Makeup for a triangle face

The approach

A triangle face is widest at the jaw and narrowest at the forehead. Makeup rebalances it with shadow where the face is wide, along the jaw corners and under the jawline, and light and colour where it is narrow, at the forehead and temples. Brows are used to add height to the upper face.

Contour placement for a triangle face

• Jaw corners: contour at the two corners of the jaw, below the ears, blended down under the jawline and back toward the neck. This is the main contour for a triangle face and it narrows the widest part.
• Under the jawline: a soft line along the underside of the jaw from the corners toward the chin, blended into the neck, so the edge of the jaw reads softer from the front.
• Under the cheekbones: a diagonal sweep from the ear up toward the mid-cheek, steeper than usual, so it pulls the eye up.
• Forehead and temples: skip. The upper face is already small.

Use a matte contour a couple of shades deeper than the skin and blend well, especially under the jaw where it meets the neck.

Highlight

Highlight across the centre of the forehead and at the temples brings the upper third forward and makes it read wider. A little on the brow bone lifts the eyes. Keep highlight off the chin and jaw; a bright lower face reads as a larger lower face.

Blush

Place blush high on the cheekbones and sweep it up toward the temples, rather than out along the cheek. This adds colour and width at the level of the eyes and temples, where a triangle face is narrow, and draws the eye up from the jaw.

Avoid blush placed low on the apples and blended outward toward the jaw, which adds width to the lower 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 triangle face

The brows sit on the narrowest part of a triangle face, so their job is to add height and a little width there. A defined arch with a clear peak suits it, with the tail extended slightly toward the temple to widen the upper face.

Keep the brows from being too flat or too thin; a flat brow adds nothing, and a thin one leaves the forehead looking bare. A fuller brow with a real arch does the most.

Eyes and lips

The eyes are the balancing tool on a triangle face: defined liner, a lifted outer corner, curled lashes and shadow blended up and out toward the temple all draw attention to the upper face and widen it.

The lips can stay soft. A bold, wide lip adds emphasis to the lower third, so if you wear a strong colour keep the shape neat and slightly rounded rather than extended at the corners.

A simple routine

1. Base as usual.
2. Contour the jaw corners and under the jawline, blended into the neck.
3. Steep diagonal contour under the cheekbones.
4. Blush high on the cheekbones, swept up to the temples.
5. Highlight the centre of the forehead, the temples and the brow bone.
6. Brows arched and slightly extended; eyes defined, lips soft.

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