Face Shape Makeup

How To Create Balance

At one time, face shape makeup technique was an important measure to achieving the commonly held beauty ideal, having an oval face. Luckily that is no longer the case. Heavy shading and contouring to 'correct' the non-oval face is old thinking.

The modern beauty ideal has a wide ranging list of features, makeup styles, ethnicities...all beautiful. The purpose of face shape makeup considerations at this time, is really about gaining an awareness of your own facial features and the pursuit of BALANCE...
Balance is a key principal to aesthetic design of any kind.

Face Shape Makeup....FINDING BALANCE...

When it comes right down to it, when you apply makeup, you are designing and styling your face. It is simply practical to understand your face shape.

Also helpful to makeup design is knowing the shape of your eyes, how your eyes are set, and your mouth shape.

What is your face shape?

According to the experts, they can be generally defined as follows:

• Oval - curvilinear shape, forehead and jaw appear to be same width, face length is one and a half that of width
• Oblong - face longer than is is wide with straight cheek line
• Square - strong, broad forehead and square jaw
• Rectangular -square jaw with length of face longer than width
• Heart -narrow jaw with wider cheek bones and forehead
• Round - round circular shape, length approximately equal to the width Your face shape will effect your hairstyle choices, eyebrow shape as well as some whole face makeup applications like blush.

Face Shape Makeup Strategies For Blush, Eyes and Lips

BLUSH & COLOR

Blush, bronzer, contour, highlighting makeup are all methods of not only generating more color in your complexion, but they also can build greater dimensional quality ( that sculpted look). Placement on the face, blending, color use are all important elements to successfully creating a great look.  With this approach to face shape makeup, you can go as far as altering the perception of extreme features that may dominate your look, or just avoid exaggerating those features.

Illustration: ©beauty-and-makeup-tips.com/ Six General Face Shapes

• Oval faces have a lot of style liberty because of their existing balanced, symmetrical appearance.
  General Rule of Thumb: Smile, place greatest concentration of color at outer half of apple (fleshy mound of cheek when you smile), blending it well, and moving out along cheek. Color will diminish as you move away from initial placement. Experimenting will help you fine tune how much blush, work on blending and enhancing your unique cheeks.
• Oblong- the dominant issue is length-a longer face can avoid exaggerating its length by using a more horizontal path of placement.
• Square- the dominant issue is sharp angular-to avoid sharpening the already angular nature of your face shape, use round shape pattern of blending blush at the apples of your cheeks.
• Rectangular- the dominant issue is length-a more horizontal, slightly curved path across cheeks can diminish length.
• Heart-the dominant issue is angular narrow chin contrast to wider forehead- a smaller placement at outer apple of cheek, lined up under outer third of eye will reduce attention at central face. Blend on horizontal path outward instead of diagonal upward, which will enhance the strong angle of the jaw and chin.
• Round-dominant issue is circular shape-an angled fairly straight path

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Face Shape Makeup- EYE MAKEUP

Eye shape can be described as narrow, round, almond, tear drop and they can be positioned wide set, close set or normal distance apart. When you apply eye makeup you can use line and shading to help create lift to down turned eyes, create distance for close set eyes, bring closer wide set eyes, widen narrow eyes and so forth.

Here are a few eye makeup tips that can restore balance to strong eye features:
If your eyes are

• close-set (less than one eye width apart)-shade on the outer eyelid, bring design attention to the outer corner of the eye wide-set (greater than one eye width apart), bring eye makeup detail central to the eye, and shade the inner corner drooping outer corners-liner placed sightly above and outside of outer corner, then angled into lash line, 1/3 of the way from outer corner, can lift the lash line and the eye. Based on your coloring, a dark brown, brown black, or black pencil, filling between line and lashes so pencil and lash line merge.
• narrow small eyes- eye lash curler will extend eyelashes up and away from eye, lining eyes along the top lash line, and using light neutral lower lash line definition can help create the perception of a larger eye. A big no-no,... don't line the inner rim of lashes-otherwise known as the water line-this will really close small eyes. really big round eyes-line inner rim/ waterline of eyes with deep color pencil, brown or black.

Face Shape Makeup- THE LIPS

Lips come in all sorts of packages but again, a general approach to describing lips are full, thin, uneven with many variations to the upper lip bow.

• Making thin lips appear more full?- line outer edge of natural lip line with natural shade or matching (planned) lip color shade. Soften line with finger or lip brush. Create a highlight color at central lip area and then add gloss to central for reflective purpose. Avoid dark shades, they can make a mouth seem smaller and severe.
• Making full lips more thin? -line inner edge of natural lip line with pencil matching natural lip color or planned shade. # Uneven lips equal- usually the upper lip is less full than the lower lip in these scenarios...so line outer edge of natural upper lip line and either, skip lining the lower lip or line inner edge of lip line.

Last word on face shape makeup...
Looking for more on the subject of face shape makeup?
Consider this fabulous, easy to understand, makeup manual by makeup guru Bobbi Brown.  Twenty five years of experience has gone into Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual by Bobbi Brown (Hardcover - Springboard Pr)
This book is very well done and, personally, I love her attitude about beauty in general. Here is little snippet from an interview with Vanity Fair Daily  June 2008, conducted by Sun Hee Grinnell:

What makes Bobbi Brown different from others?

I am all about empowering women and teaching women how to become their own makeup artists with the right products and the right tools.

What is the Bobbi Brown motto?

“Be who you are.”

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