A rectangular face shape shares the square's angular jaw but adds significant length — it is noticeably longer than it is wide. The forehead, cheekbones, and jaw are roughly equal in width, giving the face a parallel-sided quality. The challenge with a rectangular face is balancing its length: adding width and visual "breaks" in the vertical line without losing the elegance that length naturally provides.
What Makes a Rectangular Face Shape
The defining features of a rectangular face:
- ✦Face is significantly longer than it is wide
- ✦Forehead, cheekbones, and jaw are approximately equal in width — creating parallel sides
- ✦Jawline has angular corners (like a square face, but longer)
- ✦Flat or square chin
The distinction from square: the rectangular face is longer. The distinction from oval: the rectangular has angular jaw corners where the oval has curves, and the rectangular has more parallel proportions (equal width top to bottom) where the oval tapers.
Celebrity Example
Sarah Jessica Parker is frequently cited as a rectangular face shape — a long face with angular jaw, strong forehead, and roughly parallel sides. Her signature looks consistently include volume at the sides and frames that add width, demonstrating how to balance the rectangular's length effectively.
Best Glasses for Rectangular Faces
The goal is to add width and visual breaks to the long, parallel-sided face. Frames that add horizontal emphasis and rounded shapes work best.
Best choices:
Oversized decorative frames add width and draw the eye across rather than down, effectively shortening the visual length of the face. Bold temples and wide frames are particularly effective.
Round frames add curves that contrast with the angular jaw and break up the strong vertical lines of the face.
What to avoid:
Narrow frames emphasise the face's length without adding any counterbalancing width. Thin, horizontal rectangular frames make the face appear even longer.
Small oval frames sit in the centre of the face and do nothing to address the length — they can make the rectangular face appear even more elongated by showing too much face above and below the frames.
→ Best glasses for all face shapes
Best Blusher Placement for Rectangular Faces
Blusher for rectangular faces aims to add horizontal width and reduce the impression of length.
Do: Apply blusher horizontally across the cheekbones in a wide, sweeping stroke from cheek to cheek. This creates a band of colour that draws the eye across the face rather than down its length. Blending slightly onto the temples increases the horizontal effect.
Avoid: Vertical or diagonal blusher application that follows the length of the face — this reinforces the rectangular's natural elongation rather than counteracting it.
→ Best blusher placement for all face shapes
Best Hairstyles for Rectangular Faces
The best hairstyles add width at the sides and create horizontal visual interest that shortens the appearance of the face.
Do:
- ✦Waves and curls that add volume at the sides — this is the single most effective technique for rectangular faces
- ✦Side-swept fringes that cut across the forehead horizontally, reducing the face's apparent length
- ✦Full, layered bobs that add width at cheek level
- ✦Textured styles with movement at the sides rather than length at the centre
Avoid:
- ✦Very long, straight styles with no volume at the sides — these extend the face's vertical line downward
- ✦Centre parts with flat sides — this creates a curtain effect that makes the face look narrower and therefore longer
- ✦Slicked-back styles that show the full length of the face from hairline to chin
→ Best hairstyles for all face shapes
The Rectangular Face's Elegance
Rectangular faces have a natural elegance — their length is the same quality found in classical models and portraits considered timeless. The goal of styling is not to hide the length but to create balance: a wide frame here, a textured wave there, and the rectangular face becomes one of the most distinguished shapes to work with.
Find your face shape at inmycolors.com.