How To Get More Defined Cheekbones

Jirel has been an online writer for more than nine years and particularly enjoys sharing information about beauty and skin care.

Many people want a slim face with high, sexy cheekbones. For some of us, however, it seems like this is impossible to achieve naturally due to our genetics and the way our face is shaped. For many, plastic surgery seems like the only way to get the cheekbones they want. This is often the route that many actresses and other celebrities take (since they have the money).

However, bone structure is not the only thing that determines the way your face looks. A face also changes due to age as well as body fat. So, what can you do instead of surgery to make your cheekbones look higher?

Using Facial Exercises to Get Great Cheekbones

Facial exercises have been used for centuries to tone the face, prevent aging, and restore function after paralysis or stroke. Fancier terms that mean the same thing include Facersize (Carole Maggio's program), face yoga, face pilates, and facial toning.

According to Wikipedia, facial toning is a type of cosmetic procedure in physical therapy which promises to change the shape of the face by increasing muscle tone and facial volume. Facial exercise does this by building muscle in the face and preventing muscle loss due to aging or facial paralysis. Facial exercise is said to help rejuvenate the face by reducing wrinkles, sagging, and expression marks on the face and skin.

Though there have been no scientific studies done to confirm that facial exercises prevent aging, they remain popular, and many people say they've seen positive side effects. Maybe you'll be one of them!

Eight Facial Exercises

Let's dive in! Below are some facial exercises you can do to build up the muscles in your face and make your cheekbones more prominent. Remember, you'll need to be patient and consistent in order to achieve results.

1. Fish Face

Make a fish face by sucking in your cheeks. Your lips should be tight together.
Now, try to smile while still holding the fish face.
Hold the position for 6-8 seconds.
Repeat three or four times.

2. The Cheek Puff

Inhale and fill your mouth with air just like you fill a balloon.
Puff your cheek, alternating sides.
Then exhale out from your mouth.
Repeat as many times as you like. You could even repeat until you run out of breath.

3. The Smile

Smile as wide as possible with an open mouth, imagining your smile reaching to your ears.
Make sure your eyes are wide open too.
Hold for 10 seconds.
Repeat 10 times.

See, smiling and laughing is good for your cheekbones too!

4. The X and O

Form a small "O" with your lips and exaggerate pronouncing an "O" sound, using your entire face.
Then pronounce the letter "X" using your entire face and stretching your face into something like a smile.
Repeat, alternating the X shape and the O shape 10 times.

5. The Fish and Puff

Suck your cheeks in and purse your lips to make the fish face.
Keep your lips pursed as much as possible while you fill your cheeks with air.
Move the air from one cheek to the next, holding it on each side for five seconds.
Repeat ten times and relax.

6. The Puppet Face

This might not feel like you're working your cheek muscles hard until after you release it. Then, you'll definitely feel it in your cheeks.

Place your finger tips on either side of your face where your cheeks crease when you smile.
Push up on your cheeks at this point while you continue to smile. You should feel resistance from the muscles in your cheekbones.
Hold for 30 seconds and release. Repeat.

7. The Bumblebee

Close your lips gently together.
Inhale through your nose.
Make a chewing motion with your jaw, moving it up and down while you hum out of your noise, vibrating your lips slightly.
Repeat for four breaths.

8. The Jaw Tilt

Open your mouth wide.
With your mouth still open, tilt your head back.
While your head is back, close your mouth.
Then, bring your head back to the starting position.
Repeat this 18-20 times every day.

According to Kiran Sawhney (see video above), this will help you bring out your cheekbones over time.

Video Demonstration of Facial Exercises

How to Get the Most From Facial Exercises

Remember that these aren't a fast fix, but you can make sue you have the biggest shot of them working by complementing them with these suggestions:

Drink lots of water: Drinking plenty of water will help you flush out any fluid that is retained in your face
Adjust your diet: Eating the right foods and cutting down on fried or fast food can help improve your skin.
Exercise your entire body: Strengthening muscles everywhere will increase the overall health in your body and make your skin look much better.
Talk to your doctor: If you're retaining fat or water in your face, there might be another cause.
Chew gum: Gum chewing strengthens and works the jaw and the cheeks while you chew. Best of all, you won't even realize you're exercising or have to think about it. Just don't overdo it!

There might be some people who are skeptical about these exercises, but many people say that they have achieved good results with working out their face, just like working out the biceps or triceps.

