How to Determine Your Face Shape for Better Makeup Decisions

Did you know that different shapes of faces, suit different makeup looks and techniques? You’re not alone if you didn’t. Most of us simply opt for whatever’s trending!

That’s fine, but you can make small tweaks to your regular routine for an even prettier and better-suited look!

Knowing your face shape can also help you determine the most flattering haircuts and hairstyles, it’s an easy way to upgrade your look!

Learn how to determine your shape face, you may be surprised that it’s not the shape you always thought it was!

Determining Your Face Shape

Before we learn about the face shapes and start determining yours, you need to get prepped for the task.

Wear a headband to show your hairline so that your whole forehead is showing. There are two ways to do this:

Gauge and Prep Your Face

Stand or sit up straight while looking directly in front of a mirror. With a large mirror, this will be easy. However, if you have a small or compact mirror, ask someone to stack the mirror in front of you and level out its base so it is vertically connecting to your chin. If someone helps you, it will be easier to get it all in proportion.

The mirror should sit at a 90-degree and you should be sitting with your back straight, shoulders relaxed, and face or eyes horizontally projecting at 180 degrees.

So bottom line, all angles must be straight vertical and straight horizontal.

The second way, and easiest way, is to replace the mirror with a camera and shoot a picture of yourself! Print out the picture and ready your marker for the guides below.

Points on your Face

There are 8 points on your face that help determines your shape. Visually mark your face through the mirror, or with a marker on your picture.

1. Pinpoint the top centre of your forehead (middle of your hairline).

2. Locate the centre tip of your chin

3-4. Point out the corners of your forehead. This is the farthest where your hairline recedes at the upper left and upper right sides.

5-6. Determine the corners of your cheekbones on each side of your face

7-8. And where the corner or curve of your jaws are. When touched, it’s the bony area that sharply turns before connecting to your ears. In a picture, it’s the highest point of the curve on your jaw part.

Now that you have all 8 points marked, it’s time to connect the adjacent lines to form a 3-tiered letter ‘t’ (kind of like the image below).

You should have 4 lines, if you don’t try again!

In this article, we’ll call them the Forehead line, Cheekbone line (middle horizontal line), Jawline, and Centre Vertical line (forehead-chin line).

Let’s proceed in determining what your true face shape is!

The 6 Different Face Shapes

There are 6 face shapes according to beauty and fashion industry experts. When you look at your face straight head-on with a mirror, you might think the outline is already an obvious giveaway.

It goes true for half of the categories, but for the other half, it’s best to go by measuring and ratios.

While it may not be rocket science, many people tend to confuse one shape with another because they’re so similar in appearance.

This step can be a little tedious, as you need to measure parts of your face to truly identify which category you fall into. Thankfully, you’ve already done the hard work!

Diamond Face Shape

Those with diamond face shapes have short and really sharp jawlines often with stark pointed chins. The cheekbones are pronounced, slanted angular, and follow the V-shape outlined by their chins and jaws.

Their forehead is a semi-circular shape with a hairline that has a slight point in the middle creating an upside-down “U”.

Determining the shape via the diagram:

Diamond face shapes have their Forehead line and Jawline almost the same length.
Usually, the Forehead line is ever so slightly longer and wider with the Jawline often connecting to a pointy chin.
The Cheekbone line is undoubtedly and obviously longer than the other two vertical lines.

Celebrity examples with diamond-shaped faces: Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Anna Kendrick.

Best makeup trick for a diamond-shaped face: Give the cheekbones extra attention, be it with a contour or bronzer. This will take some of the attention away from the wide forehead creating a balanced beautiful look.

Round Face Shape

Round faces don’t have angular jawlines and usually have no protruding cheekbones either.

Instead, round faces have their cheeks and jaws curved into lines that perfectly connect to their forehead and chin, respectively, forming a circular shape.

This one is the most confusing face shape. People think they have round faces when in reality, it is as rare as the Oval face shape is far more common and does look rather similar.

Determining the shape via the diagram:

The Forehead line and Jawline are of similar or even equal lengths.
The Centre Vertical line is the same length as the Cheekbone line.
Starting from one point of the Jawline connecting to its opposite should form a perfect semi-circular chin.

