How to Choose the Best Accessories for Your Face Shape

Have you ever had the experience of choosing an accessory – earrings, necklaces, or a pair of glasses – only to find it made your face look weird or accented unflattering features? You might have wondered what caused it – that style looked great on your friend! – and come up blank. You might also have accidentally done this to someone else. Maybe you gave a pair of earrings or recommended a hairstyle to someone because it looked great on you, but on them it falls far short of fashionable. How can you prevent this?

Arranging Shapes

This is all based on the shape of your face as compared of the features of the accessory. In the art world, this is called composition, and refers to the overall arrangement of shapes in a painting or sculpture. The same principles apply to picking great accessories. Determine what shape your face is, and pick jewelry that gives it great composition. In this way, your face becomes a work of art that uses the same methods the Renaissance Masters used to create their masterpieces!

Determining Your Face Shape

To figure out what shape your face is, pull your hair back into a ponytail or bun and look at your face’s outline. There are a few basic face types:

• Round: face is a circle, with the same width from ear to ear as length from forehead to chin.
• Oval: face is shorter from ear to ear than the length from forehead to chin.
• Square or rectangular: face has the same width along the length, but the length may vary.
• Heart: face is wider at the forehead and tapers down to the chin.
• Diamond: face is wider at the cheeks, tapers up at the forehead, and tapers down to the chin.
• Pear: this is also called “teardrop,” where the width of the forehead in the shortest, and the face tapers down into a wide, rounded chin.
• Triangle: similar to pear, the width of the forehead is the shortest, but the face tapers down into a wide, squared chin.
• Narrow: this is a subtype of oval that is also called “oblong,” the short width of the face is a defining enough feature to not be a true oval face.

Create a Work of Art

Now that you know your own face shape, you want to consider the shape of the jewelry and how it would fit in composition with your face. When it comes to looking at art, people naturally like to see balance rather than everything stacked to one side. Some shapes can be overwhelming, especially if too often repeated, as with hoops worn with a round face. Faces with a lot of angles don’t need them repeated with angular jewelry, while the same look can soften the roundness of someone else’s face. Here are some more examples:

• Oval features go with just about anything, except long earrings or necklaces. To wear them, an oval type face needs to accommodate for the illusion of narrowing with wide glasses or a wide hairdo.
• Those long dangles and pretty necklaces can lengthen a round face. They can also help add balance to a heart shape.
• Curved earrings, like hoops, look great on square faces, but drops or dangles are not such a good idea.
• Don’t discount the effect of your haircut on your overall look! Find a cut and some ‘dos that compliment your shape. This is like having your picture already drawn onto your canvas!
• Narrow chin types, such as heart or oblong, look great with lots of necklaces or scarves.

If you look at the shape of your face and arrange your hair, jewelry, and other accessories around that, you’ll never go wrong. Artists have been using the principles of composition to create masterpieces that have lasted generations. If you compliment the shape of your face with the shape of your accessories, you will always choose accessories that are the best for your face!

About the author: