Determining your face shape is essential to Beauty Basics. It is the foundation from which you can choose your most flattering hairstyle, the best eyeglasses that suit your face and apply makeup to emphasize or deemphasize certain features.

As essential as it is, it can also be one of the most difficult tasks to determine for yourself.

They say the ideal face shape is oval. However I believe perfection comes in many different forms. It’s a matter of working with what you have and appreciating the uniqueness of yourself. Now that’s beautiful!

Some find determining their face shape as easy as taking a glance in the mirror with their hair pulled back. I am not one of those fortunate people. I found the easiest way to determine your face shape is to take a photo of yourself with your hair pulled back. Using tracing paper, place it over the photo and trace your face shape. Voila! At this point your face shape should be crystal clear.

Face Shapes & Their Characteristics

Oval
It has long been considered the ideal face shape due to its balanced proportions. The forehead is wider than the chin, prominent cheekbones and the chin tapers into a narrow yet oval chin.

Celebrities: Grace Kelly, Sarah Michelle Geller.


Round
Simply said, a round face resembles a circle. The distance between the forehead and the chin is equal to the distance from one side of the face to the other. The round face shape tends to not have prominent cheek bones.

Celebrities: Christina Ricci, Isabella Rosselini


Long/Oblong

The long face shape as its name suggests has an elongated appearance. The length of the face is longer than the width. The cheekbones tend to appear low due to the length of the face

Celebrities: Sarah Jessica Parker, Liv Tyler,

Heart

As the name suggests, the heart shaped face has a wider forehead, which tapers into a narrow chin.

Celebrities: Reese Witherspoon and Scarlett Johannson

Triangle

This is the opposite of the heart shape. The triangle face has a wider bottom which tapers up into a narrow forehead.

Celebrities: Amber Valetta, Victoria Beckham.

Square

Similar to the round shape as it is as wide as it is long. The difference is that the square face shape tends to be more angular with a wider forehead

Celebrities: Jackie O., Jessica Simpson.

Diamond

The diamond face shape as the name suggests has a narrow forehead and chin and is wider in the cheek area.

Celebrities: Sophia Loren, Katherine Hepburn and Linda Evangelista.

Don’t be discouraged if you find that you do not have the ideal oval face shape; as you can see from the celebrity examples given, beauty has more than one ideal.