DEFINING YOUR FACE SHAPE

Before you jump into applying corrective makeup to your face, it’s important to know what “corrections” you need to make.
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Beyond simple spot cover-up, corrective makeup is about achieving balance and proportion and giving your face an attractive shape. Defining your face shape is very important So let’s take a moment to break down the face and its proportions.

THE THREE FACE SEGMENTS

The face is a three dimensional object that can be divided into equal parts. The perfect face shape will have equal distance from the forehead to the eyebrow, the eyebrow to the tip of the nose, and the nose to the chin. The goal in corrective makeup is to create equality between these three segments using highlights and shadows for balance.

FACE PROFILE

Another part of the three-dimensional face is the profile. There are three face profiles: vertical, concave, and convex. The three face profiles are also important in defining your face shape

VERTICAL

This is the perfect face profile. The plane between the forehead and chin is straight up and down. This face profile does not require corrective makeup.

CONCAVE

This profile curves inward, making the forehead and chin more pronounced. You can create proportion within a concave profile by applying a contour color to the forehead and cheek. This will reduce and balance the profile.

CONVEX

This face profile curves out like a contact lens, while the forehead and chin slope inward and are less pronounced. By highlighting the forehead and the chin, you can create the illusion of harmony and proportion, creating a complementary relationship between the entire face profile.

WIDTH OF FACE

The perfect width of a face is three eye widths across. If you remove the third eye, you have the ideal spacing between the eyes. Corrective makeup will allow you to bring the eye shape inward using contour or outward using highlighting.

FACE SHAPE

The face shape is the surface of the front of the head from the top of the forehead to the base of the chin and from ear to ear. There are six different face shapes: oval, oblong, heart, diamond, square, and round.

I’ll discuss the characteristics of each face shape here; later, you’ll learn how to highlight and contour by your face shape. This is one of the main reason why defining your face shape is crucial in makeup.

Oval: This is considered the most desirable and ideal face shape because it’s a third less wide than it is long and doesn’t have any major corners around the hairline or jawline. The oval face shape is round on top and curves down like an inverted egg.

Round: On a round face shape, the cheeks are the widest part of the face, with soft corners at the forehead and jawline.

Square: The width of the forehead, cheekbones, and jawline are equal on a square face shape. The “Perfect” Face

Worried you don’t have what’s considered the “perfect” face? There’s good news. Scientists have never found a person with a perfect 10!

Oblong (Rectangle): This face is similar to a square; however, the oblong face shape is longer than it is wide.

Heart: Think about a heart and you’ll understand what comprises this face shape. It is widest at the forehead and slightly less wide at the cheek, while the jawline is small and pointy.