Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, considering all of us are attracted to different things when we are searching for our perfect partner. Whether it's a scar, a glint in an eye, or a full smile, we all have our individual preferences. However, there are some common traits that are undeniably attractive and stunning. After all, there's a reason why some facial contours and shapes make eyes mysterious and lips kissable. Even science has proven that there are faces that we are just naturally attracted to. Here are the most stunning faces according to science.
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00:00Is beauty truly in the eye of the beholder?
00:03Apparently, not so much.
00:04As it turns out, there's some math involved.
00:06Here's what researchers have discovered about just what it is that makes a person's face
00:10attractive, scientifically speaking, of course.
00:13According to psychologist Anthony Little, humans have an appreciation for symmetrical-seeming
00:18faces.
00:19As the psychologist revealed to the website Science News for Students, symmetry looks
00:22normal to us, and we then like it.
00:24However, the psychologist further explained that people only think they prefer symmetrical
00:30that what we're really attracted to are mathematically average faces, which are less about symmetry
00:35and more about the specific features on a person's face, as well as their arrangement.
00:39While symmetry has long been thought to be a key factor in attractiveness, a 2004 study
00:43showed that plenty of folks find mathematically average faces attractive, whether they're
00:47perfectly symmetrical or not.
00:49During the study, researchers discovered that manipulating a picture of a person's face
00:52shape to become more of an average shape, while not manipulating the faces to appear
00:57more symmetrical, spurred participants to rate the faces as more attractive.
01:01This was true whether the volunteer viewed a profile shot or a head-on photo.
01:05Likewise, when the same images were, quote, "...morphed away from the average shape," viewers
01:08found them to be less attractive.
01:11Chris Solomon
01:12Chris Solomon, a world-renowned expert in facial mapping technology, elevated the beautiful
01:15face experiment to a whole new level.
01:18Using a computer program generally reserved for crafting facial composites of criminals,
01:22Solomon commissioned people to create what they considered to be the perfect face.
01:26A hundred volunteers were then tasked with rating each face for attractiveness.
01:30In the end, the expert discovered two faces, one male and one female, that are considered
01:34the epitome of beauty.
01:36However, it's important to note that this study was conducted in the U.K., and as Solomon
01:40noted, a study in Africa or Asia would definitely have different results.
01:44After settling on the most aesthetically pleasing female face, the study also evaluated celebrity
01:48faces to find the one most comparable.
01:51Solomon and his team named Natalie Portman as the best match for the female composite.
01:55No word on if Portman knows she has one of the most scientifically pleasing faces, but
01:59who wouldn't be flattered by that?
02:00Oh, that's nice.
02:02What makes Natalie Portman's face, or the original composite from Chris Solomon's study,
02:05so alluring?
02:06Well, it all comes down to a combination of features and spacing.
02:09In an interview with The Telegraph, Solomon broke down all the different components of
02:13the most beautiful female face, starting with a shape.
02:16According to Solomon and his team, the most aesthetically pleasing face is heart-shaped.
02:20Heart-shaped faces, like actress Reese Witherspoon's, are often categorized by high cheekbones,
02:24widths at the top of the face, and a narrow chin.
02:26The aesthetic composite also has near-perfect facial symmetry, which further proves the
02:30importance of symmetry, at least when it comes to attractiveness.
02:34According to Chris Solomon's study, the so-called most attractive female face has eyebrows that
02:38are both shaped and arched.
02:40There's no denying that the furry caterpillars above your eyes are pretty magical beasts.
02:44With a few tweaks and tweezes, eyebrows have some major transformative power, perhaps more
02:48so than any other facial feature.
02:50Relax.
02:51That's relaxed?
02:52Hmm."
02:53Jared Bailey, a global brow expert for Benefit Cosmetics, revealed to InStyle,
02:59"...eyebrows can really contour and change the shape and appearance of your overall look
03:03by bringing balance and proportion to not only your eyes but your entire face."
03:07You heard that right.
03:08The shape of your eyebrows can create an appearance of symmetry within your face.
