You’ve undoubtedly heard the expression ‘the eyes are the window to the soul.’ Eyes say a lot about a person, from our first impression to how they can be used to communicate.
Big, prominent eyes are welcoming and spark curiosity. The eyes are often the most defining facial feature, so it’s natural for profound eyes to draw attention.
What Are Prominent Eyes?
When we talk about prominent vs. protruding eyes, the two are often used interchangeably. However, when applying eye makeup, prominent eyes, and eye makeup to make eyes more prominent refer to making them more noticeable.
The protruding eye shape is the opposite of deep-set eyes or ‘sunken eyes.’ Protruding eyes appear to sit further out in the eye socket than other eye shapes on the eye shape chart. Prominent and protruding eyes are eye shapes, unlike bulging eyes, which are a medical concern.
The five characteristics of protruding eyes include:
- Eyes set further out in the eye socket
- Eyelids appear smaller
- Less visible crease
- Dominant facial feature
- Look open and alert
Are Protruding Eyes Attractive?
So, are protruding eyes attractive? Research shows that facial attractiveness is affected by eyes and eyebrows, and large protruding eyes tend to be what most people find attractive.
Amanda Seyfried and Nicole Ritchie are celebrities known for their prominent eyes.
How to Know if I Have Protruding Eyes?
Protruding eyes tend to be round eyes or almond eyes, but they can be any of the six eye shapes:
- Round
- Almond
- Monolids
- Downturned
- Upturned
- Hooded
Protruding eyes and the opposite of deep-set eyes. The best way to tell if you have protruding eyes is to compare them to deep-set eyes; if your eyes are somewhere in the middle, you have neither.
The chart below compares protruding eyes to deep-set eyes.
Protruding Eyes | Deep-Set Eyes |
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Top Protruding Eyes Looks
When you have protruding eyes, you might want to avoid eyeliner, and eye makeup looks intended to make your eyes look bigger. But you might also want to accentuate those pearly eyes to give them the ultimate pop.
We’ve combined our top 8 eyeliner, and eye makeup looks for protruding eyes that compliment big peepers!
Winged
Classic winged eyeliner is a style any eye shape can do. It’s tasteful and elegant without being overly dramatic.
Makeup experts suggest lining up the angle of your wing with your lower lash line rather than your upper eyelid to make your eyes less profound. Start your wing from the center of the upper lash line and flick it outward and up.
Cat-Eye
When you want to take control of your prominent eye shape, cat-eye eyeliner lets you take charge. Cat-eye eyeliner is similar to winged eyeliner but extends to the lower lash line.
Pairing cat-eye eyeliner with pastel eyeshadows helps open the eye while narrowing the shape of protruding eyes.
Bat-Wing
Trick or treat! What started as a Halloween eye makeup trend is a popular eyeliner style for protruding eyes. Bat-wing eyeliner is a thicker style of winged eyeliner with jagged triangular points to resemble a bat’s wing.
Bat-wing eyeliner is great for prominent eye shapes as it elongates the eye and draws attention to the outer corners of the eye. For a tasteful bat wing, do a classic wing extending into a triangle tracing the corner of your upper eyelid.
Extensions
You may think that prominent eyes don’t need more attention and you end up avoiding the idea of eyelash extensions. However, eyelash extensions can make your lashes appear fuller without making your eyes look prominent.
Lash technicians recommend tapered natural sweep or cat eyelashes that get longer towards the outer corners for protruding eyes.
When you go to the lash bar, ask for:
- Cat eye eyelashes
- Classic volume
- C curl
Smudged Eyeliner
For a dramatic makeover that draws prominent eyes in, you’ll love smudged eyeliner. It’s similar to smokey eyes but focuses more on the smudging technique of the eyeliner than using smokey eyeshadow.
The heavy eyeliner makes prominent eyes sit deep. A smudge makeup brush is great for creating this rocker girl eye makeup for protruding eyes.
All-Around Eyeliner
All-around eyeliner is an eyeliner that frames your upper and lower lash lines and connects at the corners. It is thicker than a tight-lining style, which traces the upper and lower lash lines, and thinner than a smokey liner that smudges the frame of the eye.
