Short, sourced guides on how faces are read and how to come across. Each one ends in something you can practise live in How I Land.
When your face says something you do not mean
Resting face: why you look annoyed when you are not
What a face at rest signals, and the five things to change.
How to look less tired
Tiredness is read from two places. Both can be moved.
How to look less intimidating
Four signals make a face read as dominant. Undo each one.
For the moment that counts
Your face in a job interview
Capable and trustworthy, from the first second.
How to come across on a video call
Where the lens is, where your eyes go, and what your listening face does.
How to look good in photos: expression and angle
The face you make matters more than the face you have.
How to come across when you meet someone new
The greeting, the smile and the eyes, for dates, parties and networking.
How to look confident when you present
Chin up about 15°, a small smile, eyes on one person at a time.
Practising facial expressions in private
For anyone who finds it hard to make a face on purpose.
How faces are read
How first impressions work
A tenth of a second, two questions, and what carries each answer.
How long should eye contact last?
About 3 seconds at a time. Then to the side, not down.
Slight or broad? How to choose a smile
Size, timing and eyes: what each does to how you are read.
Chin up or chin down? What your head angle says
A few degrees change how the same face is read.
Smiles and eye contact across 12 culture regions
Where a smile helps, where it costs, and where to hold a gaze for less long.
The research behind How I Land
Every study the looks are built from, with what it found and where it is used.
Famous faces, step by step
How to do Blue Steel
Derek Zoolander’s signature face: lips pushed into a pout, cheeks drawn in, chin a little down, eyes narrowed and fixed on the lens.
How to do the Mona Lisa smile
The faint, closed smile Leonardo painted: mouth corners barely up, lips closed, brows and eyes at rest, chin level.
How to do the Girl with a Pearl Earring look
Vermeer’s girl turning to you: lips slightly parted as if about to speak, eyes wide, no smile.
How to do the Kubrick stare
The stare from A Clockwork Orange and The Shining: head tipped down toward the lens, eyes looking up from under lowered brows, no smile.
How to do the Wednesday stare
Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday Addams: every face muscle dropped, chin down, staring through the brows without blinking.
How to do the Gen Z pout
The selfie face of 2026: the upper lip lifted a little and the lower lip tucked up, between a pout and a faint frown.
The recipes
Each of the ten looks, in numbers: the ten looks.
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