Obviously, our faces are not going to be exact replicas of geometric shapes we learned about in school. So it's best to be less rigid with our expectations of conforming to

an exact shape and leave room for other contributing factors. "The overall face shape takes into account the relative prominence of features and changes with age and weight," says Anita Patel, MD, founder of her eponymous cosmetic surgery practice in Beverly Hills. "If looking at a triangle, a youthful face has the apex at the bottom, whereas an aged look has the triangle flipped upside down, with the base at the bottom," she adds.

In addition, Ourian recommends thinking about how we apply our makeup to help make us more cognizant of our facial structure. "As a rule of thumb, consider how and why you contour and highlight certain areas of the face using bronzer, blush, and highlighter. This bone structure you exaggerate shadows and highlights, contributing to your face shape," he says.