Lip Shape Detector: Find Your Lip Shape

Your lip shape describes how full your lips are compared with the width of your mouth, how the upper and lower lips compare, how wide your mouth is, and how defined your cupid’s bow is. Common shapes are full, thin, heart-shaped, bow-shaped, wide, round, top-heavy and bottom-heavy. Knowing yours helps you choose where to place lip liner and which lipstick finishes show your shape best.

Find your lip shape

Pick an option in the tool above:

1. Choose a photo or use your camera. We measure your lips on your own device and draw what we measured on a close-up, so you can check it.
2. Quiz only. Four quick questions if you’d rather not use a photo.

For photos, keep your lips gently closed and your face relaxed. A smile or parted lips stretch the lips and make them look thinner and wider; the tool warns you and lowers its confidence when it spots either.

Types of lips: lip shape chart

Full

Both lips have generous height compared with the width of the mouth. Most lipstick finishes and colors show well.

Thin

Both lips are slimmer than average for the mouth’s width. Satin and gloss finishes add dimension; lining right on your edge keeps the shape crisp.

Heart-shaped

Heart-shaped lips have a clearly defined cupid’s bow with two raised peaks, usually with a slightly fuller lower lip.

Bow-shaped

A very pronounced cupid’s bow with sharp, clear peaks. Precise liner shows it off.

Wide

The mouth is wider than average compared with the space between the eyes. Brighter color at the center draws focus inward if you like.

Round

Full lips on a slightly narrower mouth, with a soft, rounded cupid’s bow.

Top-heavy and bottom-heavy

Top-heavy and bottom-heavy compare the two lips. On average the lower lip is a little fuller than the upper. Top-heavy lips have an upper lip as full as, or fuller than, the lower; bottom-heavy lips have a noticeably fuller lower lip.

Balanced

If no feature stands out, you have balanced lips: average fullness, a lower lip slightly fuller than the upper and a gentle bow. Every liner and lipstick style works.

What is a cupid’s bow?

The cupid’s bow is the double curve in the center of your upper lip. It’s formed where the two ridges of the philtrum (the groove between your nose and upper lip) meet the lip’s edge, creating two peaks with a dip between them (StatPearls). Just above the colored edge of both lips runs a thin, pale ridge called the white roll, which is why a sharp liner along the edge looks so natural.

The detector measures your bow as the depth of that central dip compared with the height of your upper lip. A deep dip reads as defined or bow-shaped; a shallow one reads as soft.

How to tell your lip shape in a mirror

1. Relax your mouth and close your lips gently, without pressing.
2. Compare height and width. Do your lips look tall for how wide your mouth is (full), about average, or slim (thin)?
3. Compare the two lips. Is the lower lip clearly fuller, a little fuller, or about the same as the upper?
4. Look at the bow. Is the center of your upper lip a sharp V, a soft curve, or barely there?
5. Check width. Relaxed, do your mouth corners line up with the centers of your eyes, sit outside them, or inside?

Lip liner and lipstick by lip shape

For shade ideas that suit your coloring, try the color analysis: your season’s palette includes lipstick families that work with your undertone.

Lips work together with your other features. The eye shapes guide covers where liner and shadow sit for each eye type, and the face shapes guide covers the hair and frames that balance your outline.

Do lips change shape with age?

Yes, gradually. Research on the aging upper lip shows it tends to lengthen while the visible red part of the lip (the vermilion) gets thinner, and the lip outline becomes a little less defined (photomorphometric and MRI study; 2024 review). So a lip that read as full at 25 may read as balanced later, and a crisp liner along the edge becomes more useful over time.

How accurate is the lip detector?

The lip detector measures reliably when your mouth is relaxed and closed and the photo is taken straight on. Smiling, pouting, pressing your lips together or turning your head all change the proportions, and lipstick that goes past your natural edge changes the outline the software sees. Bare lips or a shade close to your natural lip color give the most accurate result. The measurements each lip shape needs are listed in the numbers behind each result.