Makeup for a heart face

The approach

A heart face is widest at the forehead and narrowest at the chin. Makeup rebalances it with shadow where the face is wide, at the temples and the outer forehead, and light and colour where it is narrow, at the chin and the lower cheeks. Brows are kept from adding more height to the forehead.

Contour placement for a heart face

• Temples and outer forehead: contour at the two outer corners of the forehead, along the hairline and down the temples, blended into the hair. This is the main contour for a heart face and it narrows the widest part.
• Under the cheekbones: a soft, slightly horizontal sweep from the ear toward the mid-cheek. Keep it lower and flatter than the usual diagonal; a steep diagonal pulls the eye up.
• Chin: leave the sides of the chin alone. Contouring a narrow chin makes it narrower. If anything, a touch of contour just under the tip of the chin, on the underside, gives it a little definition without narrowing.
• Jaw: skip. The jaw on a heart face is already narrow.

Use a matte contour a couple of shades deeper than the skin and blend well, especially at the temples where it meets the hair.

Highlight

Highlight on the chin and the centre of the lower cheeks brings the lower third forward. A little on the bridge of the nose and the cupid's bow keeps the centre of the face bright. Skip the centre of the forehead: a bright forehead reads as a larger forehead.

Blush

Place blush a little lower than usual: on the apples of the cheeks and blended outward, horizontally, rather than swept up to the temple. This adds colour and width at the level of the lower cheeks and jaw, where a heart face is narrow. Avoid blush placed high on the cheekbone and blended up to the temples, which adds width to the upper face.

Colour by undertone, which the face shape test reports: peach and coral for warm undertones, rose and pink for cool, either for neutral.

Brow shape for a heart face

The brows sit on the widest part of a heart face, so their job is to avoid adding height or width there. A soft, rounded or gently arched brow with a moderate peak suits it. Keep the brows from being too thick or too dramatic in the arch; a high, sharp arch adds vertical space to the forehead. Keep the tail from extending far toward the temples, which widens the upper face.

Eyes and lips

The eyes are naturally the focal point of a heart face, so they rarely need extra emphasis; soft, blended shadow and defined lashes are enough. The lips are the balancing tool: a fuller, well-defined lip, with a soft rounded shape and a touch of gloss or highlight at the centre of the lower lip, adds presence to the lower third and draws the eye down from the forehead.

A simple routine

1. Base as usual.
2. Contour the temples and outer corners of the forehead, blended into the hairline.
3. Soft, low, horizontal contour under the cheekbones.
4. Blush on the apples, blended outward and kept low.
5. Highlight the chin, the centre of the lower cheeks, the nose bridge and the cupid's bow.
6. Brows soft and moderate; lips full and defined.

The heart face overview explains the ratios this routine is balancing.