Attractiveness test: how attractive am I?

How the attractiveness test works

A face model running in your browser places 478 points on your face. We level the photo on the line down the middle of your face, measure eleven classic proportions, and mirror 26 pairs of points to check your symmetry. Each part of the score gets a number from 0 to 10 for how close it comes to its ideal, and your face score is the weighted average of the six parts.

Your hairline is estimated. The face model stops on the upper forehead, so we look for the line where the color of your forehead turns to hair. When hair covers your forehead or the photo cuts it off, we estimate the hairline from the shape of your forehead instead, and the result says so.

To be plain about it: this score measures proportions and symmetry from one photo. Attractiveness is about much more than geometry. Your expression, skin, hair, style, voice, and the way you move all change how your face comes across, and none of them fit in a ratio.

Where the ideals come from

The golden ratio pairs come from a long habit of reading the number 1.618 into beautiful faces, which cosmetic surgeons turned into face templates in the 1990s. The thirds and fifths are much older: they are the canons artists have used for centuries to draw a well-proportioned face, three equal heights and five equal widths. The golden ratio face calculator lays out each of these ratios on your photo, next to its ideal, with the history and the critiques of the 1.618 idea.

Eye tilt is in the score because it is one of the more consistent cues in the research. In one experiment, judges picked female faces with the eye angle slightly accentuated over the unedited faces 93% of the time (Bashour and Geist, 2007). The jawline part rewards a jaw a little narrower than the cheeks, between a tapered chin and a jaw as wide as the face. Jaw width is one of the features that differ most between men and women, so the band is wide on purpose: a strong, square jaw and a soft, narrow one can both score well.

How to read your face score

Start with the six bars rather than the total. Each one is scored on its own, so a bar near 10 means that part of your face sits right on its ideal, and a short bar shows where the gap is. The note under each bar gives the raw measurement behind it: your thirds as shares of your face length, your eye tilt in degrees, your jaw as a share of your face width.

The two cards under the bars name your single strongest and weakest proportions in plain words, and the same two are pointed out on your photo. A low score on one ratio is not a flaw. Plenty of striking faces have a long lower third, wide-set eyes, or a jaw as wide as their cheekbones, which is part of what makes them memorable.

Small moves between photos are normal. A few tenths of a point usually come from the angle of your head or the distance to the camera, not your face. If you want to compare, take each photo the same way and look at the parts that moved.

Does a high face rating mean you are attractive?

Partly, and less than you might think. A large review of the research found three things people tend to like in faces across cultures: averageness, symmetry, and features typical of a person’s sex (Rhodes, 2006). Averageness is the surprising one. When faces are blended into a composite, the composite is rated more attractive than almost all of the real faces in it (Langlois and Roggman, 1990). An average face is not a golden ratio face, which is one reason the 1.618 ideal is weaker than its fame suggests.

Symmetry matters too, but the differences between real faces come down to millimeters, and people often prefer a real face to a perfectly mirrored one. The face symmetry test shows yours feature by feature, with each half of your face mirrored. So treat your face rating as a fun reading of your geometry. A 6 and a 9 can both be striking in person.

Why your score changes from photo to photo

• Distance. A phone held close works like a wide-angle lens: your nose looks bigger and your face narrower, which moves several ratios at once.
• Head angle. We level a tilted head and warn you when it is turned, but tipping your chin up or down still stretches or squashes the thirds.
• Expression. A big smile widens your mouth, lifts your cheeks, and opens your lips, which changes the lips and chin ratios.
• Hair. A fringe over your forehead hides your hairline, so the upper third becomes an estimate.
• Light. Hard shadows can hide the edge of your jaw and face, which sets your face width and fifths.

How to take a photo that measures well

1. Hold the phone at eye level and at arm’s length, or prop it up and step back with the 2x lens.
2. Look straight into the lens with your chin level.
3. Relax your face and close your lips.
4. Pull your hair back off your forehead and away from the sides of your face.
5. Face soft, even light, such as a window in front of you.

Face rating apps and pretty scales

A “rate my face” or pretty scale result is only as meaningful as what it measures. A model trained on strangers’ ratings learns their tastes, biases included, and can’t tell you why you got your number. This test does geometry you can check: every part of your score is shown, each one is measured from your own photo, and all of it happens on your device. Curious about the outline of your face instead? The face shape detector sorts it into one of six shapes, with haircuts and glasses to match.

Your skin is the part of your face that changes most from month to month, and it shapes first impressions as much as any proportion. The GoodSkin app scores 14 skin traits from one selfie, from glow and texture to redness. See how an AI skin analysis works.