Face shape and facial proportion guides

Four measurements, the seven shapes, and how to read a face that sits between two.

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• What is my face shape? Measure these four numbers
• Face shape types: the seven shapes in one table
• V-shaped face: is it oval, heart or diamond?

What to add and what to go easy on for each of the seven shapes, from long hair to bangs.

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• Hairstyles for your face shape: seven shapes, one table
• Hairstyles for oval faces: how to choose when almost everything works
• Hairstyles for round faces: measure first, then test with two photos

How frames, bangs and contour follow the face shape, and how to pick a frame size.

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• Glasses for your face shape: a guide to seven shapes
• Glasses for oval faces: any shape, the right size
• Glasses for round faces: measure the jaw, then add corners

How to measure the upper, middle and lower thirds and the fifths, and what to do with hair and makeup when one part runs long or short.

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• What are facial thirds and fifths? Measure your own face
• Hairstyles for a high forehead: bangs, partings and the hairline
• Long midface? How to tell, and what bangs and blush do

Whether an asymmetric face is normal, how to check it, and how to keep photos from exaggerating it.

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• Is facial asymmetry normal? Read your own face on a photo
• Face symmetry test: three home methods compared
• Uneven face? Eyes, mouth corners and cheeks, one part at a time

Where 1.618 is measured on a face, how to check it yourself, and what research says about it.

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• Golden ratio face: where 1.618 is measured on a face
• Is the golden ratio face real? What the research found
• Golden ratio face test: measure four ratios yourself

Length to width, eye spacing, mouth to nose and where the features sit: how to measure and read them, and what harmony and averageness mean.

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• Face proportions: start with these five ratios
• Make a character look like you: measure four ratios first
• Average face: why a blend of many faces looks pleasant

How to tell your eye shape, read the eye tail and the brow-to-eye gap, and match eye makeup and brows to them.

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• What is my eye shape? The common types and how to tell
• How to trim eyebrows: strays only, and never the head, arch or tail
• Brow-to-eye distance: close or wide, and what brows do with it

How nose and lip shapes are told apart and measured, how mouth width compares with nose width, and where contour and lip colour go.

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• Nose shape types: the common names and how to tell yours
• Lip makeup for your lip shape: where liner, depth and gloss go
• Lip shape types: the common names and how to read yours

Whether a jawline reads soft, moderate or defined, why photos change it, and what hair and contour do around it.

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• Jawline types: soft, moderate or defined
• Chin types: width and taper from the front, position from the side
• Face taper: one ratio says more than a label

Where facial depth comes from: bone and light, how light direction changes it, and where highlight and shadow go.

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• Facial depth: where the 3D look of a face comes from
• Highlight and contour basics: where each goes, and why
• Lighting and facial depth: where the light goes, the face follows

How to take a front-facing photo, why selfies distort, why mirrors and photos differ, and how light, angle, expression, glasses and filters change a face.

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• Front-facing photo: angle, light and distance
• Beauty filters: what they change in face shape and proportions
• Smiling and face proportions: how much a smile changes

What even skin tone means, why skin looks patchy in some photos, the three basics of cleansing, moisturising and sun protection, and how to tell your skin type.

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• Even skin tone: what it means, and how much of it is the light
• Large pores: size changes slowly, how big they look depends on light and distance
• How to use concealer: cover the spots, not the whole face

Strong or soft features: how present the features read, built from the brow-to-eye gap, eye shape, eye tilt, contour lines and the lower third; how to check each, and makeup and hair that follow them.

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• Strong vs soft facial features: one label, taken apart
• Makeup for strong or soft features: follow them, or borrow in one spot
• How to tell strong or soft features: one photo, one feature at a time

Whether AI face ratings are accurate, whether your photo is uploaded, why your face score changes, how to read one score, and what research says makes a face attractive.

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• Are AI face ratings accurate? First ask: compared with what
• What makes a face attractive: three things studies agree on, and their limits
• Is my photo uploaded? Where a face rating looks at your photo

How classical sculptors and painters shaped and measured a face: ancient canons, idealised Greek faces, Renaissance head proportions, and which rules hold on real faces.

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• Classical face proportions: what the old rules say, and what real faces measure
• Greek sculpture faces: idealised types, not portraits
• Renaissance head proportions: how painters measured a head, and how you can