The flattering hairstyle that makes round faces appear more angular

The ways in which you can cut or style your hair are endless. A little tweak with your parting or adjustment to the length can make a dramatic impact in balancing out your facial features. Make-up artists have long contoured angles into the face with make-up, but you can do it with your hair, too.

While longer faces can pull off a heavier, fuller fringe to ‘shorten’ the face or longer layers can minimise the look of a square jawline, the diamond cut can make round faces look a little more angular. It’s a trick used by actresses Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone, and most dramatically by the 25-year-old American singer Sabrina Carpenter.

“Your hair is a great tool in balancing your overall facial dimensions and features for a more prettified look,” explains the hairstylist Tom Smith. You can do this with your parting, with a fringe or with hair colour.

The key to achieving a diamond cut is “having points at the top of the forehead – whether in the middle or to one side – and then exposing the cheekbones at their highest point,” says Smith. “Drawing the diamond from the forehead to the cheekbones to the chin is what creates this diamond contoured shape.” Here’s what to ask for in your hairdresser’s chair.

Create the shape

The most effective way to create a diamond shape to the face is by using a fringe. Of course, they’re not for everyone, but “a shorter, centre-parting fringe can give the illusion of the point at the top of the diamond,” says Smith, which looks particularly flattering if the ends of the fringe sweep the tops of your cheekbones.

Fringes need work, however, so you will need to take some time every morning to re-style (a hairdryer and a round brush are key), and they are tricky for anyone with textured hair or with tight curls. “You can also play with asymmetry if you have a rounder face and don’t want a fringe,” explains Smith. “Try a parting to the side, which immediately gives the face a graphic angle.” The Dressed to Kill De-Frizz Cream by Hair By Sam McKnight (£26, Sam McKnight) is an excellent hair smoother to have in your kit.

Dressed to Kill De-Frizz Cream by Hair, £26, Sam McKnight

Play with colour

“You can create a diamond shape by using hair colour to your advantage, too,” says Smith. You may be familiar with the tried-and-tested hairdresser technique of using a “money” piece around the hairline, which means a lightened halo of colour around the front section of the hair to bring light and brightness to your face.

“If someone has a rounder face, I will start this brighter section slightly lower so the brightest piece of hair is hitting the cheekbones,” explains Smith. This will immediately draw attention to your cheekbones and give them a more chiseled effect. The Perfect Hair Day High Shine Gloss by Living Proof (£30, Living Proof) is an excellent in-shower five minute glossing treatment to keep any hair colour you do have look sparkling.

Perfect Hair Day High Shine Gloss by Living Proof, £30, Living Proof

Use make-up to your advantage

The make-up artist Caroline Barnes is an expert in balancing facial features in a gentle, subtle way. “For me it’s all about opposites,” she explains. “If you are blessed with curves around your face and full cheeks, you need to balance the curves of your face with sharp strong lines.”

Barnes suggests to avoid going straight across the face with your blush, and not to apply blush directly on the apples of the cheeks. The Blush Is Life range of blushers by Kosas (£28, Space NK) are excellent in providing a soft, diffused pop of colour.

Blush Is Life by Kosas, £28, Space NK

“Instead, when you look in the mirror, place the brush with blusher in line with your pupil and then stretch up in a high diagonal. Use a blush two or three tones darker than your skin tone and this will give the illusion of lift.”

With the eyes, you can use a more graphic eyeliner rather than placing a ‘banana’ shape of eyeshadow in your socket. “The main idea is you are stretching your eye makeup out towards your temples to give width to your face. Finally, your brows are very important in enhancing the overall diamond effect, too, but keep the arch of your brow more angled.