Of the six standard face shapes, diamond is the one people are least likely to have and most likely to want. Its geometry concentrates all the width in the cheekbones, with the forehead pinched above and the jaw tapering to a point below. The result is the sculpted midface that contouring tutorials spend twenty minutes trying to fake, built directly into the bone.

Because the shape is uncommon, most people who suspect they have it actually belong to a neighboring category, usually oval with prominent cheekbones or heart with a slightly narrow forehead. This guide sets out the strict definition, gives you a comparison test that separates diamond from its lookalikes, and covers the styling logic, which runs opposite to most face shape advice: the goal is adding width at the top and bottom rather than trimming it anywhere.

Suspect you're in the rare category?

If your cheekbones dominate every photo, run our free AI test and find out for sure.

Check My Shape

What Is a Diamond Face?

A diamond face satisfies three conditions at once. The cheekbones are the widest zone by a clear margin, not the narrow win they score on an oval face but a difference you can see across a room. The forehead is narrow, with the temples visibly recessed, so the upper face looks pinched compared to the middle. And the jaw tapers quickly to a pointed chin, without corners and without much width of its own. Connect the four extremes (hairline, two cheekbones, chin) and you draw the elongated rhombus that names the shape.

Face length typically sits in the moderate range, close to oval territory, so length is rarely the deciding factor. What decides it is the drop-off. Measured with a tape, the forehead and jaw of a diamond face each come in well behind the cheekbones, often by an inch or more, where an oval face shows only a gentle stepping-down from zone to zone.

The bones drive how this shape reads in person. High, projecting cheekbones catch light at the widest point and throw shadow into the hollows beneath, so diamond faces tend to look naturally contoured, occasionally to the point of severity in harsh lighting. The narrow temples and chin frame that drama with delicacy. Nearly all of the styling advice for this shape exists to keep the midface from doing all the talking.

How to Tell If You Have a Diamond Face

The three-width comparison settles it, and a photo makes the comparison honest. Take a straight-on picture, print it or open it on a screen, and hold a ruler horizontally at three heights: across the widest part of the forehead, across the cheekbones at their peak, and across the jaw about an inch above the chin.

You're looking for a spike pattern. Diamond faces show a small number at the top, a distinctly larger number in the middle, and a small number at the bottom. If the forehead measurement lands close behind the cheekbones, you're reading an oval or a heart. If the jaw holds its width most of the way to the chin, look at square or oblong instead. The temples give a useful shortcut: on a diamond face, the sides of the forehead angle inward noticeably before the hairline, something you can spot without measuring anything.

Two lookalikes cause most of the misreads. Heart faces share the pointed chin but keep a broad forehead, and oval faces share cheekbone-led width but distribute it gradually. When your ruler numbers cluster near the boundary, the free AI face shape detector measures the landmark distances to the pixel and tells you which side you fall on, and our guide to determining your face shape explains what each zone contributes to the call.

Makeup & Contouring for Diamond Faces

Diamond is the shape where restraint is a technique. Standard contouring routines assume the face needs shadow carved beneath the cheekbones, but a diamond face manufactures that shadow on its own. Adding a full contour stripe under bones that already project can tip the midface from sculpted into hollow. If you contour there at all, use a shade one step darker than skin tone, keep it to the back third of the hollow near the ear, and blend until it almost disappears.

The productive work happens at the ends of the face. A touch of highlighter at the center of the forehead and across the temples visually opens the narrow upper third, and the same product on the chin gives the pointed lower third more presence. This is the reverse of the shading most tutorials teach, and it's why generic contour maps disappoint people with this shape. Blush belongs on the front of the cheeks, on the apples, blended toward the nose side rather than out toward the ears; placed conventionally along the cheekbone, it stretches the widest zone wider.

Brows carry unusual weight on a diamond face because they border the narrow forehead. A fuller, straighter brow adds horizontal width exactly where the shape runs short, while a thin, sharply arched brow accentuates the pinch at the temples. For complete placement diagrams, our contouring guide maps the diamond approach next to the other five shapes, and the face shape makeup roundup includes a full diamond look.

Best Glasses & Sunglasses for Diamond Faces

Good frames for this shape borrow width for the forehead. Browline glasses do it most directly, stacking their visual weight along the top edge right where the face narrows. Cat-eye styles achieve the same lift with more flair, and frames with decorative top corners or contrast-colored upper rims work on the identical principle. Oval lenses in thin rims are the soft option, easy on a face that already has strong lines.

Sizing runs opposite to the advice given for wide faces: keep the overall frame at or just inside your cheekbone width. Frames that extend past the cheekbones push the widest zone outward and shrink the forehead further by comparison. Depth-wise, moderate lenses beat tall ones, since a very deep lens crowds the short distance between cheekbone and jaw on this shape.

Rimless builds deserve a special mention because diamond is the shape they flatter most reliably; with no rim competing against the bones, the cheekbones keep their starring role without exaggeration. For sunglasses, oval and softly squared frames with light upper detailing hit the mark, while narrow rectangular lenses, which sit as a thin band across the widest part of the face, are the one style to skip. On the jewelry side, drop earrings that flare below the jaw fill in the narrow lower face, and chokers or short necklaces add a horizontal line that balances the point of the chin.

Celebrity Examples of Diamond Faces

Halle Berry has been the reference diamond face for thirty years: temples that angle in early, cheekbones that peak dramatically, and a chin that finishes in a fine point. Rihanna appears on nearly every diamond list as well, and her makeup looks are a running masterclass in apple-focused blush and forehead highlight.

Vanessa Hudgens shows the shape in its softest register, with the width spike at the cheekbones visible even through fuller cheeks. Ashley Greene is the example stylists cite when explaining browline frames, since the added top width reads instantly against her narrow temples. Note how often these same names get filed under oval by other publications; with a shape this rare, borderline calls are the norm, and it's a good reminder to trust measurements over resemblance.

Settle the diamond question

The AI compares your forehead, cheekbone, and jaw widths from one photo. Free, in seconds.

Try Free Scanner

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the diamond face shape rare?

It is generally considered the least common of the six standard categories. The shape requires a specific combination: cheekbones distinctly wider than both the forehead and the jaw, with a chin that tapers to a point. Most faces distribute their width more evenly, which lands them in the oval, round, or square columns instead.

How do I know if my face is diamond or oval?

Look at the forehead. Both shapes are widest at the cheekbones, which causes the confusion, but an oval forehead is only slightly narrower than the cheekbones while a diamond forehead is markedly narrower, with visible tightness at the temples. The chin helps too: oval chins round off, diamond chins come to a point.

Should diamond faces contour their cheekbones?

Very lightly, if at all. Diamond cheekbones already project and cast their own shadow, so standard contour placement doubles an effect the bone structure provides for free and can make the midface look gaunt. Most makeup artists route the effort into highlighting the forehead and chin instead, which balances the width where the face actually lacks it.

What glasses suit a diamond face shape?

Frames that add width above the cheekbones. Browline styles, cat-eyes, and frames with detailing along the top edge broaden the narrow forehead, while oval and rimless styles keep things soft without competing with the bones. Keep the total frame width at or inside your cheekbone width, since anything wider exaggerates the midface bulge.

What earrings work best with a diamond face?

Drops that flare below the jawline. The lower face is the narrow zone, so earrings that widen at the bottom, like teardrops and small chandeliers, fill it in visually. Tight studs sitting level with the cheekbones add width at the widest point, which is the one placement this shape doesn't need.