Nose Shape Detector: What Is My Nose Shape?

Nose types describe three things: the line of the bridge seen from the side, the direction and size of the tip, and the width of the nose from the front. Common names include Greek (straight), Roman, aquiline, button, snub, celestial and fleshy. They’re descriptive labels only: no nose type is better than another, and none belongs to any group of people.

Find your nose shape

The tool above works in two ways:

1. Front photo plus profile picker. Your photo measures nose width, length and tip width. Then you choose your side profile from simple drawings, because a front photo can’t show the shape of the bridge.
2. Picker only. Skip the photo and just answer three profile questions.

You get your closest nose type, the next closest, what defines it and optional styling ideas, including how to choose glasses that fit.

How we describe noses: bridge, tip and width

Anatomists describe the outside of the nose by its parts (StatPearls):

• Bridge (dorsum): the line from between your brows down to the tip. From the side it can be straight, curve outward (a hump), or dip slightly inward.
• Tip: the rounded end of the nose. It can point up, straight ahead or slightly down, and be small, defined or full.
• Wings (alae): the curved sides around the nostrils. Their spread sets the nose’s width from the front.

The detector measures width against the space between your inner eye corners (a common reference in facial proportion studies, where the two are often similar), length against the lower half of your face, and tip width against overall nose width. It reports each as narrow, medium or wide compared with an average face, using the cut-offs listed in the numbers behind each result.

Nose types the detector uses

Your result names the closest of these types and a runner-up:

• Greek: a straight line from brow to tip.
• Roman: a high bridge that bows gently outward.
• Aquiline: a stronger arch, often with the tip angled down.
• Button: small, with a round tip.
• Snub: short, with a tip that lifts.
• Celestial: a scooped or straight bridge ending in a lifted tip.
• Fleshy: a full, soft tip on any bridge.

Width and tip size are reported separately, as narrow, medium or wide. For every nose type with pictures and how to tell them apart, see the complete guide to nose shapes.

How to identify your nose type from the side

A side view tells you the most. Ask someone to take a photo of your profile at eye level from about 1.5 m (5 feet) away, or use two mirrors.

1. Trace the bridge from between your brows to the tip. Is the line straight, does it bulge outward, or does it dip in?
2. Look at the tip direction. Imagine a horizontal line through the tip. Does the underside of your nose angle up, sit level, or angle down?
3. Look at the tip size. Is it small and rounded, clearly defined, or full?

Then pick the matching drawings in the tool. If two answers feel equally true, pick either: you’ll see your runner-up type too.

Why photos change how your nose looks

Close-up selfies are the biggest reason people feel their nose looks different in photos. Because the nose is the part of the face nearest the lens, a phone held close enlarges it more than anything else. One study found that a selfie taken from about 30 cm (12 inches) makes the base of the nose look around 30% wider than a photo from 1.5 m (5 feet) (Ward and colleagues, 2018).

The selfie effect is why the detector asks for a photo at arm’s length or further, and why your mirror (which you see from a distance) often looks different from your selfies.

Does nose shape change with age?

A little, for most people. Over the decades the structures that support the tip tend to soften, so the tip can droop slightly and the nose can look a bit longer, while the skin becomes thinner (Current Otorhinolaryngology Reports, 2022). If your result changes over the years, that’s normal.

Contouring and glasses by nose shape

Makeup for the nose is completely optional, and most people never contour it. If you’d like to, these are the usual starting points:

Glasses fit is where nose shape matters most in daily life. The bridge of a frame should rest evenly on your nose without pinching or leaving gaps, and your eyes should sit near the center of each lens. If frames always slide down, look for adjustable nose pads or a low-bridge fit.