Diamond face shape: what it is and how to style it

How to tell if you have a diamond face

Pull your hair back, look straight into a mirror in even light, and check these:

• Your cheekbones clearly stick out past the line of your temples and the line of your jaw.
• Your temples dip inward a little, so your forehead looks narrower than the middle of your face.
• Your chin is narrow and comes to a defined point.
• Sliding your hands down the sides of your face, they move outward at the cheekbones, then back in toward the chin.
• Pulling your hair back makes your cheekbones the first thing you notice.

Forehead

Narrower than the cheekbones, with temples that curve inward.

Cheekbones

The clear widest point, often high and prominent.

Jaw

Narrow, similar to or slightly narrower than the forehead.

Chin

Narrow and defined, often coming to a point.

Length

Longer than it is wide.

Diamond or heart or oval?

Hairstyles for a diamond face

1. Chin-length bob with fullness at the ends

   Width at the chin fills out the narrow lower face, so the cheekbones are no longer the only wide point.

2. Long layers with a deep side-swept fringe

   The fringe adds width across the narrow forehead, and layers that begin at the chin do the same at the bottom.

3. Tucked-behind-the-ear lob

   Tucking one or both sides behind the ears shows off your cheekbones, while the length below keeps the jaw from looking bare.

4. Fringe crop with fuller sides

   On short hair, leave a little length at the temples instead of clipping them tight, and brush a fringe forward. Both add width where your face narrows.

5. Curly bob at chin level

   Curls or coils cut to land at the chin build volume exactly where you want it. Ask for face-framing layers that start at the chin, not at the cheekbones.

6. Side-parted waves past the shoulders

   A side part angles fullness across the forehead, and waves starting around the chin widen the lower face.

Bangs

On a diamond face, a fringe has a different job than on most shapes: instead of hiding width, it adds some across a narrow forehead. Choose bangs that reach out toward the temples rather than a narrow strip in the middle. Soft, textured bangs that sit just above the brows, or curtain bangs that end at the top of the cheekbones, both work.

What to skip

• Volume at cheekbone level, like a bob that ends there or full side layers cut at that height: it widens the part of your face that is already widest.
• A tight, center-parted, slicked-back style with nothing at the temples: it shows off the narrow forehead with nothing to balance it.
• Very short sides on short hair, such as a high skin fade: it removes width where your face is narrowest.

Glasses for a diamond face

• Cat-eye frames. The upswept top edge adds width at the brow line, where your face narrows, and echoes the lift of your cheekbones.
• Oval frames. Gentle curves follow the line of your cheekbones without adding width at them.
• Rimless frames. With no rim at the sides, nothing sits on the widest part of your face, so the cheekbones stay the focus.
• Browline (clubmaster) frames. The heavy top bar widens the brow line to balance narrow temples, while the thin lower rim stays out of the way.

Makeup, brows, and beards

Contour and blush

Your cheekbones already give your face structure, so go light on contour beneath them. Add a soft highlight at the temples, the sides of the forehead, and the chin to make those narrow zones look fuller. Apply blush on the apples and blend it toward the center of the cheeks rather than out over the cheekbone ridge.

Brows

Brows are a quiet way to add width up top. Let the tails run slightly longer than usual and keep the arch gentle; a sharp, high peak adds one more angle to a face that already has several.

Beards and facial hair

Facial hair that fills out the chin and jaw, like a full beard or a chin-focused beard with some width, balances wide cheekbones. Keep the cheek line low and natural, because a high, sharply shaved line frames the cheekbones and makes them look wider.

How the detector reads it

Diamond is the one shape that needs both ends of the face to read narrow: a forehead at 85% of your cheekbone width or less, and a jaw at 75% or less. Compared with the typical readings of about 90% and 77%, that is a clear step in at the temples and a slightly slimmer jaw. The narrower the forehead, the higher the score, and a pointed chin (the jawlines meeting at under 95 degrees) adds a bonus. A diamond face that is also long, 1.5 times its cheekbone width or more, competes with oblong, so the result may name both.

Try the free face shape detector. It measures your face from one photo, and the photo never leaves your device.