How to Hide a Big Nose

Co-authored by Frankie Sanderson

Last Updated: March 14, 2024 Fact Checked

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Having a large nose is nothing to be ashamed of, but if you're feeling a little self-conscious about it, there are visual tricks and techniques you can use to help hide it. Contouring and other makeup tricks are among the most common, but to maximize the effect, take your hair style and accessories into consideration, as well.

Part 1

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Contouring

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1
Prep your face with cleanser and moisturizer.^{[1]
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American Academy of Dermatology
Professional organization made of over 20,000 certified dermatologists

Go to source} Wash your face with a cleanser and pat it dry. Swipe a light toner over your skin before adding moisturizer.^{[2]
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Cleveland Clinic
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- Starting with a clean face is an absolute necessity.
- Contouring is a makeup application technique that plays with the natural shadows of your face. Depending on how you apply contours, certain areas of your face can look smaller or larger. By applying contours using the steps listed here, you can make your nose appear smaller.
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Even things out with your regular foundation. If you do not already have a regular foundation, pick one that matches your natural skin tone as closely as possibly. Apply that all over your face, including your nose.^{[3]
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- To make your look stay in place, apply a primer before using your foundation.
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3
Apply darker foundation to the sides of your nose. Pick a foundation one or two shades darker than your natural shade. Apply this foundation to the sides of your nose, blending well.^{[4]
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Frankie Sanderson
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Expert Interview. 14 April 2020.}
- If you have a long nose as well as a large one, you should also apply this foundation to the tip of your nose.
- The most important part of the entire contouring process is the blending process. Use a makeup brush or sponge to thoroughly blend this darker shade into the natural foundation beneath. When finished, this dark foundation should look like a natural shadow instead of looking like makeup.
- You can use powder or liquid foundation.
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Use a lighter color on the bridge. Pick out a third foundation one shade lighter than your natural tone. Apply this foundation in a thin line to the top bridge of your nose, starting in between your eyes and ending just before the tip and nostrils.^{[5]
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Frankie Sanderson
Makeup Artist & Stylist

Expert Interview. 14 April 2020.}
- This foundation highlights the center line of your nose, making the "shadows" you created with your dark foundation more effective.
- As before, you need to blend this foundation into both your natural and dark shades as thoroughly as possible. The transition between shades should be seamless and must appear natural.
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Swipe translucent powder on the side of the nose. Select a loose matte powder and dust it all over the sides of your nose.^{[6]
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Frankie Sanderson
Makeup Artist & Stylist

Expert Interview. 14 April 2020.}
- This loose powder can help mask any lines or imperfections in your foundation, allowing your makeup to seem more natural.
- Make sure that you use a matte powder. Shimmer powders draw more attention to anything they touch, so if you apply a shimmer powder to your nose, you will only accentuate it further.

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Additional Cosmetic Tricks

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1
Highlight your eyes or lips. One of the best ways to hide your nose is to make another facial feature stand out more. Wearing bold eye makeup or daring lip color will cause onlookers to notice your eyes or lips more than any other part of your face, including your nose.^{[7]
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- If you choose to accentuate your eyes, try applying dark eyeliner and mascara.
- If you choose to accentuate your lips, use bright or bold lipstick colors. Lip color with a little shine or sparkle can also work great.
- Only accentuate one feature at a time. Applying heavy makeup on both your eyes and lips can easily overwhelm your face.
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Draw subtle attention to your cheekbones. In addition to accentuating your lips or eyes, you can balance out your nose by making your cheekbones more prominent.^{[8]
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- Choose a blush one or two shades darker than your natural skin tone and apply it to the apples of your cheeks. Shimmer blushes can actually work well here since they highlight skin more than matte blushes do.
- Similarly, you can also apply a light bronzer along the cheekbones to make them glow and stand out more.
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Keep the shine off your skin. In particular, you need to keep shine off your nose. Shine catches the eye and draws more attention to a feature, so shine on your nose will make your nose look even larger.
- The most important thing to do is to keep as much oil off your nose as possible. Use a gentle facial cleanser on your nose each morning and evening. Harsh cleansers can actually irritate the skin and cause it to produce more oil. Throughout the day, dab off some of the excess oil that gathers on your nose with tissue or cosmetic oil blotting paper.^{[9]
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- Make sure to use a toner and moisturizer after cleansing your face.
- When applying any makeup to your nose, use a matte formula instead of a shimmery formula. Use a primer before foundation so that oil does not disturb your foundation.

