The celebrity chameleons: Why DO stars like Amber Heard look different every time you see them?

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From the red carpet blonde bombshell with razor sharp cheekbones, to homely Southern girl next door to a rather ordinary, albeit well-groomed mother during her court appearances, Amber Heard has a chameleon-like quality that means she has a tendency to look different every time you see her. 

Photos taken over long periods of time will naturally show normal changes associated with ageing or changes in weight, not to mention the impact of aesthetic treatments, but some stars just seem to have a changing face even in pictures taken within a smaller timeframe. And sometimes it’s not easy to pinpoint what has changed.  

Dr Raj Arora, an aesthetic doctor at the Face Bible, said an individual’s face shape can be a factor, noting that oval faces often lend themselves more easily to divergent looks.

She told FEMAIL: ‘Face shapes play a key role in how one may appear, bringing character and definition to the face. 

‘Oval faces are generally the most versatile because of their natural symmetry and balance. Oval faces can practically pull off any hairstyle, haircut or makeup look with ease.’

However, she added that oval faces are not typically thought to be ‘striking’, unlike the chiselled face shape look, which could explain some individuals’ facial changes, as they try to achieve a more striking chiselled look.

Dr Arora said: ‘A lot of individuals seek non-invasive aesthetic treatments to achieve sculpted cheekbones, fuller lips, and a tight jawline.’ 

And, she added, certain treatments can create dramatic changes to a person’s look very quickly.

‘Dermal filler injectables placed strategically to sculpt and define the face can change a person’s look in a matter of days,’ she said.

‘Anti-wrinkle injections are also a popular treatment to help lift the brows and open up the eye area – leaving the impression of a wider eyed, sculpted individual.’  

Dr Dean Rhobaye, an expert in aesthetics and face mapping with a private clinical practice in London’s Harley Street, said there are many factors that can contribute to celebrities looking vastly different in images.

One of those factors is makeup: Dr Rhobaye suggests there may be some people who are able to create more dramatically different looks using cosmetics, suggesting that those with less distinct features may be able to ‘manipulate the way they look’ more effectively with make-up. 

But can cosmetics really be responsible for the dramatic changes seen in some images? Make-up artist Suzie O’Neill, owner of Ayu Cosmetics, told FEMAIL they can. 

She said: ‘There is no denying that make up can completely alter how someone looks just by shading and highlighting certain areas of the face.’

She added that celebrities are ‘renowned for using makeup to change their appearance and experiment with new looks’. 

According to Suzy, there are multiple tricks and techniques that can be used to create significant changes, including using shading. For example, she explains, shading alongside the bridge of the nose, starting from the inner brows, then highlighting the centre of the nose

Meanwhile Kayleigh O’Donovan, a make-up artist who owns House of Vanity salon in Manchester, agreed that these dramatically different looks could have been achieved through the careful application of cosmetics.

She told FEMAIL: ‘Makeup can be used to enhance features and when applied in certain ways has the ability to make a certain facial feature stand out or lessen. 

‘Makeup placement using techniques such as contouring and highlighting correctly can create the illusion of stronger cheekbones, facial slimming or widening, different shape of nose or lips, hooded eyes can appear more lifted for example. The beauty of makeup is that it can be tailored to the individual.’ 

She added that choosing a look that is suitable for an individual’s natural features means the techniques required to create dramatic changes will work effectively.

And it seems that some faces may be more easily manipulated when it comes to creating these different looks through cosmetics.

Dr Hakan Gundogan, a plastic surgeon working at the Clinic Centre in London, agrees that significant differences in the way some celebrities look in photos taken just days apart will sometimes be down to certain treatments.  

He told FEMAIL: ‘There are some non-surgical procedures that are very subtle but still make a great difference in the face. These procedures are very popular and widely preferred by many, not just celebrities. 

‘The most common type of non-surgical procedure is fillers. Apart from lip-fillers, which have been around for a very long time, other types of fillers have emerged in the last years. 

‘Among these are brow fillers, nose fillers, jaw fillers, chin fillers etc. Brow fillers help raise the eyebrows to achieve a more relaxed and fresh look around the eyes. Sunken eyes can cause a sleepy and aged look. 

‘Jaw and chin fillers make the chin area look longer, which naturally affects the whole face. The best part about fillers is that they do not require any cuts and are not considered surgeries.’

According to the doctor, even the ‘smallest amount of filler can make a difference in the shape of the area’. 

He explained: ‘For example, nose fillers can raise the tip of the nose, making it appear smaller and more suitable for the face.’

Dr Gundogan believes that the differences we see in celebrity faces may therefore sometimes be down to subtle, nonsurgical tweaks, that change the appearance, without being obvious.  

‘Some celebrities probably get a few fillers done the day before their events so their face looks its best combined with professional lighting and make-up,’ he said, adding that this may be going on in some of these images.

However, for Dr Dean Rhobaye, there are other environmental factors that can affect how someone looks in a photos. In his opinion, the most significant is the cameras that is used. 

He told FEMAIL: ‘The focal length of the lens and whether there’s a wide or narrow angle lens [on the camera] will distort the facial proportions in different ways. This is a phenomenon called perspective distortion.’

He explained that the focal length of the camera lens can change how features of the face look, changing the ratios between features, and creating a different look between images.

In fact, he says, this aspect is so significant, he considers to be the ‘number one’ factor in how the proportions of the face appear in photos.

He says the second major factor when it comes to why people sometimes look so different in photos is lighting.   

‘People grossly underestimate the impact of lights and lights, which can have a huge impact the way you look,’ Dr Rhobaye explained.

‘Light can exaggerate. For example, overhead lighting can exaggerate shadows. 

‘And certain parts of the face will make you look older in the full sun. So that’s another big factor in the way people will look in images.’

 Overall, the doctor notes that these smaller factors all work in combination with each other, enhancing the difference different camera settings, light, and make-up can all make in terms of how someone’s facial shape and overall look may appear. 

Perhaps one of the more surprising reasons Dr Rhobaye gave to explain why some celebrities look so different in different photos is posture and posing.

‘A lot of celebrities, actresses and other media people go through training in terms of posture and positioning,’ he said.

‘And they’re actually taught on how to pose. If you look at them on a red carpet, you can see how they change the angle of their head…by changing your posture and angles, you can change the appearance of your profile or shape of your face.  

When it comes to longer term changes in appearances, Dr Rhobaye said certain facial structures – notably those with more prominent cheekbones – are more robust against ageing in terms of maintaining the face’s dimensions. 

However, he pointed out, these types of faces ‘tend to lose fat more readily’, whereas rounder facial shapes are less sensitive to volume loss. 

A final point Dr Rhobaye says is important to bear in mind is that many of the images we see nowadays have been manipulated and edited. 

‘We think that they’re natural,’ he said, ‘But they are often carefully planned and edited.’