I’m sure you’re trended out by now, but hear us out. The sleepy eyes makeup look may not have the sexiest name, but it might be crowned as the sexiest eyeshadow hack yet. No, this trend does not involve you having restless nights on end, it's a more seductive and glamorous take on actually looking, well — sleepy. Trust us, we were as sceptical as you are right now, however, this trend has legs… (metaphorically, of course, we promise only eyes will be used in the making of this).
It’s not every day that we have to look cute as a button, some days we want to look sultry and mysterious and this is exactly what sleepy eyes give you. It’s honestly the lazy girl eyeshadow hack of dreams…
How to nail the look, according to TikTok (obviously).
For context, you may already be familiar with siren eyes, which have been crowned as the new it thing on the beauty corner of TikTok. With siren eyes, it’s all about elongating the eye and giving it a lifted, sweeping effect. It's angled out to create a heavy, sultry feel that softens the gaze without you having to move a single eye muscle. Then of course there is the doe eyes trend – the adorable little sister to the siren – which makes eyes more rounded and more widened, with a dot of highlighter in the inner corner and a creamy-coloured kohl pencil brightening the waterline.
Sleepy eyes are like a silent take on the siren eyes, they’re on that same sexy, sultry wave, but with a darker spin to it. There is less lifting, and the shadow should drag the eyes across in a straight line, rather than upwards and angled, to elongate them so much that they almost look closed — or shall we say, sleepy. You can even amp it up with a faux dark under-eye circle effect. The look itself is slightly less slick and controlled than the siren. It’s a little more smudged and a little less contrived, for that full authentic feel. Realistically, who wakes up with perfectly lined eyes? *shoulder shrug*.
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Not sold yet? One video by creator, Hayley Bui has picked up 2.9 million likes so far and the hashtag #sleepyeyes has already amassed 118.2 million views and counting, drowning with tutorials and transformation videos of how to achieve this late-night-glam makeup hack.
The trend has got the girlies on makeup-tok spinning, with variations on the look to better suit their natural eye shapes. Who would have thought that we would all be fan-girling over visibly looking like we'd much rather be in bed?
In our eyes, sleepy eyes is giving bare-faced grunge-glam meets Bella Swan circa Twilight era and frankly, we’re kind of into it.
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Here is a step-by-step to help you create that sleepy eyes makeup look:
- Blend some dark eyeshadow on the outer corner of the eye and on the crease of the lid
- With your eyes open, use gel liner or a pencil liner to draw a line from the outer corner of your eye outwards
- Connect the line to your upper and lower lash line to give you a straight but slick black wing
- Use your liner to follow through your lower lash to at least ¾ of the water line
- Blend your lower lash liner using a small brush and dark eyeshadow for that smudged smokey under eye effect
- Apply mascara or false lashes for a more dramatic finish on both top and bottom lashes
- Relax your eyelids and pose
Still not sold? Wait until you see these:
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If this doesn’t make that early morning glow chic again, we don’t know what will…
For more from Glamour UK Beauty Writer Shei Mamona, follow her on Instagram @sheimamona
