How to Figure Out the Shape of Your Face and What it Stands For

Tap to Read ➤ Renuka Savant Apr 29, 2019

Usually, we tend to rely on our instinct to decide what works for our face, be it choosing sunglasses, or even wearing the right makeup. But wouldn't it be amazing if we could actually understand the shape of our face, and make these decisions accordingly?

The best and easiest way to determine your face shape is to consider your hairline and jawline. Understanding their contours will help you zero in on your face shape.

Doesn't it bum you off to see posts that offer advice on the best makeup tips for your face type? Or the best haircut to highlight the shape of your face? Or even the perfect eyebrow arch to have, based, of course, on your face shape.

It's also quite exasperating to have them compare ourselves to those elaborately contoured celebrity pictures to 'help' us determine our own. Ovals, pears, rectangles, rhomboids, and parallelograms be damned.

So, for once, let us keep the geometry in the schoolbooks, where it truly belongs, and try to figure out the shape of our face. And if you are done with tracing your facial outline on the mirror, you are sure to have ended up with one of the following shapes.

The Round-shaped Face

Fuller cheeks are the trademark of a round face, adding a lot of softness to your features.

Round-faced ones have another obvious feature - the rounded chin that is not too long. Your face may not trace a perfect circle, of course, but the soft contours along with the lack of prominent angles clearly place you in the round-faced category.

The Heart-shaped Face

A narrow, prominent chin that is a little on the pointier side will help you judge if yours is a heart-shaped face.

To that, if you notice wide-set cheekbones that are prominent, you can be more or less certain of it.

Sometimes, heart-shaped faces have a rather prominent widow's peak on their hairline, which can give the illusion of a perfect heart, if the other two features are present as well. But basically, we're looking for a wide-ish forehead, with a lower half that tapers towards the chin.

The Oval-shaped Face

This is rightly called the face shape that most people would kill to have. An oval face is balanced, in the sense that it is well-proportioned.

The forehead is not too wide, with a chin that tapers down perfectly, and is not very pointed as in the case of heart-shaped faces. The cheekbones are rather prominent, and the distance between them is not too much. In short, a face shaped so, that it doesn't need too much effort to glamify.

The Diamond-shaped Face

This face shape only sees a slight variation from ovals.

While the forehead and chin remain narrow and proportioned, the distance between the cheekbones is wider, giving the appearance of fuller cheeks. This feature, however, does not put this shape in the category of round faces, owing to the narrow forehead and chin. It is closer to oval shapes instead.

The Square-shaped Face

This shape is probably the easiest to figure out. It is equally proportioned, with straight sides.

The sides match each other in length and width, giving off the square shape. The jawline, especially, is very well-defined, with curves that are either absent or minimalistic. This is a wide-set face with prominent features.

The Rectangle-shaped Face

A rectangle is the longer version of a square, as geometry rightly informs us.

When it comes to faces, a rectangle is indeed a longer version of the square, with a broad outline and a wide jawline. You'll be able to spot angles aplenty, of course. Your jawline is very well-defined and angular at the corners.

The Oblong-shaped Face

A longish outline, but it's not exactly an oval. The forehead and chin are slightly wide, not a precise rectangle. The jawline is curved, but only a little bit.

The sharp angles of the jawline are missing. We're talking about an in-between shape here, and it's called the oblong. This shape resembles the oval and rectangle in length, but lacks the full cheeks of the round and sharp jawline of the square.

The Pear-shaped Face

A little uncommon to find, the pear shape can often be confused with squares. This shape may also be referred to as the triangle, owing to the narrow forehead and a wide-set jaw with fuller cheeks.

This shape widens out prominently at the jawline, creating the outline of a pear. The shape of the chin may be pointed or rounded.

The Inverted Triangle-shaped Face

Easily confused with the heart shape, the inverted triangle, again, is not too easy to spot. The forehead, in this case, is quite wide, giving the illusion of the square. The lower half of the face tapers down very sharply to the chin, which is pointed in shape.

Now that you have successfully determined your face shape, put the knowledge to good use and run off to get that perfect haircut or those made-for-you sunglasses.