Celebrity examples with round-shaped faces: Miranda Kerr, Selena Gomez, Emma stone.

Best makeup tip for a round-shaped face: According to Huda Beauty: “High, arched brows work perfectly with round face shapes as this will provide a vertical point, creating the illusion of an elongated face.”

Square/Rectangular Face Shape

Square and rectangle faces have sharp jawlines that push back to the neck instead of up towards their ears as heart-shaped ones do. Depending on the length of the face, would determine if they are square or rectangular.

Obviously, a shorter facial length means a square. And a longer facial length would mean a rectangle. A short, stark jawline is also evident and forms a V-shaped chin.

Determining the shape via the diagram:

Square Shape

The forehead line and Jawline are of similar or equal lengths.
The Centre Vertical line is the same length as the Cheekbone line.

Rectangular Shape

The forehead line and Jawline are of similar or equal lengths.
The Centre Vertical line is longer than the Cheekbone line.

Celebrity examples with square/rectangular-shaped faces: Angelina Jolie, Lucy Lui, Paris Hilton.

Best makeup tip for Square/Rectangular Face Shape: Keep attention away from the cheekbones to soften the look. Make sure your blush and bronzer are blended in. Stick to the apples of your cheeks instead of cheekbones.

Oblong or Long Face Shape

Oblong face shapes usually have wider semi-circular shaped chins with little to no cheekbone protrusion.

The forehead also follows a semi-circle shape, only a little more pointed than that of a circular face shape’s hairline.

The shape is also pretty obvious with a slightly more elongated facial length evident on oblong faces.

Determining the shape via the diagram:

The Centre Vertical line will have twice the length of the Cheekbone line.

Celebrity examples with oblong-shaped faces: Sarah Jessica Parker, Celine Dion, Liv Tyler

Best makeup tip for Oblong or Long Face Shape: According to Byrdie apply your bronzer around the hairline to balance and de-emphasize the height and enhance the width of the bone structure. Do the same at the top of your forehead, under the chin and along the jawline.

Heart Face Shape

For people with heart faces, their cheekbones are evidently wider but not more protruding than their forehead. And the jawline is usually angular going down to a V-shaped chin.

One myth to bust is that heart face shapes don’t necessarily have the widow’s peak hairline on the forehead. But they are pretty common and pretty IMO!

Determining the shape via the diagram:

The Forehead line is longer than the Jawline, and the jaws would usually have or connect to a pointy, V- chin.
The Cheekbone line is ever so slightly longer than the Forehead line and obviously longer than the Jawline.

Celebrity examples with heart-shaped faces: Reese Witherspoon, Scarlet Johansen, Chloe Grace Moretz.

Best makeup tip for heart-shaped face: Heart-shaped faces tend to have sharp cheekbones. Soften them by applying your blush in a C shape from the cheekbones to the edge of your brows.

Oval Face Shape

An oval-shaped face is considered to be the most optimal face shape in the beauty industry, an oval face shape is quite hard to tell against oblong and rectangular face shapes.

The key indicators are the shape of the chin. While oblongs and rounds are semi-circular and have really softened chin lines, and other shapes have V-shaped chins; ovals are somewhere in the middle.

Oval face shapes have chins that follow a U-shape. The jawlines follow an angle but are softer and curved compared to the sharp slanting lines of the hearts and squares.

The cheekbones create a natural contour without the look of overly protruding outwards the face.

Determining the shape via the diagram:

The Centre Vertical line is longer than the Cheekbone line.

Celebrity examples with oval-shaped faces: Beyonce, Salma Hayek, Bella Hadid.

Best makeup tip for oval-shaped face: Oval-shaped faces can get away with most makeup looks. However, don’t overdo the bronzer, your natural cheekbones need little emphasis.

Final Thoughts

Following the small diagram above, were you able to determine your face shape?

If you have, then chances are, you now have one of the greatest beauty weapons (or shields) to use outside. Use it to defend yourself against fashion and hair mistakes!

Use it to defend yourself against unflattering makeup and downright clown vibes. Use it for the greater good of looking good! Check out some other beauty tips and trends here.

Let me know in the comments below if you want to know which shape faces suit which makeup!

We can do a follow-on article giving all the tips you need to maximise your natural beauty for all the different face shapes!

Hollie xx