Diamond Face Shape: How to Tell If Your Face Is Diamond

A diamond face narrows in both directions from the cheekbones: up toward a narrower forehead and down toward a narrow chin. The cheekbones are usually high and prominent, and they are the single widest line across the face.

Diamond is less common in face shape results than oval, because it needs two narrow ends at once. In our detector's terms it combines a narrow forehead with a narrow jaw and a pointed chin; a face with only one of those usually reads as oval or heart instead.

These are the measurements our face shape detector treats as typical of each shape. Widths and length are divided by the cheekbone width, so they compare faces of any size. Real faces vary around these values, and a face between two columns reads as a blend of both shapes.

With your hair pulled back from the forehead and temples, check in a mirror or a straight-on photo:

• Measure across your cheekbones at their widest point. In a diamond face this is clearly the largest width.
• Measure across your forehead at the upper temples. It should be noticeably narrower than the cheekbones.
• Measure across your jaw just above the corners and look at your chin. Both should be narrow, and the chin often comes to a point.
• If your forehead is about as wide as your cheekbones, compare with the heart face shape.
• If the chin is rounded rather than pointed, compare with the oval face shape.

Diamond and heart faces share the narrow, pointed chin. The forehead tells them apart: narrow on a diamond face, wide on a heart face.

Oval faces are also widest at the cheekbones with a slightly narrower forehead, but their chin is rounded and the taper is gentler. In our tests, faces generated to look diamond-shaped were often read as oval or heart instead, so a reading that splits between diamond and oval is common.

Styling advice for diamond faces aims to add width at the forehead and chin so the cheekbones do not stand alone. Side-swept or textured fringes widen the forehead, and cuts with volume at chin level, such as bobs and lobs, fill out the lower face. Very sleek styles pulled tight at the sides tend to emphasise the cheekbones.

For glasses, oval and rimless frames, and frames with detail along the top edge, balance wide cheekbones. Narrow, angular frames tend to make the cheekbones look even wider. Try them as ideas, not rules.

See seven hairstyles for a diamond face, for women and men →

A fringe or hair over the temples hides part of the forehead, so the forehead measures narrower than it is and the reading leans toward diamond. Strong side lighting can also deepen the hollows below the cheekbones. Pull your hair fully back, use even front lighting, and check the result with the face shape detector.