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Hello peachies, welcome back to dear peachie! The long midface is often considered a feature that makes someone look more mature and elegant. With this idea gaining popularity on social media, it seems like everyone thinks they have a long midface! But do you really have a longer midface ratio, or are you just confused?
Even if you do have a longer midface ratio, have you found that despite all your makeup efforts to shorten it, something still seems off about your appearance? The truth is, if you have a longer face shape, achieving harmony in your facial proportions involves more than just focusing on the midface ratio. Many people misdiagnose themselves with a long midface and end up using makeup techniques that don't flatter their unique features.
If you watched our previous video, you're likely familiar with the concept of horizontal thirds and vertical fifths. Generally, having a longer middle third compared to the upper and lower thirds makes your face appear longer. But let's take a look at these pictures of female celebrities. Who seems to have a longer midface? It's easy to say that Karen Mok has more "blank spaces" in her midface. However, if we look closer, we'll see that the length of Karen Mok's middle third is actually the same as Ni Ni's! So what causes us to perceive Karen's face as longer? It's actually the length of her philtrum!
Let's revisit the horizontal thirds theory. Each of these "thirds" is visually divided by color blocks with high visual presence. For instance, the upper third region is marked by our brows or eyes, and the lower third by our lips. However, the nose has the weakest visual presence in the middle third compared to other features. This affects how our face is perceived by others from a social distance. In our minds, we know the midface is the region between the bottom of our eyes and the base of our nose. But in reality, because our nose has the weakest visual presence, the midface region seems to span from below our eyes down to the cupid's bow of our lips, making it appear longer.
So, take a step back—have you misdiagnosed yourself with a long midface, or do you just have a longer philtrum? If it's the latter, here are some tips to help you elevate your makeup game and bring balance to your facial harmony. According to the golden ratio rule, the length of the philtrum should be half the length of your chin. If it’s longer than half your chin, it means you have a long philtrum; if it’s shorter, you have a short philtrum.
As we mentioned in our previous video, an aesthetically appealing face isn’t determined by having a long, short, round, or wide face shape or features, but by their proportions. For example, Winter from Aespa has a longer philtrum ratio because the length of her philtrum is the same as her chin, giving a 1:1 ratio. Her eyes are positioned lower in her facial proportion, and the distance from her brow to her eyes is the same length as her philtrum. Her overall features are slightly wide-set, creating a well-balanced facial harmony that contributes to her refreshing gamine aura. However, if we reduce the distance between her brows and her eyes, this would immediately make her philtrum appear longer, causing an imbalance in her facial proportion. Additionally, the shape of the nose and lips, such as an upturned nose and downturned lips, or the prominence of the tubercle, can affect the appearance of the length and contour of the philtrum. A wider and deeper philtrum looks more prominent and adds more dimension to the lower third of the face, making your features appear more defined.
With these basic principles in mind, we can make some adjustments to our makeup routine to enhance the philtrum ratio, thereby bringing more balance and harmony to our facial proportions. The first method to adjust overall facial proportion is by widening the distance between your brows and eyes. If we look closer, the midface ratios of both Winter and Giselle from Aespa can’t really be defined as "long midface" in strict terms. Their longer philtrum ratios make their midfaces appear longer instead. By examining their makeup looks, we see they often follow the principle of widening their eye-to-brow distance while reducing the philtrum ratio. To widen the eye-to-brow ratio, their brows are shaped to be thinner and slightly arched, creating more space in this region. They apply light eyeshadow to the upper lid, weakening the colors in the upper lid to avoid a stark contrast between the upper and lower thirds, achieving a more harmonious balance. More effort is put into the eyeshadow on the lower lid region, along with contouring the under-eye fat and adding lower lashes to bring the eye position lower in the facial proportion. Always remember to bring your eyeshadow lower by about 1mm away from the waterline to lower your eye position and divert visual attention upwards.
The second method is to tweak the finer details of your features by shaping your lips to reduce the visual length of your philtrum. The general logic is to enhance the contour of the philtrum groove. This can be done by precisely adding shadows to the groove and brightening the highest point of the philtrum and cupid's bow with highlighter. If you have more prominent features, such as deeper-set eyes with defined brow bones, you can deepen the groove with a stronger contour. Additionally, contour the groove in a tapered shape resembling an inverted "V" rather than a horizontal line. This creates the illusion of pointier lips, adding more depth to your features. Looking at Winter and Giselle's lip makeup, you can see they overline their lips to make their upper lips look fuller. By blending out the lip shade from their actual lip line, they bring the highlights higher, helping to redefine the structure of the lips. The shadows created from contouring the upper lip create a bigger contrast to the highlights, making them more prominent. Applying gloss with high shine properties and smudging it slightly away from the actual lip line can make your philtrum appear shorter. Moreover, if you have a more defined tubercle on your lips, it can make your lips appear more downturned, stretching the ratio of the philtrum. Applying a deeper shade of lip color to the tubercle can suppress the downturned impression. However, if you have narrow or less defined lower lips, be extra careful with how far you overline your lip color. Overextending your lips can make your features look out of place. Using low-saturated lip colors is a better choice since they are less vibrant.
Whether you have a long or short philtrum, the key to achieving a balanced and harmonious look lies in understanding and enhancing your unique features. Makeup is an art, and with the right techniques, you can create illusions that accentuate your natural beauty. Beauty is all about balance, proportion, and most importantly, confidence. Thank you so much for watching! We will see you in the next video! Good bye.