Emotional expressions are ubiquitous and powerful signals. We rapidly recognize the joy and anguish of others by merely glancing at their faces. Or do we? For decades, the field of emotion perception has studied the expressive face by utilizing lab-produced, highly recognizable sets of standardized posed expressions. But results in vitro can differ from those in vivo. I will argue that real-life expressions, especially when intense, are often far more ambiguous than previously assumed. Consequently, efficient emotion perception relies heavily on contextual information which is read-in to the face. Perceivers are often unaware of this contextual process, experiencing a compelling illusion that clear emotions were recognized directly from the face itself. These findings challenge past work and raise intriguing questions about the role of facial expressions in social communication.