03:11And shaping and arching your brows is a whole lot easier than, you know, trying to change
03:15the shape of your face.
03:17Brown is the most common eye color by a landslide.
03:20According to World Atlas, anywhere from 55 to 79 percent of the world's population is
03:24thought to have brown eyes.
03:25Brown also happens to be the color of the eyes in the ideal female face composite in
03:29Solomon's study, as the Natalie Portman-esque face features dark, almond-shaped eyes.
03:34According to L'Oreal Paris, there are six general eye shapes a person can have — monolids,
03:38round, almond, downturned, upturned, and hooded.
03:41Each of the six shapes has its own unique characteristics.
03:44If you're not sure how to tell if you have almond-shaped eyes, here's a tip.
03:47According to the site, if you have a visible crease in your eyelid, and your iris touches
03:50both the top and bottom of your eyelid, you likely have yourself a pair of almond-shaped
03:54peepers.
03:55Congratulations!
03:56The company further revealed that almond eyes are, quote, super-symmetrical.
04:00When accentuating almond eyes, a person doesn't have to try to give the illusion of perfect
04:04symmetry with eye makeup, and can instead use makeup to accent their natural eye shape.
04:08However, it's important to note that any pair of healthy peepers is a good pair.
04:12When it comes to the ideal nose, Chris Solomon and his team discovered slim and small sniffer
04:16to be the most preferred.
04:18Plastic surgeons have noted a similar infatuation with itty-bitty noses.
04:22When speaking with CBS News, cosmetic surgeons Richard W. Fleming and Toby G. Mayer revealed
04:26the noses women have been asking for the most, which included Natalie Portman's, Emma Stone's,
04:31and Nicole Kidman's noses.
04:32But why are tiny noses so desirable?
04:34Radhika Sangani, the woman who started the hashtag Side Profile Selfie movement on social
04:39media, gave her opinion in an article for Grazia, writing,
04:42My theory is beauty standards have lauded small noses over big ones because they fit
04:46in with the idea of women being delicate, dainty, and not taking up space.
04:50But we're not.
04:51We're bold, strong, and we can take up as much space as we want, even with our bodies.
04:55Big, small, crooked, straight — embrace the nose you've got.
04:58Small noses may be idealized, but the same principle apparently does not apply to lips.
05:03Chris Solomon's female composite has full lips, and in addition to Natalie Portman,
05:07the study cited Scarlett Johansson and Emilia Clarke as having the ideal lips.
05:11It's probably no surprise that plastic surgeons Richard W. Fleming and Toby G. Mayer have
05:15found this to be the case as well.
05:17The doctors told CBS News that Scarlett Johansson has the most requested lips of any celebrity,
05:22revealing that women also look to Angelina Jolie and Christina Aguilera for their lip
05:26inspo.
05:27Michael C. Edwards, president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, explained
05:32why people find fuller lips most attractive on women, saying,
05:35People may think a fuller lip is more sensual, or they may be influenced by pop culture and
05:39social media.
05:40I love who I am, and I'm honestly not trying to be Kim Kardashian at all.
05:45One of the most interesting aspects of Chris Solomon's beautiful face study is the vast
05:48difference between the ideal female and male faces.
05:52Other than both of the faces having brunette hair and near-perfect facial symmetry, they
05:56don't share many other features.
05:57When comparing the composite with male celebrities, Solomon and his team discovered that British
06:01model David Gandy is as close as one man gets to having the perfect face.
06:05Of course, the model's nearly one million Instagram followers would likely agree.
06:09According to The Scotsman, when Dolce of Dolce & Gabbana first saw the British model,
06:13he immediately gave him the impression of embodying a universal ideal of masculine beauty
06:18between Michelangelo's David and those chiseled Greek and Roman sculptures of the classic
06:23era.
06:24Gandy is so seemingly perfect, in fact, that he had trouble finding work on account of
06:27being, quote, too good-looking.
06:30According to Chris Solomon's study, Mr. Perfect doesn't have a heart-shaped face like his
06:33female counterpart.