The best part is that you only need to work on them for few minutes a day in the morning, afternoon, and night. You can do it when you're bored or watching TV and it's completely free.

If you do it regularly, I hope you see the sexy cheekbones that you've always wanted! Good luck and please let me know if you know more exercises.

Using Contouring Makeup to Get High Cheekbones

Makeup in the right places can do wonders for your cheekbones, and there are many products on the market that can even make you look completely different.

Using shading and contouring, you can highlight the cheekbones that you already have, leaving no reason to get surgery.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Here are three steps to getting high cheekbones with contouring makeup:

Using an angled brush, apply a matte bronzer in the hollows of your cheeks. To find the hollows, it helps to suck your cheeks in. This will show you instantly where your cheekbones are. Brush bronzer onto the sucked-in area beneath your cheekbones, moving from right above the outer corner of your mouth to the top of your ear and then into the hairline, hiding the point where the contour begins. Be sure to avoid going above this point and higher into your face. This way, you will completely avoid the apple of your cheek.
Using the same brush, apply the bronzer to the outer corner of your forehead and along your jaw line. This will emphasize (or fake) a chiseled bone structure.
Using your fingers, apply a cream highlighter to the very top of your cheekbone and up around the edge of your eye. Press the product into the skin by using a tapping motion. This will highlight the highest point of your cheekbone, further emphasizing your bone structure.

Michelle Phan is the queen of YouTube makeup tutorials and can do amazing things to change the way her face looks using only makeup. In this video, she goes over how to use contouring makeup to accentuate the parts of your face that you love.

Losing Weight

When you lose weight in your entire body, your face will also slim down. Of course, everyone's face and body is different, so the effects in your face may or may not be very dramatic. Technically speaking, you won't be getting higher cheekbones by losing weight. You will, however, be revealing more of the cheekbones that you already have.

You should consult a doctor before starting any diet or exercise plan and make sure that your health comes first. To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you put in your body. There are many ways to do this, and everyone has something that works differently for them.

Be sure to be patient when starting a diet and exercise program. It also helps if the program is something you can sustain over a long period of time, since it might take a while for results to show up. This is especially true if you are very overweight.

Good Luck!

I hope this information helps you. If you hear of any other ways to make your cheekbones more prominent or have any questions, leave it in the comments section!

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author's knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

Hi on March 31, 2020:

Yes!

Jack on June 13, 2019:

What nonsense. High cheekbones are something you're born with.

Malika on March 08, 2019:

It really works

jessica on April 19, 2018:

Hi you reached Victoria's phone can I have a cookie?

Doris James MizBejabbers from Beautiful South on September 23, 2016:

The late Jack LaLanne was proof that facial exercises work well. He worked facial exercises into his regular TV routines, and he had very few wrinkles when he died in his 90s.

lovethisstuff from London on July 24, 2016:

Facial exercises have many benefits for the skin but to see changes you need to be consistent, most people give up too soon.

Dr Phil on May 09, 2016:

You are a sick human being. You have a disease!

jagruti gohil on April 11, 2016:

awsome!!!

Christiane on February 23, 2016:

Idk if this works but I'll try ... Does it work guys!?

Emmalyn on January 07, 2016:

Hurt my face afterwards, but still a great article!

Germayne Palipti on January 06, 2016:

Make face look smaller permanently without make you have to try face thin tool which help to burn fat around to your face..

Smurf on January 04, 2016:

I have high cheekbones and a slim face, when i slim down say size 8-10 i look withdrawn, i would love to have a fukler face just shows unfortunately you always want the opposite to what we have, just be you and be happy thats the best way, its the media that tells us what 'beauty' is supposed to be. However if your ugly inside and self doubting that will always show no matter how much make up you wear, be happy and look for the things you love about yourself, looks will always fade anyway

Jaiden Smith on October 18, 2015:

great

amena k. on September 03, 2015:

here is another exercise to have nice cheeks. open your mouth and with your two fingers on your lower teeth try to puch downwords and at the same time try to bring up your chin and close your mouth.

Lucas Sebastian on August 24, 2015:

Hi guys, you can make your cheekbones pop naturally here, www.purpleempyrean.com.

She on May 09, 2015:

The crap…fuck this shit I love my face and my body so y'all people who want to have that…BE YOURSELF. Don't let anyone make you feel bad for how you look.

sha sha on April 12, 2015:

awesome.....