The Ultimate Beauty Secret

Posted: Thursday 24 March 2011 09:30am

More than her legion husbands, diamonds and films, Elizabeth Taylor will be remembered for her beauty, one of the greatest of our age.

Until the last decade of her life it remained luminous despite legendary battles with illness, years of hard living and wild weight swings.

Her violet eyes (fringed by a double row of lashes, it’s said) were usually the focal point of raptures about her looks. But the secret, according to experts, was all in the shape of her face.

Think of the great film beauties throughout history – Liz, Audrey Hepburn and Brigitte Bardot of yesteryear; Cate Blanchett, Catherine Zeta-Jones and  Nicole Kidman today  – and you’ll find they have something in common: a triangular facial structure.

“These structures are more triangular than round; I like to call them the Triangles of Beauty,” says leading cosmetic physician Dr Joseph Hkeik, of Sydney’s of All Saints Cosmedical clinics.

We all have these triangles, he says, but due to age or genetics, they don’t always follow the ideal shape and can look squarish, creating a jowly, sad or saggy impression.

Without even realising it, we judge each other’s attractiveness on this triangle, according to top Sydney plastic surgeon Dr Michael Miroshnik.

When we look at someone we focus first and repeatedly across their eyes and cheeks, and then up and down along the nose to the lips and back around the eyes/cheeks in a triangular pattern, with only a cursory check of the peripheral face. All in a matter of nanoseconds.

“There is a disproportionate amount of time spent looking in the eye area and then the centre of the lips (the cupid’s bow),” says Dr Miroshnik. “This area describes what can be called the Triangle of Beauty and if this area looks good/youthful then the person looks good/youthful.”

In analysing the face, Dr Hkeik says it is comprised of three different triangles:

• The “expressive triangle” which is formed from the eyes to the lips. “This triangle is very important, as whenever I look at a face, the first thing I notice is the eyes and the lips. These two parts can say so much about a person.”

• The “structural triangle”, which is framed by the cheekbones and chin.

• The “subconscious triangle”, which frames the forehead and nose.

As people age, the ideal triangular shape turns squarish, the perfect triangles drop, becoming inverse in the facial contours. This draws the eye downwards. Additionally, loss of volume in the cheeks and jawline can leave the mid face “flat”, making people look gaunt and aged. Take Brigitte Bardot metamorphosis, for example.

It is caused by a combination of skin and muscle laxity and loss of fat/volume in the upper face; the supreme joke of ageing, that we lose fat where we most need it and gain it everywhere else.

“If you can reverse this triangle, then you can reverse ageing,” says Dr Hkeik.

The so-called “liquid lift” utilises a new generation of hardier, longer-lasting dermal fillers that can restore volume to the mid face in a matter of minutes, a virtual cheek implant in a needle that not only renews youthful contours but serves to subtly lift the lower face.  It doesn’t just restore what you’ve lost, but can also create what you never had – aesthetically-pleasing contours that weren’t bestowed by nature.

The structural triangle is given more form with cheek augmentation, usually with dermal fillers like Fortelis or Juvederm Voluma, which helps fill in the hollows and rebuild the face.

“The chin can be augmented and redefined and naso-labial folds and marionette lines are also treated to give a flawless, structural beauty,” says Dr Hkeik.

In the expressive triangle, Dr Hkeik concentrates on the eyes, eyebrows, lips and lip borders, often using Botox to treat crow’s feet and to give the face a brow-lift. A dermal filler such as Esthelis can be injected in the tear trough to treat volume loss and under-eye circles. The lips can be boosted, with an emphasis on recreating a cupid’s bow and restoring the lip border.

The subconscious triangle can be improved by symmetrically resculpting the nose non-surgically with fillers, and smoothing or lifting the brow with Botox.

“Not every client needs all three triangles rejuvenated, and many can get fabulous results from just having one area of their face treated,” he says.

To rejuvenate your face non-surgically following the triangle of beauty philosophy can cost between $1200 and $4000. Often the procedures can be completed within one 60-minute session, although some patients decide to get the treatments done separately over a period of weeks.

Click here to view Elizabeth Taylor gallery.

by Jenni Gilbert

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