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The new dating site FindYourFaceMate.com has some New Yorkers convinced their perfect match has a face identical to their own.
“We’re not saying that you have to be pretty, we’re saying that your own face will connect you with someone who is right for you,” says FYFM founder Christina Bloom, who lives on the UWS. “And remember when you get rejected, it’s not about you, it’s about your face shape.”
Well, no pressure there.
Nearly 50,000 singles have joined the free site since its soft launch last year (the official July 10 launch at STK in the Meatpacking District will feature celebrity face matching underscored by DJ Samantha Ronson). Of the 6,000 New York-area current members, 55 percent are male.
Bloom says FYFM goes beyond the conscious eye, matching potential mates along a 63-point facial feature grid. She points to scientific studies that validate her mirroring hypothesis and insists the city is swarming with look-alike couples and A-list doppelgangers.
“They’re not just making it up,” concurs Claudia Brumbaugh, an assistant professor of psychology at Queens College. “Research does show we are attracted to people who look similar to us.” She says physical similarity can lend a sense of familiarity and safety to potential mates.
A recent test drive turned up 88 quirky face matches of various ages, races and levels of cuteness.
Josephine Maneri, a 49-year-old financial data analyst who lives in Monmouth County, N.J., signed up for FYFM on a lark after ending a nine-year relationship; two months later, she was dating a man she met on the site.
“Everyone thought we looked alike,” she says. “I brought him to my office and everyone thought he was my brother!”
While that relationship didn’t work out, Maneri is convinced love indeed lies in the face of the beholder. “I’m a total believer,” she says. “Once you start thinking about it, you see couples around and it’s so obvious.”
But sadly, no one’s guaranteeing a face match is forever.
“We’re talking about why people get together, not what people do after they get together,” acknowledges Bloom. “Your facial match may have a difficult personality. You have to figure that out on your own.”