“Polished Mermaid”

“Sprite”

Magic trick: ECG Björk somehow looks just as good in over-the-top color-blocking—

—as she does in conventional makeup:

Björk pulls off avant-garde *and* conventional styling.

Magic trick, part 2: since she’s highly Gamine, Björk (arguably) appears even *more* authentic in rainbow eyeshadow vs. simpler makeup.
But this simple makeup does highlight her Classic, and the outer-corner eyeshadow creates a high-energy, lifted Gamine effect.

An avant-garde/conventional compromise:

Relatively simple makeup—Gamine tightlining with Ethereal shimmer and pale lip

Daring hair—Gamine staccato highlights save these straight locks from feeling Dramatically long

Björk is proof: some ECGs pull off the avant-garde.

But for ECGs with more Classic, peacock cosplays might not be your go-to. We’ll explore more wearable looks below!

First:

Ethereal Classic Gamine Faces

ECGs have standout beauty—so much so, I can occasionally recognize someone as ECG from the first moment I see them.

Why? Two key reasons:

Classics often have standard, specific proportions:

ECGs Raven, Kate Upton, Björk, Michelle Williams, and Emma Stone have Classic evenness to the spacing of (at least some of) their features.

2. ECGs also combine opposite essences:

Long, curving Ethereal
Short, angular Gamine

The contrast between angelic Ethereal and mischievous Gamine makes both essences really pop!

Ethereal but not Elongated?

So ECGs have recognizable, standout beauty.

But they can also go undercover as other blends, especially due to a prevalent myth:

The myth—Ethereal faces always have vertical elongation, like a long nose or high forehead.
The reality—if you’re an Ethereal Gamine blend, your face might not have any vertical elongation. You might even have a short Gamine nose and overall short face shape.

How can you be Ethereal without vertical elongation?

Because you can have horizontal elongation in your eyes, brows, or lips:

ECG Sarah Snook has compact vertical proportions, but her dreamy eyes feel horizontally long.

Same with ECG Emma Stone—her face shape is short, but based on virtual draping, she’s highly Ethereal. How? Her eyes, lips, and brows likely have dreamy Ethereal elongation.

Ethereal Classic Gamine Vibe

Above, Emma Stone and Sarah Snook have ordinary expressions. Yet somehow, their faces exude mystical, extraordinary qualities:

We see this with ECG Zhang Ziyi, too.

Somehow, her expression is both very neutral *and* very dreamy.

This is an Ethereal hallmark: an “intensely peaceful” resting face.

For ECGs, Classic probably tends to increase their “peaceful” feel, while Gamine increases the sense of intensity.

Ultimately, that’s the biggest clue to a person’s essences—not their literal features but their aura.

Ethereal Classic Gamine Celebrities

See more ECG celebrities on Pinterest here and listed below:

Anna Faris
Björk
Chloe Grace Moretz (with Romantic as 4th essence)
Emma Stone
Fergie
Gillian Jacobs
Gong Li
IU
Jaime Pressly
Jessica Biel
Kate Upton
Kelly Ripa
Kiko Mizuhara
Lindsay Lohan
Lio Tipton
Margot Robbie (with Romantic as a 4th essence)
Marsai Martin
Michelle Williams
Milly Alcock
Raven-Symone
Renee Zellweger
Sarah Snook
Sasha Pieterse
Sierra Furtado
Taylor Russell
Zhang Ziyi

Ethereal Classic Gamine Fashion

ECGs can dress like business-like sprites.

Meaning, you can pair formal Classic pieces with whimsical Ethereal Gamine ones:

Classic straight-leg dress pants
Ethereal sheerness and metallics
Gamine mock-neck

One of the easiest ways to do ECG is pairing simple Classic pants with unique Ethereal Gamine tops.

Gamine crop top
Ethereal minutely-detailed sheer knit
Classic und
erstated neutrals (add simple straight-leg tailored pants for more Classic)

If you have mostly Ethereal and Gamine, or just want to create the funnest aesthetic possible, try:

Ethereal Gamine high-low short shift dress and elongated, narrow-strapped, studded sandals.

The neutral color scheme is ok for Classic, and you could add a lot more by layering over a simple tailored jacket.

Here’s a dress and celeb who aren’t purely ECG, but the styling was too good not to share:

Ethereal transparent textures unite with Gamine color-mixing, both on the dress and heels. Even better, this is modeled by ECG Chloë Grace Moretz (though she also has a bit of Romantic—more on that below!). The Ethereal and Gamine elements are so strong in her styling (and plus her hair length suits Classic) that the dress’s delicate Ingenue tiers don’t throw things off too much.

Confused for Romantic and Ingenue?

Many ECGs have short faces and curvy features, which is a perfect recipe for being mistyped as Romantic or Ingenue.

On the bright side, this backdrop has an Ethereal celestial quality!

On the downside, the Romantic neckline and Ingenue skirt feel disconnected from Chloë Grace Moretz’s vibe.
Confusingly, Chloë *does* have Romantic as a fourth essence—but it’s small enough where a sleeveless sweetheart neckline, especially with a full Ingenue skirt, isn’t ideal. She still looks beautiful, just not as harmonious compared to the above Ethereal Gamine styling.

If you have a fourth essence, should you include it in your outfits?

It depends! As a general guide:

If you have at least 10-15% of an essence, you’ll likely want to include at least a little of it in your styling
If your fourth essence is 5% or lower, you don’t necessarily need it to look amazing—and wearing too much of it might feel off

Here’s a purely ECG celeb:

Lindsay Lohan

Sequins, with their shimmer + high-energy, are possibly the most iconic Ethereal Gamine texture.

