Do you have a snub nose?

What a snub nose looks like

Two things define a snub nose, and both are about height rather than width. The bridge is short and dips inward, so the profile is concave. And the tip turns up, so the line from bridge to tip finishes a little above where it would on a Greek nose.

The upturn is what you see from the front. With the head level, a snub tip shows a little of the nostril openings, because the base of the nose is angled forward and up. On a straight or convex nose the nostrils face down and stay hidden.

The base is usually of ordinary width and can be a touch wide for the length, simply because the nose is short. The tip can be pointed, soft or round. When it is small and round as well, the reading tips over into button.

The word is older than it sounds. To snub once meant to cut short, and a snub nose is a short nose. It is found in every population and is the usual shape in children, whose bridge has not finished growing. Many adults keep it.

How to tell if you have a snub nose

You need two views, and the profile comes first. Stand side-on to a bathroom mirror with a hand mirror in front of you, or have someone take a photo from the side at eye level from a couple of metres away. A side selfie held close stretches the nose and hides the dip.

Then do the straight-edge check.

1. Find the two ends. The top of the bridge, between the eyes, and the tip.
2. Lay a line between them. A pencil against the mirror, or a line drawn on the photo.
3. Look at the bridge against the line. If the bridge falls away below the line in the middle, the profile is concave.
4. Look at the tip. If the tip sits higher than the base of the nose, with the nostrils angled forward, the tip is upturned.

Now the front view. Face the mirror with your head level and your eyes on your own eyes. If you can see a little into both nostrils without tilting back, the tip is turned up. If you have to lift your chin to see them, the tip points down or straight.

The tools on this site work from a front photo, so they do not read the dip. They measure nose width against mouth width and face width, and nostril symmetry. A snub nose that is a little wide for its length shows as a mouth-to-nose ratio at or below the typical face.

Side light helps if you are unsure. A window to one side throws a shadow into the dip of the bridge and makes the concave line obvious. Flat light from the front fills it in and can make a snub nose look straight.

Snub vs button and Greek noses

Snub and button are the confused pair, and the overlap is real. Both are short and both turn up. The difference is what defines each. Snub is about the concave bridge and the lifted tip. Button is about small size and a round, soft tip. A dipped nose with a pointed tip is snub.

Size settles most cases. If the whole nose is small, narrow at the base, short in the bridge and rounded at the tip, read button. If the nose is short but of ordinary width, with a clear dip in the profile, read snub.

Snub and Greek differ at the bridge. A Greek bridge lies flat along the straight edge from top to tip. A snub bridge falls away below it. Both can have a tip that neither hooks nor drops; on the Greek nose it continues the line, on the snub nose it lifts above it.

A Roman nose is the opposite reading. Where the snub bridge dips below the straight edge, the Roman bridge rises above it at one point. The two are easy to tell apart in profile and impossible to tell apart from the front, which is the point of the mirror check.

Glasses for a snub nose

The practical issue is the bridge. A snub nose has a short, low bridge, so glasses have less to rest on and slide down onto the cheeks. The fix is fit, not style: choose a frame that grips at the top of the nose rather than relying on a high bridge.

Look for adjustable nose pads, which can be set close together to hold on a low bridge. Frames sold as low-bridge fit, sometimes called Asian fit, have a bridge that sits lower and pads that sit further apart to match. Either works. A flat plastic saddle bridge with no pads slides most.

Weight matters. A heavy acetate frame pulls down harder on a low bridge and slips faster. Thin acetate, metal and combination frames stay put longer. If you want a bold shape, choose it in a lighter material.

For proportion, a short nose sits well with a frame that does not dominate the middle of the face. Moderate lens height, a bridge that is not too wide, and a frame width that matches the face. The face shape guides cover which outline suits you.

Sunglasses follow the same rule. Aviators with adjustable pads and a slim frame sit well. Oversized plastic sunglasses look good in the mirror and slide within minutes, so try them on and look down before buying.

Contouring, makeup and hair for a snub nose

Nose contouring is optional and works by shadow. For a snub nose the usual aim, if there is one, is to make the nose read a little longer in the front view. That means adding a line down the bridge and a touch of shadow under the tip.

Run a thin line of a lighter matte shade down the centre of the bridge from between the brows to just above the tip. A continuous highlight lengthens; a broken one shortens. Keep the line narrow, or it widens the nose instead.

Then place a small amount of matte contour shade under the tip, on the skin between the nostrils, and blend it up onto the underside of the tip. This softens the upturn from the front by putting the lifted part in shadow. Skip the sides of the bridge unless the nose is also wide.

Keep everything matte. Shimmer on a short bridge draws the eye to the middle of the face and makes the nose look shorter and rounder. If you prefer no product on the nose, a defined brow and a well-placed blush shift attention outward.

Hair does more than makeup. Styles with height at the crown, or length that falls past the chin, make the face read longer and the nose smaller in proportion. A heavy straight fringe cuts the face short and makes a short nose more noticeable.

For men, a beard with some length at the chin lengthens the lower face in the same way and gives the profile a second line below the nose. See the beard guides for your face shape.

A snub nose and the rest of the face

A nose is read against the face around it. A snub nose on a round face matches the softness and reads as part of the whole. On a heart face, with its wider forehead and pointed chin, it sits in the narrow part and looks small. On a long face it looks smaller still.

The golden ratio test measures nose width at the nostrils against mouth width. A snub nose that is a little wide for its length gives a mouth-to-nose ratio at or below the typical face, which is why defining the mouth with colour helps balance it.

Symmetry is worth a look too. The symmetry test mirrors the nostril landmarks across the midline and reports the nose region separately from eyes, brows, mouth and jaw. Upturned tips often show a little more of one nostril than the other. That is ordinary.

The shape changes with age in a specific way. The tip of the nose drops slightly over the decades, so a snub profile becomes less upturned and the nostrils gradually disappear from the front view. A snub nose at twenty is often a straight nose at sixty.

Frequently asked questions