This technique is excellent for people with prominent eyes who want to make them appear sunken and almond-shaped without really heavy liner.
Bold and Bright
Protruding eye makeup tutorials love to use neutral eyeshadow to draw in your eyes, but the same can be done with bold and bright colors.
If you love pink, purple, and neon colors, you can give those eyes extra attention with bold and bright makeup. Use eyeliner to trace the eye if you want to create a more tapered eye shape.
Go For The Gold
Do you love the look of your big round eyes? Then go for the gold! No one says you have to draw attention away from your best feature.
Dark shadows are recommended when people with protruding eyes want to create the illusion of more sunken eyes. Gold, silver, and light eyeshadow with little eyeliner will make protruding eyes pop.
Makeup For Protruding Eyes – Top 6 Picks
Like hooded eyes or downturned eyes, makeup artists like certain tricks to make protruding eyes appear less prominent and a more tapered almond shape. Makeup experts have their go-to cosmetics for protruding eyes and prominent eye shapes.
We have gathered our top six makeup for protruding eyes in each of the following categories:
- Eyeliner
- Lashes
- Eyeshadow
- Concealer
- Brow pencil
- Mascara
Eyeliner
If you want a versatile eyeliner for every eye shape, you can’t go wrong with NYX Professional Makeup Epic Ink Liner in Black. It is a felt-pin eyeliner that is easy to control and apply on big protruding eyes.
The fine-tip point is great for tight lining and creating ultra-fine lines. Its highly pigmented color is long-lasting, waterproof, and smudge-proof for all-day wear.
The key product features include:
- Felt-tip eyeliner
- Liquid formula
- Fine point
- Matte finish
- Waterproof
Lashes
When you want your lashes to appear thicker and fuller, temporary false eyelashes are an easy and affordable way to get them. The trick to false lashes for protruding eyes is to go for partial lashes at the outer corners of your eyes. Alice Half Lashes in Natural Cat Eye are half-lashes perfect for people with round or prominent eyes who want to enhance the volume of their outer corners. They are made from synthetic silk fibers to be skin-friendly and are soft and lightweight for comfortable, all-day wear.
The key product features include:
- Seven pairs per pack
- Half lashes
- Lightweight
- Natural-looking volume
- Cat-eye shape
Eyeshadow
With prominent and protruding eyes, the intention with makeup is to make the eyes appear smaller. Dark, neutral colors are the best eyeshadow for protruding eyes.
The Urban Decay Naked eyeshadow palette in Honey comes with twelve golden neutral eyeshadow tones from light gold to dark amber brown. The long-lasting eyeshadows come in matte, metallic, and shimmer finishes offering rich color and smooth, velvety texture. The palette comes with a range of shades to accentuate protruding eyes or make them appear smaller.
The key product features are:
- 12 eyeshadow colors
- Golden neutral tones
- Matte, shimmer, and metallic finishes
- 12-hour wear
- Double-ended eyeshadow brush
Contour Concealer
To balance out the puffy appearance of protruding eyes, you will want to choose a darker concealer. Pick a color two tones darker than the skin under your eye to draw your eyes in. Contouring your undereye and crease with a dark concealer will create the illusion of deeper eyes.
NYX Professional Makeup Wonderstick is a 2-in-1 highlighter and contour pen. The darker shade draws protruding eyes in, and the lighter shade highlights areas below the brow bone to make the eyes appear smaller. Both options in one applicator allow you to choose whether to accentuate your protruding eyes or make them look deeper.
The key product features include:
- 2-in-1 concealer and highlighter
- Creamy, blendable formula
- Glide-on stick application
- 100 % vegan
- Matte finish
Brow Pencil
When you have protruding eyes, you can’t forget about your brows! Have you noticed that people with deep-set eyes appear to have very prominent eyebrows? Defining the brows makes big eyes less profound.
The Eyebrow 4 Tip Brow Pencil by OETUIOW is a micro-blading pen to fill and define brows. It adds volume to your natural eyebrows for fuller, more defined brows. The fork-tip pen fills your brows to appear natural, even up close.
