Face Contouring Skills.

Before beginning your highlighting and contouring, you must first determine your face shape.  Faces can be oval, rectangular, round, heart-shaped, oblong, diamond-shaped, or triangular (including inverted triangular).  To determine your face shape, pull all of your hair back tightly and examine your face in the mirror, looking for the following attributes.  A measuring tape may be used to measure the length and width of the face for a more precise determination.

OVAL: Oval-shaped faces have a length equal to 1.5 times the width of the face, with forehead and jaw equal widths.

RECTANGULAR: Rectangular faces are 1/3 longer than the width of the face and have strong angles on the forehead and at the jaw line.

ROUND: Round faces are as wide as they are long, but with soft, rounded edges.

HEART-SHAPED: Heart-shaped faces have the most width at the cheek, eye, and forehead areas, with a narrow to pointy chin.  Sometimes they will also have a high forehead.

OBLONG: Oblong faces are as long as it is wide.  Straight sides, a high forehead, and larger than average distance between the bottom of the lip and the tip of the chin are common attributes of the oblong face.

DIAMOND-SHAPED: Diamond-shaped faces are characterized by a narrow forehead and a narrow chin with the widest point at the cheeks.

TRIANGULAR (and INVERTED TRIANGULAR): Triangular faces are wide at the forehead and narrowest at the jaw line; inverted triangular faces are widest at the jaw line and narrowest at the forehead. Determining your face shape will help you decide where to place your highlights and contours and what features you’d like to define or downplay.