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EveryFaceShape

Skin features

Dimples, freckles, beauty marks and laugh lines. 8 face guides on EveryFaceShape so far.

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. They are normal, and many cultures prize them: dimples are admired in songs and films, freckles are painted on in some fashions, and the beauty mark was imitated with silk patches in eighteenth-century Europe.

Dimples and freckles

Cheek dimples are often linked to a split in the zygomaticus major, a smiling muscle; they are frequently called a dominant trait, but their inheritance is irregular. Freckles are clusters of skin cells that make more melanin; they darken in the sun and are linked to variants of the MC1R gene. Both are found in people of many backgrounds.

Marks of time

Laugh lines at the corners of the eyes and the nasolabial folds from nose to mouth deepen with years of smiling, and wrinkles form as skin makes less collagen and elastin. Everyone gets them. Moles that sit near the lip or cheek are called beauty marks. Any change in a mole is something to show a doctor; EveryFaceShape gives no medical advice.

Famous skin face guides

DimpleSmall hollows in the cheekFrecklesSpots of melanin that deepen with sunBeauty markA mole, or a painted or patched oneNasolabial foldThe line from nose to mouth

Still to be written: Wrinkle.

Further reading

SuitsOval facesRound facesSquare facesHeart-shaped facesDiamond facesOblong facesTriangle facesMost faces
OriginInherited featuresGrown and groomedWornAppliedMarkedChanges with age
OrderBest knownA to ZOldest firstNewest first
WorldBeauty mark A dark facial mark, natural or applied, worn for adornment.Skin · Most faces WorldFreckles Small clusters of concentrated melanin on the skin.Skin · Most faces WorldDimple A small natural indentation in the flesh, most notably on the cheek.Skin · Most faces WorldUnibrow A single eyebrow formed by hair meeting above the nose bridge.Brows · Most faces WorldVellus hair Fine, short body hair present from childhood.Skin · Most faces

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: the face guide of the day, new pages on EveryFaceShape, and the conferences and anniversaries of the week ahead.