Contouring and Highlighting...

Hello lovies! This morning as I was doing my makeup, I decided to really take the time and contour/highlight my face. I love doing this because of all the benefits to it. It is almost like performing a magic trick :) If you are needing to know how to contour and highlight your face, or what the point of it is, you have come to the right place! Here are some basic facts you need to know about contouring and highlighting your face:

Contouring helps to create illusions on your face by sculpting, accentuating, and highlighting certain features. This is particularly true if you have a rounder face.When you contour your face, you help to balance out your features. Facial beauty is related to symmetry, and subconsciously we think faces are more beautiful if they are more symmetric. Contouring your face will also help you look more photogenic :)

Take this model for example. Her face is more round shape, but if you notice her contour, her cheeks and jawline look more define and symmetric.

Some of the secrets that contouring does:

• Defines the jawline/chin
• Lift sagging eyes
• Reduces the look of a “double” chin
• Shortens a large forehead
• Defines the cheekbones
• Helps larger noses look smaller

What you will need to contour and highlight your face: 

1. A Contouring Brush – used for giving shape and definition to the face.
2. Contouring - A color two shades darker than your foundation. You can use bronzer, darker foundation or a contouring powder. It can be a liquid, cream or powder form. 
3. Highlight – A color two shades lighter then your foundation. You can use light colored eye shadow  a lighter foundation or a highlighter.

This picture above is a guideline on where to apply the contour (brown color) and highlighting (white color). It is recommended to use a brush for powder contouring and a sponge for cream contouring. You want to blend until there are NO harsh lines or streaking. Remember, you want it to look natural! The skin should look slight shaded or highlighted not as if there is an obvious color applied to the skin.

The key here is practice makes perfect :) You will figure out how much contouring your own face needs and how to make sure everything looks blended. A good thing to remember is contouring and highlighting look best under indirect or “evening” lighting so if you are going somewhere really bright keep it simple or simply just skip it :)