I've posted about this before. Dd does not look like me AT ALL! What she DOES look like is the child of my ex...and my sister! Seriously if you were presented with photos of dd, me, ex and my sister you'd say they were her parents and wonder who the fuck I was!
As per pp she has however inherited other traits from me - being a night owl, sarcasm, filthy laugh and frankly intellect (seriously her father? Thick as 2 short 'uns! - except when it comes to being a dead beat - then he becomes a fucking genius!)
Then there's my nephew who looks nothing like either parent - looks like me and bro's child! Genetics are weird.
Another nephew doesn't look like any living relative, then at a family event a relative we don't see often (distant cousin, grandparents generation), remarked "well he's the spit of X!" X being my grandmothers uncle who died when my mother was quite young. Cousin dug out a photo for us and right enough would have been a contender for graham norton's 'time travelling' Schtick! Really odd that he looks SO like someone 4 generations removed!
I also colouring wise don't look like either parent (both dark haired olive skinned - whereas you'd have a job picking me out in a snowstorm if it weren't for the red hair! Several aunts and uncles on both sides though with my colouring, each parent had one dark haired olive skinned parent and one Celtic colouring parent).
There's some evidence though (though those that have studied it aren't in agreement on how it happens) that some adopted children start to look like adoptive parents and even non blood related siblings, among the reasons posited are physical/chemical environment, mimicking speech patterns/accent, mimicking other physical traits eg gait...
It's interesting but I can understand it being annoying if eg a mil is constantly banging on how your child looks nothing like you.
Willstartomorrow - a friend of mine is mixed race, her dad's really quite dark even compared to other Nigerian heritage folk, but her mum is pure Nordic colouring, blonde, blue eyed very white skinned, she has pale skin but tans easily and doesn't burn like her mum, blonde but Afro hair and pale brown/greenish eyes. She did used to find it a bit upsetting/annoying that people thought her dad was her step dad. She's got his high cheekbones, chin (which she hates) and is tall/long limbed whereas her mum is a wee tiddly thing.