🤩 Meaning: Face with Starry Eyes

The Grinning Face with Star Eyes focuses on the eyes, which are depicted as two shining five-pointed stars. Depending on the platform, the depiction and color of the star eyes may vary slightly. The facial contours are round and full, making the emoji look friendly and inviting.

The emoji's mouth is wide open, like a broad grin that reaches from one ear to the other. The corners of the mouth are pulled sharply upwards, which emphasizes the intensity of the positive emotions. The teeth are usually depicted as an even white line, which makes the smile appear even more cheerful. Only the upper row of teeth is visible.

The outer edges of the face may be slightly shaded to give the face depth and dimension. Some versions of the emoticon also show small flushed cheeks, adding to the overall excitement and happiness.

The depiction may vary slightly depending on the device or messenger, but the essential features, in this case the starry eyes, remain the same in each depiction.

The depiction of sparkling starry eyes has its roots in pop culture, particularly in cartoons, comics and anime. There, stars have long been used as eyes to exaggerate moments of intense joy, surprise or infatuation.

The emergence of this emoji is therefore closely linked to the visual language of comics, in which emotions are often exaggerated in order to evoke an immediate and understandable reaction from the audience. In cartoon movies and magazines, stars in the eyes were and are often a symbol that a character is overwhelmed by something, be it exuberant love (because their crush is just passing by), happiness or admiration, for example for a pop star. This visual tradition has found its way into digital communication, and with the release of Unicode 10.0 in 2017, the 🤩 emoji was officially added to the family.

Cultural differences in interpretation
Although the 🤩 emoji is a worldwide expression of strong enthusiasm and fascination, there are cultural nuances in its interpretation. In Western culture, stars are often associated with glamor, celebrity and a sense of wonder. In Asian cultures, stars in the eyes can also symbolize innocence and childlike joy. This is rare, but a possible interpretation for the Asian region. In some cultures, stars themselves have mystical or spiritual meanings, which could influence the use of this emoji in these contexts. While the 🤩 emoji is understood as a positive and joyful symbol in most parts of the world, it could also be interpreted differently in certain cultural contexts, depending on the local symbolism and cultural associations with stars. This is rather rare, most of the time the stars in the eyes simply mean worldwide that you are really overwhelmed.

Gender-specific differences in interpretation
🤩 Meaning man
Men often simply express strong admiration with this face. Be it for an impressive sporting event, a cool gadget or an overwhelming experience. It usually stands for a “wow” reaction that is accompanied by genuine amazement and positive surprise. It is also used to show enthusiasm for something they want or are looking forward to: The festival is going to be so cool! 🤩

🤩 Meaning woman
Women use 🤩 in a similar way, i.e. to express enthusiasm or admiration, but often in a slightly broader context and more frequently. It can be used for fashion, beauty, pop culture as well as for personal experiences or encounters. Women use the emoji more often to show positive reactions to impressive or inspiring things, such as an outfit they love or a breathtaking landscape they have seen.

🤩 Meaning of flirting
In the context of flirting, the 🤩 emoji can be a subtle way of signaling special interest and fascination in the other person. It shows that you are totally impressed by the other person, be it through their appearance, their charm or a certain action. You literally have hearts in your eyes and are absolutely flashed. Especially at the beginning of a flirtation, the emoji can be used to add a subtle romantic touch to enthusiasm or joy without being too direct.

Different interpretations depending on the platform
🤩 Meaning WhatsApp
On WhatsApp, the smiley is often used in everyday conversations and has no special, platform-specific meaning. Due to the casual and often humorous atmosphere on WhatsApp, the emoji is used frequently and in combination with other emojis to convey a stronger emotional response.

🤩 Meaning Facebook
Here we often find it in the comment columns for impressive photos, posts or experiences. It is used to express enthusiasm for posts by friends or public figures and serves as positive feedback that is less formal than a “like”. It is also frequently found in groups or on pages dedicated to hobbies or interests. The emoji has no special, platform-specific meaning on Facebook either.

🤩 Meaning Instagram
Instagram is a platform that focuses on visual content, so we often find starry eyes under breathtaking pictures, outfits or creative posts. It expresses (mostly) aesthetic appreciation and enthusiasm and is often used by influencers and their followers to express their mutual admiration. There is no other or special meaning here either.

🤩 Meaning TikTok
In the TikTok community, where quick and short communication is required, the emoji is a favorite for expressing positive emotions in a nutshell. The emoji therefore often stands alone or as a reaction to livestreams. It has no special meaning here either.

🤩 Meaning Snapchat
It is also used here to react with enthusiasm and amazement to impressive or creative snaps. It is often used in combination with filters or effects to enhance the emotional impact of a snap, but has no platform-specific meaning.

🤩 Meaning in other messengers
On other messengers such as Telegram or Signal, 🤩 is used in a similar way to WhatsApp to express enthusiasm and positive surprise. We have not come across any platform-specific meanings. If our star face has a special meaning on another platform, please let us know!

The 🤩 emoji has therefore developed into a universal symbol of admiration and fascination, which is usually interpreted very similarly in different cultures, genders and platforms in subtle ways. The risk of confusion is therefore low. The symbolism of stars and the association with overwhelming emotions make it one of the most expressive and unmistakable emojis in digital communication.

Concert visit:
Emma: Have you heard? Our favorite band is coming to town! 🤩

Birthday surprise:
Jan: I'm so excited to see how Luis will react to the present. 🤩

Promotion success:
Felix: I got the job I told you about!
Nina: Awesome! Congratulations to you! 🤩

New outfit:
Marie: Look, does this dress suit me for tonight?
Clarissa: Wow, it looks incredibly good on you! 🤩

Movie trailer:
Leon: Have you seen the trailer for the new Avengers?
Sara: Sure, tickets are already booked! 🤩

First date:
Julia: He asked me out on a date....
Hanna: OMG, that's so exciting! 🤩

Although the Star-Strucked Face is relatively unmistakable, it has a few siblings that at least remotely resemble it. Let's take a closer look:

The 😍 smiley face with heart eyes expresses deep, often romantic admiration, whereas our star-struck face tends to express more generalized enthusiasm and wonder.😍 So it's more strongly associated with love and affection, especially in romantic contexts.

The 😱 emoji with a wide-open mouth and wide-open eyes expresses extreme fear or shock. In contrast to the joyful and positive 🤩, which shows enthusiasm, the 😱 emoji also symbolizes an overwhelming but rather negative emotional reaction.

The exploding head 🤯 expresses a feeling of disbelief or complete overwhelm. 🤩 stands for positive surprises and 🤯 conveys an extreme reaction to something amazing that leaves you almost speechless.

😁 also shows a broad smile and expresses pure joy and happiness. It is similar to the 🤩 smiley at least in its positivity, but the 😁 emoji has no specific elements like the starry eyes and is used more for general cheerfulness.

Basically, it can be said that our face with the starry eyes is and remains unmistakable due to - wouldn't you know it - its starry eyes.

Our editorial team is delighted with this emoji:

The “Starface”, as we affectionately call our colleague, is the “Wow, awesome!” emoji in its purest form! When we see it, we know immediately that someone is totally excited - whether it's about a new, outstanding game release, an impressive sunset or a perfectly taken selfie. For us, the 🤩 emoji is the perfect mix of excitement and amazement. It's what comes across your smartphone when you're at a loss for words and just have a “Wow!” in your head.

Yes, we love it and use it all the time to convey exactly this vibe. If you don't use it, you haven't had a teenage crush in your life. We all know the feeling. 😄