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Hair Styles

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Medium and long hairstyles are typically better than short cuts if you want to draw attention away from certain features. Short hairstyles frame the face and highlight the nose, which can make it look even larger. Medium and long cuts balance out your facial features, making them appear smaller.^{[10]
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Cut layers into your hair. Straight, blunt styles create more straight vertical lines and emphasize the largest straight line on your face—your nose. Put layers in your hair, instead, to create a softer and more rounded look.^{[11]
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- While all layer styles are better than blunt styles, feathery layers are the best of the best. This texture is especially soft and wavy, so it provides the greatest amount of balance against the straight line of your nose.
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Add waves or curls. In general, adding waves and curves to your hair will break up and balance out any harsh lines on your face. The bridge of your nose is the longest, most visible straight line on your face.
- Use a diffuser, hair rollers, or a curling iron to add a wavy texture to your hair.
4
Avoid neat ponytails. Sleek, tight ponytails can make your facial features appear sharper and more severe. As a result, the angles and size of your nose will stand out more.
- When you tie your hair back in a ponytail or sweep it into an up-do, choose a somewhat messy style. Create body at the crown and allow a few stray strands to swoop down, framing your face in a subtle curve.
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Part your hair to the side.^{[12]
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Research source} A center part will fall out directly above your nose, extending the straight line of your nose and drawing more attention to that particular feature.
- In contrast, a side part offsets the lines of your face, breaking them up and making your nose stand out less.
6
Play with bangs. Bangs can help hide a large nose, but you should generally avoid bangs that hang down at blunt, sharp angles. Straight lines will only draw more attention to the straight line of your nose.
- When getting bangs, consider side swept bangs that break up the angles of your face or wispy bangs that that soften the lines of your face.
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Keep the hair off your face.^{[13]
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Research source} While bangs can work, keeping hair off the face altogether may actually help more, especially if you don't like the way bangs look with your face shape.
- The idea here is to balance out your facial features with one another. When hair covers your forehead or the sides of your face, these features get lost while your nose remains very visible. As a result, your nose appears to take up more space on your face. Keeping hair off your face can prevent this from happening.
- That said, men who want to hide a big nose might find that a beard or mustache can help balance out their features.

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Accessories

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1
Choose glasses with a wide, low bridge. The low sitting bridge will divide the long vertical line of your nose more evenly, so the bottom portion of your nose--the portion that the eye naturally catches--will seem smaller. A wide bridge creates a stronger, more visible divide.
- Larger frames are generally a better option than smaller ones. The large frames can compete with the size of your nose and help balance it out, but smaller frames can draw more attention to the size of your nose.
- The other option is to go for contacts. Since glasses sit at the top of your nose, they do draw some attention to that area of your face. Getting contacts avoids this issue completely.
2
Wear large earrings. Your ears and nose share the same horizontal space on your face. Short, dainty earrings can draw attention to this horizontal space, which could also draw attention to your nose. Larger earrings that extend below the ear enlarge the sides of this horizontal space, making the nose at the center of this space appear smaller by comparison.
- If you do not want to wear long earrings, at least choose short earrings that cover the earlobes completely. This will draw more attention to the sides of this horizontal space, which can help draw attention off your nose.
- Rounded earrings that occupy both horizontal and vertical space are better than earrings that only add a vertical dimension. Earrings that emphasize straight, vertical lines will also emphasize the straight, vertical line of the nose.
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Pick a hat with a prominent brim. Both men and women should look for hat styles that have a rounded or down-turned brim at the front of the face. A brim that hangs down over the front of the face can visually build out the forehead. As a result, the nose appears shorter and more proportionate.
- Avoid "tricorne" styles, which meet at a point above the forehead.
- Hats that have a larger brim in the front than in the back may build out the forehead better than those with an even brim all around.
- Make sure that the crown does not pinch in too tightly toward the front of the face. Ideally, this crown should also be of medium height to maintain better visual balance, and it should not taper in much toward the top.
- Consider choosing a hat with a wide, colorful band above the brim. This band can draw the eye up and away from the nose.^{[14]
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Why are big noses considered ugly?

Ruby

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They are not. Everyone has a different opinion, some people like big noses and some like small ones. This article is aimed toward those who don't like having a big nose or feel self conscious about it. Everyone is different.

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How do I remove blackheads?

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Consult wikiHow article Remove Blackheads on Your Nose.

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Would ear piercings work to draw more attention to my ears rather than to my nose?

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Yes, if you choose earrings that may attract a lot of attention.

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