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Answer · Eye area

Can you get hunter eyes?

You can get closer to the look, not the bone. Hunter eyes bundle a deep-set orbit, a prominent brow ridge, a low brow and a positive canthal tilt, and those are structural. Brow grooming, sleep, under-eye condition and a leaner face change how the eye area reads, and that is what most before-and-after pictures actually show.

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Which parts are bone

Hunter eyes is a forum term, not an anatomical one. It describes eyes that read narrow and focused under a low, straight brow. The depth of the socket, the projection of the brow ridge and the slope of the outer corner are set by bone and ligament, and no exercise, tape, squinting drill or mewing routine moves them. BecomeTen does not recommend surgery. Can you change your canthal tilt? goes into the tilt specifically.

  • Brow grooming. Removing strays above the brow and keeping the tail from lifting makes the brow read lower and straighter. This is grooming convention, not research, but it is cheap and reversible.
  • Sleep. A study photographing the same people rested and sleep-deprived found the tired faces were judged to have more hanging eyelids, swollen eyes and darker circles.
  • Under-eye skin. A dermatology review describes dark circles as having several causes, pigmentation, visible vessels, tear-trough shadow and fluid, each with a different answer. See what is workable under the eye.
  • Body fat. Fullness around the eyes and upper cheeks fills the socket and hides the brow ridge. At a leaner composition the rim casts a shadow and the eye appears to sit deeper. The bone has not moved; it is being uncovered.
  • Relaxing a raised brow. Some people hold their brows up out of habit, which opens the lid and reads round. Letting them rest changes the look more than most expect.

Only partly. The research supports averageness, symmetry and sex-typical features; a low, straight brow is sex-typical in men, which is the one piece of the ideal with support. Nothing isolates a narrow eye or a positive tilt as a driver of ratings, and are prey eyes unattractive? covers the other side. Also be wary of selfies: are hunter eyes just squinting? explains how a pose fakes most of the look. The hunter eyes test reads the three photo-visible traits from an eye-level picture, so you can see which ones you already have.

Sources

  1. 1.Cues of fatigue: effects of sleep deprivation on facial appearance — Sleep (2013)(Opens in a new window)
  2. 2.Infraorbital dark circles: definition, causes, and treatment options — Dermatologic Surgery (2009)(Opens in a new window)
  3. 3.Facial adiposity: A cue to health? — Perception (2009)(Opens in a new window)
  4. 4.Facial attractiveness: evolutionary based research — Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (2011)(Opens in a new window)
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