The great news: ECG Lindsay Lohan once had a sequin phase!

The bad news: while it’s easy to find photos of Lindsay decked out in sequins, her sequined outfits typically incorporate other essences besides just E, G, and C.

Still, you can find photos where Lindsay really embodies her mermaid-like blend:

If we want to be nitpicky—the tank doesn’t look like a match for her color season, and the slicked back hair better suits a Dramatic.

But the (long and narrow-ish) neckline with profuse shimmery detail works for Ethereal Gamine. Especially with Lindsay’s glowy skin texture, the top echoes her mystical and playful beauty.

Ethereal Classic Gamine Makeup

Just like their best fashion, ECG’s best makeup merges whimsy and polish:

I love all the tiny details of Lindsay Lohan’s eye look:

Shimmery Ethereal inner corners
Playful Gamine eyeshadow color
Chunky liquid liner with an energetic upturned Gamine wing
Pair with a Gamine pop-of-color lip with a touch of Ethereal glow.

A theme for ECG is makeup that’s both very soft and very hard:

Raven pairs very pale, glowy eyeshadow and lips with graphic tightlining and the subtlest wings—an Ethereal Gamine soft-hard balance.

(Tightlining can be tricky for ECG, since it’s generally great for Classic Gamine but can feel too harsh for Ethereal. If, like Raven, you have a lot of Gamine, there’s a good chance the technique will work for you. As with most eye makeup looks, you could also create a compromise, such as only tightlining a third or half of your lower waterline.)

You can also omit lower tightlining for a softer look, like ECG Gillian Jacobs:

Graphic liner meets shimmer.

Since Gillian has a lot of Ethereal, she could emphasize the essence even more in her eye makeup. But glowy lips and highlighted cheeks help add Ethereal softness.

A final balancing act:

This very precise makeup emphasizes ECG Zhang Ziyi’s Classic (and Gamine), drawing attention her symmetrical features.

Glowy skin finish helps add the softness that Ethereal needs.

Ethereal Classic Gamine Hair

If you’re highly Ethereal, and if you also have an oval or long face shape, then you can rock long cuts:

Cascading waves connect with ECG Jessica Biel’s Ethereal.

Compared with many ECGs, Jessica Biel’s face shape feels slightly longer—not ultra-long, but long enough where she appears harmonious in lengthy locks.

Short hair as an ECG?

If you’re highly Gamine, you might be able to rock a super short cut:

ECG Michelle Williams has a ton of Gamine. So despite that she and Jessica Biel share the same style type, their best hair is very different—this cut would feel jarringly short on Jessica, whereas hair extending many inches beyond the shoulders would feel heavy for Michelle.

So depending on their essence ratios, two people who share the exact same style type will potentially do their hair (and makeup) very differently.

Since Michelle Williams also has considerable Classic, she can go longer, too:

Shoulder-length hair also suits Michelle—though some might argue that this is starting to feel too long!

Highly Gamine faces are a fascinating example of how relative the concept of “long” hair is. On many people, a cut of this length would read as average, not long, but on Michelle, it’s starting to feel lengthy! And if she went any longer, the hair might “drag down” her compact face shape.

As an ECG, your best hair depends on your essence ratio (and sometimes your face shape):

If you’re highly Ethereal (or have an oval or long face), you might be able to do gentle waves several inches past the shoulders.
If you’re highly Gamine (or have a round, square, or short face), then anything much beyond chin-length can start to feel too long.
If you’re highly Classic (or have a more balanced amount of Ethereal, Classic, and Gamine), your best hair may hit at the shoulders or slightly above or below. You can also add piecey layers for Gamine or mermaid waves for Ethereal to a moderate-length cut.

Your Best Hair Color?

If you’re an ECG, should you dye your hair blonde?

If you’re following what many ECG celebrities do, that could be the conclusion you come to!

But in my view, any hair color can work well with any style type.

And people with any hair, eye, or skin color can have any combination of style essences.

I also don’t consider a person’s hair color (or eye or skin color) when typing their essences.

While hair color might have a small influence on our vibe, in my observation, the shapes of your facial features are overwhelmingly more important.

So you don’t need to dye your hair to look your best—many ECGs are gorgeous with their natural dark locks

Color Season Connection

I suspect many ECGs dye their hair blonde because they (subconsciously) know that the color seasons most stereotypically associated with their essences are Summer and Spring:

The gentle elegance of Ethereal and Classic has a Summer vibe
The liveliness of Gamine has a Spring vibe

And both Summer and Spring tend to be stereotypically associated with lighter colors.

But that’s really just a stereotype—for instance, you can have naturally dark hair and still be a Summer or Spring.

And if you’re a Winter or Autumn ECG, you can easily make your season work with your style type by:

Wearing iconic Ethereal colors (like light to medium blues, purples, greens) or iconic Gamine ones (like your most vibrant yellows and oranges)
Wearing your palette neutrals to express Classic
Focusing on color treatments that suit your essences, like ombre for Ethereal and color-blocking for Gamine
In some ways, it’s more fun if your color season and style type aren’t an obvious match, because you get to:
A. Have a multifaceted, unique vibe
B. Be creative and have fun exploring ways to make your color season and style type work together

Polished Mermaid

The mermaid is a creative invention—a human with a fish tail—that perfectly embodies the sense you get from Ethereal plus Gamine.

Give a mermaid a Classic pearl necklace and tailored blazer, and you have the mesmerizing beauty of ECG.

Ethereal Classic Gamine