lashmatrix.org

Hooded Eyes · Cat-Eye · Hybrid

A real a hooded eye, the shape this map is drawn for.
This is a hooded eye — check yours against it before reading the map. Photo source & removal
PEAK inner outer peak high, then eases to the tail soft base + wispy spikes lifted above lashmatrix.org
Where the peak sits and which way the length tapers.
Why Why it is laid out this way

Mixing single lashes and fans buys a hooded cat something it badly needs: an edge you can actually see. A solid dark strip sitting half under lid skin reads as a shadow, while a broken one reads as lashes. Texture changes the surface of this map, never its destination — the rise still ends a zone before the corner.

Zone order · bar = relative length Z1 Z2 Z3 Z4 Z5 Z6 PEAK Z7 inner outer
Build order, inner to outer — the peak zone flagged.

The order the zones go in

  1. Find the covered bandUpright, eyes relaxed, note the band of lash line the lid hides. Nothing placed inside it will be seen.
  2. Lay the single-strand spineSingles set the rising line, short at the inner end and stepping out evenly. This is the shape; everything after is surface.
  3. Fill between with soft fansFans sit between the spine strands for density, kept a shade under them so they never outrun the line.
  4. Spike above the cover onlyThe tallest spikes go in the zones that stay open. A spike under lid skin is weight that buys no picture.
  5. Return the last zoneSpine and texture both come back a hair in the final zone, together, so the tail thins as one edge.
Length curve · one peak, gentle taper inner outer
The length curve: one soft peak, then a gentle taper.

The length curve

The curve climbs to the second-to-last zone and then eases, which keeps the longest thing on the set off the most covered lashes. Texture rides that curve without altering it: broken tips give the top edge contrast exactly where lid skin flattens everything into one tone. Push the peak one zone further out and the shape and the texture vanish in the same movement.

Built wrong, it looks like this

Spikes scattered along the whole lineHalf of them live under the lid, so she pays for texture nobody sees while the lid carries every bit of it.
✗ WRONG spikes under the lid ✓ RIGHT spikes where seen
Fans left longer than the spineSoft filler tips over the top of the singles and the crisp rising edge you built the map for turns to fuzz.
✗ WRONG filler over the line ✓ RIGHT spine sits on top
Two textures picked at random rather than by zone.The mix has to get denser as the line rises; a fan here and a single there gives a set with no direction at all.
When not to use this mapNot for a heavy hood that covers the outer half, where the whole elongated half of the map is under skin and hybrid's broken edge has nothing to break against. Skip it too on very fine natural lashes, since the spine strands have to be long enough to sit proud of the fans, and that length has to come from somewhere.
Deep The physics underneath

A hybrid is two different objects hanging off one lash line. Below is how they divide the work on a rising map.

The same map, built four ways

Classic 1:1
The spine, and the only part of this map that decides its shape. Singles hold the angle because a single strand keeps its mass on the lash's own line rather than out to the sides.
Handmade volume
The filler between the spine strands, and the reason the line looks full without getting heavy at the top of the rise. You also get to tune the width zone by zone, which matters as the map climbs into the covered band.
Promade / pre-made fans
Fast filler with consistent width, useful across the flat inner half of this curve. Out at the peak the stiffer base does not wrap a lash the lid is already pressing on, so keep them inboard.
Woven / clover
Wide, repeating coverage per bond, and the repeat is the problem — this map's whole point is a broken irregular edge. Using it here undoes the texture you mixed the set for.

Spread angle versus weight

Spread moves mass — never removes it narrowload on the axis widetwists off-axis

Widen the fans as the line rises and you gain surface without adding much material, but the outer legs of a wide fan sit off the lash's axis and take a twisting load. Under a lid that presses sideways all day, that twist shows up as fans lying flat within a couple of weeks. Wide is fine in the low inner zones; at the peak keep them narrow so the height reads as height.

What the natural lash can carry

  • The peak zone here carries two objects at once: the longest spine strand and the fans packed either side of it. Count the demand per natural lash, not per zone, or the crowding hides how much you have loaded.
  • A spike is a fan closed to almost nothing — mechanically a single thick strand, and the longest item on the set. Budget each one as a single lash, never as texture that comes free.
  • The zone with the finest naturals sets the limit for the whole rise, not the average across the lid. On a hooded eye that zone is usually the one you cannot see properly while you work.

Where this map fails first

Where this map fails first inner outer spikes twist and lie flat tail thins out lashmatrix.org

Two different failures on one map. At the peak the spikes go first, and they rotate rather than shed — the tallest, heaviest items on the set sitting where lid skin rests, so the broken edge quietly turns into a flat line. Out at the tail it is ordinary thinning, faster because those lashes are the shortest and finest on the lid. The set does not look sparse when it fails; it looks smooth, which is the opposite of what she booked.

FAQ Common questions

Why hybrid rather than pure classic for a hooded cat-eye?

Because lid skin kills contrast. A mixed edge with visible gaps still reads as separate lashes under a fold, where a solid classic line can flatten into one dark band.

How many spikes does a hooded cat need?

Fewer than you think, and all of them in the open zones. Spikes are the heaviest single items on the set, so spending them where the lid covers is pure cost.

Should the fans or the singles be longer?

Singles. The spine has to sit proud of the filler or the rising line goes soft, and a soft line on a hooded eye is the same as no line.

Does the tail step-down apply to the texture too?

Yes, spine and fans together. If only the singles come back, the fans become the longest thing in the most covered zone.

Also in: Hooded eyes · Cat-Eye · Hybrid