For example, if your face is about as long as it is wide, it is probably round or square. A square face has a wider, more angular jaw than a round face. If your face is longer than it is wide, it may be oblong, oval, or rectangular. To determine which, look at how your forehead, cheekbones, and jawline measure up. If your measurements get gradually narrower from forehead to jawline, your face is heart-shaped or oval. If they’re similar all the way down, your face may be oblong, square, or rectangular. If your face gets wider from forehead to jawline, it’s triangular.
Long, straight hair is an excellent choice for round and square faces, because it adds length and minimizes width. Extremely short cuts with more volume on top, such as a pixie cut, can also lengthen short faces and draw attention to the eyes and cheekbones. Medium to short cuts, such as a chin-length or shoulder-length bob, can make long faces look shorter and add fullness to the face. This is a good choice for oval or oblong faces.
Long, feathery bangs that frame the forehead in an A-shape can help soften the look of a square face. Side-swept bangs are flattering on a variety of face shapes, including round, heart-shaped, and oval or oblong. Blunt, long, straight-across bangs can make narrow foreheads appear wider and minimize the length of longer faces.
Maintain the balance of an oval face with frames that match the width of your face. If you have a heart-shaped face, minimize the breadth of the upper half of your face with light-colored or rimless frames. You can also choose frames that are wider at the bottom. For long faces, such as oblong or rectangular, choose wide frames with low bridges and decorative temple elements that add width. For faces that are narrower on top, such as triangular faces, pick frames that are wider on top, such as cat-eyes. Choose narrow frames for short, wide face shapes, such as square or oval. Curved frames balance out more angular faces, while angular frames work best with round faces. Soften the look of an angular diamond face shape by choosing oval frames.
Add width to an oblong face by putting blush on the apples of the cheeks and blending out toward the temples. Reduce length by adding bronzer to the hairline and jawline. Use bronzer to minimize the width of the forehead on a heart-shaped face. Give structure to a round face by applying bronzer around the entire outer perimeter of the face and under the cheekbones. Highlight the central part of the face (middle of the forehead, bridge of the nose, high point of the cheeks, and chin). Soften square faces by contouring the forehead, temples, and jawline, and adding highlighter to the cheeks. For face shapes with narrower foreheads, such as diamonds and triangles, widening the space between your brows a little can give the illusion of greater width at the top of the face.