The key product features are:
- Smudge-proof
- Waterproof
- Four point eyebrow pen
- Wear up to 24 hours
- Natural-looking results
Mascara
To compliment protruding eye shapes with mascara, it’s all about the curves. Curling mascara balances out prominent eyes to make them look less profound.
Physicians Formula Killer Curves Mascara is a full-volume curling mascara for full, curved lashes. Its formula contains lash-lifting polymers and volumizing collagen for fuller eyelashes. It is also infused with nourishing ingredients like provitamin B5 to strengthen your lashes while providing a voluptuous curl.
The key product features include:
- Lash-lifting polymers
- Volumizing collagen
- Strengthening ingredients
- Clinically tested
- Ophthalmologist Approved
How To Apply Makeup For Protruding Eyes
Applying eye makeup for protruding eyes all depends on your goals. Our tutorial will demonstrate how to apply classic winged eyeliner for protruding eyes to make them less profound.
Here are the cosmetics you need for the protruding eyes makeup tutorial:
- Contour concealer
- Microblading eyebrow pen
- Eyeliner (liquid, gel, pencil or felt-tip)
- Neutral eyeshadow palette
- Curling mascara
- Eye makeup brushes
The chart below gives an overview of the cosmetics you need to apply makeup for protruding eyes.
Cosmetic Product | Description |
Contour concealer |
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Microblading eyebrow pen |
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Eyeliner |
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Neutral eyeshadow palette |
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Curling mascara |
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Step #1
Start with a clean, make-up free and moisturized face.
Step #2
Apply a contour concealer two shades darker than your skin to your lower eyelid and creases.
Step #3
Take a flat eyeshadow brush and apply a medium neutral eyeshadow color, like tan or beige, all over your upper eyelid and crease.
Step #4
Clean off your flat eyeshadow brush and use a darker brown eyeshadow color to define your crease lightly.
Step #5
Take a fine-tip eyeshadow brush and trace your upper lash line with a dark brown eyeshadow color.
Step #6
Using your eyebrow pen, fill in your eyebrows to make them appear full and thick.
Step #7
Take your eyeliner and start at the center of your upper lash line. Trace along the eye to the outer corner. Flick the line up and outward to create a wing. Go over your line once or twice to achieve a thick wing.
Step #8
Apply curling mascara to your upper lashes, brushing outward and up. Repeat twice for full, thick lashes. Apply one light coat of mascara to your lower lash line.
Step #9 (Optional)
If your eyes are too sunken for your liking, apply a small amount of light gold eyeshadow to your inner tear ducts to open up your eyes.
Step #10
Take a selfie and post it to Instagram! Hashtag #zohna
FAQ
Are Protruding Eyes Attractive?
Prominent and protruding eyes are attractive facial features to be proud of. Studies have shown that eyes and eyebrows affect facial attractiveness the most. The research concludes that most people find large and protruding eyes attractive. If you don’t have protruding eyes, there are many makeup tricks to make your eyes appear more profound.
Deep Set Vs. Protruding Eyes?
Deep set eyes are eyes that sit further back in the eye socket. People with deep-set eyes tend to have a more prominent brow bone, and their eyes appear warm and relaxed. Prominent eyes are the opposite of deep-set eyes. They are positioned to the front of the eye socket and appear wide and awake.
Are There Surgery Options for Protruding Eyes?
If your protruding eyes bother you and you want a permanent solution, surgery options are available. Orbital decompression surgery is a procedure where fat and bone are removed from the eye socket to make more room. It is considered a major surgery and should be considered very seriously.
How to Fix Protruding Eyes?
Your doctor may prescribe medication if you have bulging eyes due to a medical condition. If protruding eyes are your natural eye shape, the best way to fix the appearance is with dark concealer, defining your eyebrows, and wearing darker eyeshadow.
Protruding Eyes are Beautiful
Prominent, and protruding eyes are considered beautiful facial features. It’s perfectly okay to use makeup for deeper, less profound eyes with a sultry and sexy appearance, but protruding eyes are gorgeous, and you should flaunt what you got!