I can finally start making the make up work on my eyes. I want to try out gel eyeliner too!
Hi Melinda! I’m really happy that my post has helped you understand your eye shape better.
You can check out these posts for more in-depth explanation on how to apply eye makeup:
Part 1: Where to Apply Eyeshadow
Part 2: Horizontal Gradient Method
Part 3: Defining the Outer V
Part 4: Defining the Contour Area
Enjoy touring!
Hey~
i was just wondering about the phoenix eyes. Exactly what kind of standards does it really must have in order to be considered as phoenix eyes. I know that the eye must not be too big or too small, it must have a slight slant degree, and the outer corner of the eye must shift a little upward. But then in this article u mentioned about the epicanthal fold. So my question is, does the epicanthal fold must be a part of it in order to truly considered as phoenix eyes??
Thanks so much for posting this! I’m just really getting into makeup,and it’s been really frustrating trying to figure out where to put shadow. I finally figured out my eyes may be hooded. I’m Black, but my lids look almost exactly like the last picture, only with a taper on both sides and my contour is in the same place as well. Looking forward to reading your posts!