Kinds of guide
Face shapes, the features of a face, and the things people grow, wear and apply to frame it.
Face shapes
Face shape is the outline of a face from the front: oval, round, square, heart, diamond, oblong or triangle. Stylists, barbers and opticians use the shapes as shorthand when they suggest frames, beards, brows and haircuts
Eyes and lids
Eyes differ in shape, set and lid: almond, round, hooded, deep-set, monolid, upturned and downturned, with or without an epicanthic fold. All of these come from the eyelids and the bones around the eye, since the eyeball itself is round in everyone
Noses
The nose has a bridge, a tip and two nostrils, and each varies widely. Profiles are often called straight (Greek), aquiline (Roman), snub or button, and bridges high, low, broad or narrow
Lips and mouth
Lips come full or thin, wide or narrow, with a sharp or soft Cupid's bow. Above the upper lip runs the philtrum, the small groove beneath the nose
Eyebrows
Eyebrows have a head near the nose, an arch and a tail. They may be arched, straight, soft-angled, thick, thin or joined as a unibrow
Chin, jaw and cheeks
The lower face is shaped by the jaw, the chin and the cheeks. Jaws may be broad and angular, narrow and tapered, or softly rounded; chins may be pointed, broad or cleft; cheekbones may be high and prominent or set lower
Forehead and hairline
The forehead runs from the eyebrows to the hairline. It may be high or low, broad or narrow, and its upper edge, the hairline, may be straight, rounded, M-shaped or pointed as a widow's peak
Skin features
Skin features are the marks and textures that make each face its own: dimples, freckles, beauty marks, laugh lines and wrinkles. Some are inherited, some come with sun and age, and many come and go over a lifetime
Beards
A beard is hair grown on the chin, cheeks and jaw. Styles range from stubble and the chinstrap to the goatee, the Van Dyke, the chin curtain and the full beard, with sideburns and mutton chops at the sides
Moustaches
A moustache is hair on the upper lip, worn alone or with a beard. Styles include the thin pencil, the thick chevron, the drooping walrus, the curled handlebar, the square toothbrush, the horseshoe and the long Fu Manchu
Eyewear frames
Eyewear frames are among the few things worn on the face every day by hundreds of millions of people. Shapes include round, oval, rectangular, cat-eye, aviator, wayfarer and browline, in metal, acetate or with no rim at all, and older forms such as the monocle, the pince-nez and the lorgnette
Adornment
Face adornment is what people wear on the face for faith, celebration or beauty: the bindi and tilak on the forehead, the nath and the nose stud, sindoor in the hair parting, and piercings of the lip, brow and septum. Many of these belong to particular faiths and communities and carry deep meaning
Makeup and face art
Makeup and face art cover everything applied to the face: kohl and kajal around the eyes, blush and contour, the white oshiroi of Japan, thanaka paste in Myanmar, and the painted faces of Kathakali, Kabuki and Peking opera. Some are everyday beauty, some are faith or festival, and some are stage conventions that tell an audience exactly who a character is.
Face tattoos and markings
Face tattoos and markings are permanent: designs tattooed, carved, stitched or scarred into the skin. Among them are the tā moko of the Māori, the kakiniit of Inuit women, the chin and lip tattoos of Ainu women, the facial tattoos of Apatani women in Arunachal Pradesh and of Chin women in Myanmar, and the facial marks of the Yoruba