When buying clothing, many people choose clothes that they feel make them look taller or slimmer. When choosing earrings, a woman should follow the same line of thought, and choose a pair that will make her face look its best. To do so, she must know what the shape of her face is, and follow some common sense guidelines as to what shape earrings will most flatter that shape.

Faces come in all shapes and sizes. They can be round, square, long, oval, or triangular or heart shaped. To determine her face shape, a woman should pull the hair back from her face and look straight into the mirror without smiling, as a smile can change the shape. She needs to pay attention to length and width, comparing the temples to the jaw line, and look at the chin and decide if it is pointy. All of these details can help her determine her face shape.

If she has a wider face, which could be square or round, she would do well to avoid repeating that shape in her earrings. Instead of choosing round earrings like oversized buttons, or big hoops, she could choose a pair with a longer, more slender line. These will force the eye to move up and down and emphasize length over width.

On the other hand, if she has a face that actually has more length than width, she should opt for earrings with a wider shape like large buttons or round flower shaped earrings. If she still wants to wear earrings that swing, she should choose ones that are a little shorter and broader.

A triangular, or heart shaped face is narrower at the jaw line and the chin usually comes to a point. Earrings that flare out at the narrowest point of the face will help deemphasize that feature.

A person with an oval shaped face can pull off almost any earring shape she chooses. She can opt for delicate studs, clunky cube shaped earrings, delicate dangles, and funky buttons.

Of course, personal taste and expression should play a deciding role in earring selection, but if there is an undesirable shape to the face that someone wishes to camouflage, a general rule of thumb is to avoid echoing that shape in the earrings. A little forethought with earring choice can help a woman look her best.