Jessica Hill puts Eric Standop’s face-reading talents to the test

A personal face-reading session, limited by distance, is also telling.

Eric Standop's notes after reader Jessica Hill's face. Ian Sinnott for The National

Dec 28, 2013

Reading someone’s face in-person is one thing, but we requested that Standop read my face based on a close-up photo and a video call. It was a tough ask. And yet, his feedback was intriguingly accurate. How much of what he drew out was from studying my facial features and how much was from the telltale signs of my personality that I subconsciously emitted through our interview conversation, I couldn’t say. Certainly my “eyebrow of the enlightenment – asking loads of questions” make me suited to the role of journalist.

During our interview, Standop asked me for my date of birth, which he said was necessary for the Chinese interpretations of my life’s destiny.

Being a Libran, a lot of what he said seemed to chime with what astrology fans would say are Libran traits, such as being slow to make decisions. Standop’s advice for me to “be patient” was apt – I am the type who gets grumpy in restaurants if I have to wait more than a few minutes for my food.

And he was right about me being a day dreamer, as countless school reports never failed to mention.

In a longer, face-to-face reading, Standop says that he would have been able to reveal more about my destiny and health diagnosis – based on my picture, he was only able to tell me I was prone to too much sugar and caffeine because of my tendency to be impatient. I do admittedly indulge in a large spoonful of sugar in my tea, several times a day. Standop’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/readtheface) contains fascinating pictures of identical twins, one a smoker and the other not, and the differences between their faces is startling. Scientists would agree with him that the health choices we make are sooner or later etched on our faces.

It’s also curious that since ancient times cultures around the world have had the same notions about what facial features reveal about someone – as a child, you tend to know instinctively who the bad guy is in a film from their facial features.

Standop believes that in 10 years’ time face reading will be as popular as yoga is today. Time will tell if Standop is right – until then, I think I’ll make more effort to lay off the sugar and caffeine.