One of the first things that you notice when you look at someone’s face is their eyes. Eyes give a face its intensity and are one of the most striking features. Naturally, the size of the eye is part of the equation when talking about attractiveness. This article will discuss what eye size is more attractive: big or small?
For men, a small set of eyes will be more attractive. While for women, bigger eyes will look better. Eye size also varies with ethnicity.
The eye is a feature that is very different across ethnicities. We cannot just condense into a single definition of what is attractive and what is not. For example, Southeast Asian eyes look very much different than caucasian eyes. In comparison, middle easterners have different sized eyes than people in east Asia.
However, if we look at it through a general lens, we can come to certain conclusions. Doe eyes, for example, are a popular trend in makeup. The goal is to make the eyes pop by making them look bigger. It uses eyeliner and mascara to achieve that effect. The widespread use of this makeup trend tells us that, in women, larger eyes appear to be more attractive.
However, that is not the case all the time. For example, it would be unrealistic for Koreans to follow the trend given their particular eye shape. The size of the eye and how attractive it is is a very debatable topic. Let’s discuss it further to give you more perspective.
Take a look at this Looks Theory episode on the eye area for more information about eye aesthetics:
Consider one of our custom facial reports if you’re interested in an in-depth analysis of your eye area.
What an Attractive Set of Eyes Look Like
We can discuss the eyes from two perspectives—attractive eyes for men and attractive eyes for women. Let’s take a look at them individually.
Attractive Eyes for Women
Lately, the trend of attractiveness in women’s eyes has geared towards the larger side. Large eyes make a person look more youthful, and thus, attractive. Large eyes will give that puppy eye look that makes a face seem endearing and approachable. This is because large eyes are a neotenous feature.
Supposedly, large eyes are also an indication of higher estrogen levels in women. However, there is little scientific evidence supporting that fact. But, there is this study by Smith et al. (2006) that took a look at how estrogen relates to facial attractiveness. As it turns out, the researchers found out that women who had higher estrogen levels looked more attractive, and their perception was more positive than those with low estrogen levels.
Based on this, we can assume that women’s large eyes make them more appealing since they exhibit more femininity.
Attractive Eyes for Men
Men, on the other hand, will look much better with smaller eyes. Small eyes in men give off a very serious and masculine vibe that most women go for. Generally, men will look more attractive if their features lean on the masculine side. For eyes, that means deep-set and serious.
Sometimes, whether the eye is small or not is less of an issue. A greater determinant of attractiveness is the shape of the eye and how deep it is. When the eyes are deep-set, it emphasizes the brow bone, which is another masculine characteristic. Our article on eye shape tackles this subject in greater depth.
The Holistic Approach
The way to look at a face is not to judge it based on one characteristic alone. The attractiveness of the eyes only goes so far when the analysis is individual. A better metric of attractiveness in eyes is how well it matches with the rest of the face.
So when you say small eyes, the comparison would not be against other people only, but also to the other features of that person’s face. It’s important to understand that eyes alone will not make you unattractive or attractive. I mean, sure, it does play a huge part. But your attractive eyes, for example, are not guaranteed to give you an attractive face.
Improve Your Eyes
Even if your eyes are not that attractive, there are things you can do about it.
Makeup
This choice will obviously benefit women the most. Makeup is one of the best ways to alter your eyes, at least for the short term. Many beauty and makeup trends popped out throughout history to make your eyes look bigger or younger. There are entire eyeshadow trends, eyeliner trends, eyelid trends, just dedicated to making the eye look bigger.
To make your eyes look bigger with makeup, you should conceal the inner and outer creases. This look will lighten the dark areas ( or the shadowy areas ) and bring out your eyes. You can also color your waterline with white eyeliner to give the illusion that your eye is larger or rounder than it is. With eye shadow, the smokey eye is your best friend. The blended out eyeshadow will make your eye look much larger since it gives off a dramatic look. If you want a natural-looking eye, you can just deepen the eye crease to give the illusion of depth.
Mewing
Mewing is an unorthodox technique that has gained traction in recent years. It deals with exercising proper tongue posture to make a jaw look more defined. It takes time and effort to do this, and the results show up over years and decades. However, it is still a viable choice if you want to get better eyes.
Although mewing is primarily for the jaw, it can do wonders for the eyes as well. As the tongue puts pressure on the palate, the dental arch widens. When this happens, the maxilla (upper jaw) will move upward and give your eyes more support. The result of this will be a hunter eye look or hooded eyes, which, essentially, will give you more attractive eyes.
Mewing probably suits men more than women since the main focus is to add depth and not exactly to shrink the eye. We have a comprehensive guide on mewing that you can check out for more details.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the eyes are a wonderful asset of the face. They are reflective of your emotions and make your face look so much more complex and layered. However, eyes are also subject to a lot of scrutinies. People will take a look at you, and your eyes will be one of the first things noticeable. Some might even decide their first impressions of you based on your eyes.
But something to always keep in mind with eyes and attractiveness is that a holistic view of the face holds more importance. It’s less of the eyes itself and more a case of viewing it through a unified lens. The people who decide if you are attractive or not are not only going to be looking at your eyes. They will look at your face in its entirety.
If you find that your eye is not to your liking, then some procedures are available to help you with that. You can look at the options we provided above and see if you think any of them will benefit you. If you must, you can take the steps necessary to make your eyes look better and more attractive.
