Facial Symmetry- What it really means...

As part of our wonderful Beauty Blogger's Utopia, we were lucky enough to attend a workshop at the Cameron Jane Makeup-Design, Australia’s Elite Makeup Academy.  The topic covered was about body balance, and for me the most important part was facial balancing.



Logo courtesy of CameronJane.com



As a recent ‘graduate’ from a traditional makeup course, I was taught about face shapes.  Oval shaped faces were the ultimate goal.  Every face should be contoured to look oval.  What Cameron-Jane was kind enough to share ,is that everything I had learned about face shapes was old news, and I was best to forget it.  The perfect face is symmetrical. 

Perfect symmetry is the difference between a model and a super model.

 The ‘perfect’ face should measure evenly across the eyes, the eye should fit into the face 5 times (this is something they did actually tell us during my course) If they do, then you’re seen to be vertically symmetrical. The length from the hair line to the outer corner of the eye, the length of the eye, from the inner corner of one eye to the inner corner of the other eye, and the outer corner of the eye to the hairline; should all be equal.

I enlisted the help of a few friends, and took some shots to show this, you'll have to forgive the pink ruled, apparently it's the only one I have!

Of equal importance is the hairline to the bridge of nose; bthe ridge of nose to the nose tip and nose tip to the base of the chin.  These measurements should be even. If they are, you are seen to be horizontally symmetrical.

It’s pretty rare that you have all of these in features, and should you be symmetrical in one direction only, then you should address your ‘flaw’ which is the direction in which you lack symmetry. 

For me, I am vertically symmetrical, sadly my face errs on the side of round and so I should address this as my flaw using clever techniques and what are basically optical illusions to ‘pull my face down’.

What this means for hairdressers, makeup artists and stylists everywhere is we need to look beyond our scope of expertise, to counter balance, utilising accessories, clothing styles, stair styles and of course makeup.

What Cameron Jane was quick to tell me, was t-shirts are no good to me, - cut it, she said. I need to wear necklines the aid in ‘elongating’ my face.  Long necklaces rather than chokers, my scarves should be tied loosely and low.

This whole introduction really got me thinking, and of course discussing it with my peers.  In doing so, we worked out that most of us knew what looked good and opted for certain necklines/accessories, but could not say why.  Now, I can sound incredibly informed when I explain it.

Further to this revelation I learnt lots of other things from Cameron Jane:

·         Rather than trying to contour every face to an oval shape, we should work with what we have; and counter balance the 'flaw' this can be using hair, scarves, accessories and the neck lines of out clothing. 

·         The ‘Oh my makeup looks fantastic’- take a picture ‘what’s wrong with my face’ phenomenon, is more than just ‘body’ issues or me ‘having a moment’.

-          When you look at yourself in the mirror, something called ‘lateral inversion’ takes place, so the right side of your face is seen by the left eye and vice versa, the brain compensates for the lack of symmetry this way, whereas a photograph is a true image- and is mean and cold towards our feelings! 

·         I have giant eyes, but my face is vertically symmetrical.

-          The ‘perfect face’ is perfectly symmetrical, this usually mean you have 3cm between the hairline and the outer corner of the eye, 3cm of eye, 3cm between the eye, then 3cm for eye and 3cm to the hair line.  I have 5cm.  This mean I am perfectly in proportion across my face, just, bigger proportions- No, seriously you should have seen these eyes when I was a baby- Owl alert.

·         If you create great makeup, find a way to take a picture in a mirror.

-          I had figured this out accidentally, when I would look at my models and think ‘Yeah, freakin awesome’, but I couldn’t photograph it.  I started to take pictures in the mirror, now I know why.

For example, I created this ‘GaGa’ inspired look (which was actually because the eye liner was’t even but I didn’t know why; I should have looked in the mirror!) try as I might, I just couldn’t get a good picture, in the end I pointed the camera at the mirror and took a picture.  The true photo then the picture I took in the mirror.

Another example of this was the below pictures, actual picture and then the photo taken in the mirror:

So you see, it's not 'just you' when you can't get that Face of the Day shot to match your makeup.  It is a scientific phenomenon that your brain used to preserve you feelings ;)

I had a wonderful time in Sydney meeting all the bloggers and taking in paet in excerises like this, big thanks for Sara-May and Larah for organising it.

Finally, a huge Thank You to Cameron Jane, for firstly supporting Beauty Blogger's Utopia, but also, for teaching me so much in such a short time and sharing her knowledge.

You can learn more about the courses of offer and the school on the Cameron Jane website.