A triangular face shape (sometimes called pear-shaped) is widest at the jaw and narrows as it moves upward toward the forehead. It is the mirror image of the inverted triangle — where that shape has a wide top and narrow jaw, the triangular face has a wide jaw and a narrower forehead. The styling goal is to draw attention upward, balancing the jaw's width with visual interest at the forehead and eye level.
What Makes a Triangular Face Shape
The defining features of a triangular face:
- ✦Jaw is the widest part of the face
- ✦Forehead is noticeably narrower than the jaw
- ✦The face widens as it moves downward
- ✦Chin may be rounded or slightly pointed
The distinction from inverted triangle: the triangular face is wide at the bottom (jaw), narrow at the top (forehead). The inverted triangle is the opposite — wide at the top, narrow at the bottom. If your jaw is wider than your cheekbones and your forehead, you have a triangular shape.
Celebrity Example
Minnie Driver is a well-cited triangular face shape example — a prominent, wide jaw tapering to a narrower forehead and temples. Her best styling choices consistently add width and interest at the top of the face, drawing the eye upward and balancing the stronger lower half.
Best Glasses for Triangular Faces
The goal is to add visual weight and width at the top of the face — near the forehead and temples — to balance the wider jaw below.
Best choices:
Browline frames have bold, thick tops and lighter or rimless bottoms. They concentrate visual weight exactly where a triangular face needs it — at the brow — and draw the eye upward and away from the jaw.
Cat-eye frames sweep upward at the outer corners, adding width and visual interest at the top of the frame in the same zone.
What to avoid:
Narrow frames that are wider at the bottom than the top draw the eye downward toward the jaw.
Oversized frames that extend to or beyond the jaw width make the jaw appear even broader by matching its width. Keep frames proportional to the upper face, not the full face.
→ Best glasses for all face shapes
Best Blusher Placement for Triangular Faces
Blusher placement for triangular faces should draw the eye upward and add the impression of width at the cheekbones — reducing the visual dominance of the wider jaw below.
Do: Apply blusher high on the cheekbones and blend up and outward toward the temples. This creates a horizontal band of colour in the upper-mid face, drawing the eye upward and making the cheekbones appear wider relative to the jaw below.
Avoid: Applying blusher low on the cheeks or near the jaw. This draws the eye downward to the face's widest point and makes the jaw appear even broader.
→ Best blusher placement for all face shapes
Best Hairstyles for Triangular Faces
Hairstyles that add volume and width at the top of the face and avoid adding width at the jaw level work best.
Do:
- ✦Volume at the crown and temples — this is the key technique for triangular faces
- ✦Textured, voluminous styles above the cheekbones
- ✦Side-swept or full fringes that add width to the narrow forehead
- ✦Styles that taper or fall close to the jaw rather than adding volume there
Avoid:
- ✦Volume at the jaw level — curls or waves that fall exactly at the widest part of the jaw make it appear wider
- ✦Very flat styles at the top with volume at the bottom — this creates a silhouette that matches the triangular face shape rather than balancing it
- ✦Blunt bobs ending at jaw level
Balancing the Triangular Face
The triangular face's challenge is entirely one of direction — draw the eye up, and the proportion resolves. Once that principle is established, the triangular face becomes straightforward to style: every choice that adds visual interest above the midface works, and everything that pulls the eye toward the jaw is avoided.
Find your face shape at inmycolors.com.