List of emoji substitutions for Messages in Mac OS X
This list is based off of the old iChat plist and scripting the list of emoticons from Wikipedia into Messages.app:

 :)
 ;)
 :(
 B)  
 :D  
 D:
 :d
 ;p
 :p
 :o
 :s
 :x
 :|
 :/
 :[
 :&gt; 
 :@  
 :*
 :!
 o:)
 &gt;:-o
 &gt;:-)
 :3  
 (y)
 (n)
❤️ &lt;3


Note most support using - for a nose so :-) works for  as well.