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BASICS FOR THAT PERFECT CONTOUR

August 08 2016 – Delikate Rayne

While you never want to be basic, knowing beauty basics is essential to having a face beat for the gods. The mastery of contour is an important skill as all makeup applications involve contouring on some level. But to many, the thought of doing it at home seems inaccessible and a little too tricky. But it's easier than you think, we promise! Essentially, all makeup is contouring. When you contour, all you’re doing is accentuating your natural features. To get the technique down, we walk you through the how-to's and tools to create a natural look using contouring. This approach will look different on every person, depending on the shape of the features. So practice, practice, practice. Try it, have fun, play around, and most importantly discover what works on your face.

 
In learning how to contour there are two main techniques: lowlighting and highlighting. Lowlighting refers to using a darker color wherever there’s an area of the face or feature you want to recede or de-emphasize. For this, use a hue about three shades darker than your own skin—and making sure your product is matte, never frosted or shimmery. The opposite of lowlighting is highlighting—this you do on areas you want to emphasize or bring forward. For highlight, you can use either matte or frosted/shimmery color, whichever you prefer. So to turn your basic makeup skills into pro moves for a fleek face, practice these four sculpting techniques that are anything less than basic. 

CHEEKBONES

Let’s face it, everyone wants chiseled cheekbones inspired by the almighty Kate Moss. So typically this is the first thing most of us start with. To start, try receding the hollow of the cheek. You can find the hollow of cheek right underneath the cheekbone—there, apply your darker lowlight shadow using an angled medium or large brush.

Every area you lowlight, you want to balance with a highlight. After receding the hollow of the cheek, counter that by making cheekbones stand out. To do that, brush on a frosted gloss or light shadow along the cheekbones, and blend out toward the temple.

NOSE

 

This is a basic strategy to slim down the nose just a bit (which remember, may not work on every face). For the nose, use the same lowlight shade you used for cheeks. Start at inner corner of brow and apply down either side of the nose.

 

Next, apply your highlight down the bridge of the nose. For the nose, always use matte product, even for highlighting. “Generally speaking, people don’t want the nose or T-zone to look shiny, so in those areas, stay away from frost or shimmer.Finally, blend the two together using a brush.

EYES

 

To make the eyes pop in two simple steps, start with your lowlight. Apply into the crease of the lid and blend well. 

Then, counter that with a highlight, brushed right along the brow bone. Whala! defined eyes in two easy steps. 

JAWLINE

Now, this is often an overlooked step however it is just as important as all the rest in perfecting a fierce sculpted face. To lowlight, apply your darker shadow below the jaw along the jawline, right where the jaw meets the neck. Then blend down into the neck using a clean brush, so you don’t have a line.

  

Lastly, highlight right on top of the jawline, and blend together. Be careful not to go all the way around to the chin here. You want to highlight on the sides, along the mandible. If you go all the way forward to the chin, it can make the chin look bigger, like it’s jutting forward.

 Imagery via Google images, Pinterest and Beauty buzz beat
Words written by Mallory Maupin