06:34Instead, the ideal face shape for males is oval.
06:37As far as hairstyles are concerned, oval-faced men like Ryan Gosling have it easy.
06:42After consulting with Men's Hairstyles Today, Business Insider revealed,
06:45Luckily, most hairstyles will look good with an oval face shape.
06:48However, the publication did issue a warning for those who may have skipped over the keyword
06:51most, explaining,
06:52A word of caution.
06:54Avoid bangs or fringes that could cover your forehead and make your head appear even rounder
06:58than it already is.
07:00Ideal male eyebrows differ from perfect female eyebrows in pretty much every way.
07:04The male composite face in Chris Solomon's study features medium-thick eyebrows that
07:08are straight and curved downwards at the end.
07:10Unlike the beauty ideal for women, the ideal male brows are neither shaped nor arched.
07:15Not all men pay attention to their brows, but Romero Jennings, director of makeup artistry
07:19for MAC Cosmetics, is a staunch believer that they should.
07:22Jennings revealed to HuffPost,
07:24Brows are really personal.
07:25Brows really give you expression.
07:27Brows can make you look strong or weak or powerful or not.
07:30A brow will give you approachability.
07:32If it's too strong or severe, someone will pass you by.
07:35That is a great look for me!
07:39However, dudes should use caution when sculpting their brows.
07:42Jennings recommends men meet with a groomer who has experience sculpting men's brows,
07:46as opposed to visiting any old salon.
07:49The male composite face in Chris Solomon's study illustrates that the majority of folks
07:52find both oval-shaped eyes and blue eyes to be the most attractive on men.
07:56Blue may be the second most common eye color, but it's much more rare than brown.
08:01Oval-shaped eyes are even more rare.
08:02A combination of round and almond, oval isn't considered one of the six most common eye
08:06shapes.
08:07If you're a little confused, just take a look at former soccer star David Beckham, actor
08:11Bradley Cooper, and model David Gandy.
08:13All three of these stars are perfect examples of the eyes deemed most attractive for males.
08:17In January 2019, David Beckham proved that women and men alike can use eye makeup to
08:22play up their peepers when he graced the cover of Love magazine wearing a shade of bright
08:26green eyeshadow.
08:28And according to his superstar wife, this wasn't the first time Beckham wore makeup.
08:31Victoria Beckham revealed to Elle,
08:33"[David does steal my beauty products.
08:35It doesn't annoy me.
08:36He looks so beautiful.
08:37We can't argue with that."
08:39While it's desirable for men to have slim noses, the facial composite study revealed
08:43that they shouldn't be too small.
08:45Instead, mid-length and straight were the defining factors of the ideal male schnoz,
08:49as well as being proportionately larger than that of the female composite.
08:52A study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology revealed that, on
08:56average, men have larger noses than women, so it's not too surprising that a larger male
09:00nose is considered ideal.
09:01Excuse me, is that your nose or did a bus park on your face?
09:07The facial composite study cited both David Beckham and David Gandy as the closest human
09:11comparisons.
09:12Although neither of these famous men's noses made up the top celebrity rhinoplasty requests,
09:17similar slim and mid-length noses did.
09:19California plastic surgeons Richard W. Fleming and Dr. Toby G. Mayer told CBS News that Jude
09:24Law, Josh Duhamel, and Ben Affleck are the male celebrities with the most requested sniffers.
09:30Chris Solomon's study revealed that average lips, which are neither full nor thin, complete
09:34the so-called perfect male face.
09:36This is also echoed in what plastic surgeons Richard W. Fleming and Dr. Toby G. Mayer have
09:40seen in their respective practices.
09:42While Solomon's study listed David Beckham and Chris Hemsworth as the celebrities who
09:46have the perfect lips, the plastic surgeons told CBS News that Ashton Kutcher and Brad
09:50Pitt actually have the most requested lips.
09:52Science is cool, but it's important not to allow all this talk of symmetry dictate how
09:56you feel about your own appearance.
09:58However, it will be interesting to see what the so-called ideal face looks like to future
10:02generations.