Contour Makeup

Contour makeup can be used to both play-up your best features and change the appearance of the ones you're not so fond of. I personally don't bother with contouring on a daily basis, but I do for special makeup occasions. It is a bit time consuming, so experiment with this on a day or night that you've got virtually nothing planned. Contouring has three (five?) key factors. Shading, highlighting, and blending (blending, blending!) *Note: The illustration to the left is an exaggeration of what you're going to want to do. Do not apply that much makeup.

Shading

Shading is used to emphasize the areas of your face where shadows naturally fall. Unless you are a professional, or are doing so for photographing purposes, it is ill-advised to attempt to create a shadow that doesn't exist. This can look very unnatural and silly. As a general rule, you want to use a bronzer, blush, or foundation powder that is about two shades darker than your skin. Obviously, the darker the powder, the deeper the hollows will appear.

Highlighting

This is self explanatory. Use highlighting to bring forward features you want to "open up" or draw attention to, such as cheek bones, brow bones, down the nose bridge, inner corners of the eyes, center of the forehead and chin, or the bow of your upper lip. I would just stick to a couple of those features and not all of them, unless going for a really dramatic look, or using a very very subtle highlighter.

Basic Application

First I will explain a basic application. My next entry, probably tonight or during "nap time" will elaborate on contouring for specific face shapes.

Foundation
Start with a clean face, even exfoliate if you like. Apply your moisturizer and let it absorb. Next apply your everyday foundation to even out your skintone. I suggest two methods for liquid/mousse/cream foundation application:

1. Place tiny dots of foundation (a very small amount) on your face, focusing on areas that need coverage, with fewer dots in areas that need minimal coverage. Take a cosmetic sponge, wet it, and ring the water out until it is barely damp. Smooth the foundation over your face, and then blend it into your skin using the sponge, a brush, or your fingers.

2. To save time, invest in the MAC 187 Duo-Fibre Stippling Brush. Also known as the "Skunk Brush." This is my holy grail of brushes. I use it for foundation, powder, blush, bronzer, highlighter. Yes, even liquid foundation! Everrrything. Just wipe it off between applications and clean it regularly. With this I apply a small a dab of product to the back of my hand. Enough to cover my face. I dip the brush into the foundation lightly, then tap it around my hand in a stippling motion, removing excess. Then I stipple it all over a section of my face until it looks pretty even, then I gently wipe the brush off on something dry, usually paper towel, and blend and buff the makeup into my skin with a swirling circular motion. Blend outward to the edges of your face and a little beyond so it doesn't look like you're wearing a mask.

Those are the applications that work best for me. If you're satisfied with your method go ahead and do what you would normally do.

Shading
I recommend doing this under a very bright light, as this can look fine in the dim lighting if your home, but quite garish in store lighting, under the flash of a camera, and in the outside world. I also suggest using a powder for beginning. You can use a liquid if you're a pro at blending, but the powder will be much easier. Get your bronzer/blush/foundation of a darker shade. Apply a small amount to the hollowed areas which you want to appear deeper and darker. A highlighting colour should be something slightly lighter than your skin that reflects light well. These products often have a subtle shine or a hint of shimmer. Vanilla, champagne, and light pinks are popular choices.

Contouring
Cheek Bones: to build your cheek bones, begin by sucking your cheeks and applying contour makeup into the sunken area. Blend up and outward from under the apple of your cheeks towards your ears. Blend well. Apply and blend a highlighting colour on top of the contour colour for an especially sculpted look.

Forehead: to de-emphasize a more angular forehead and give it a softer, rounder look, blend contour into your temple and corners of your forehead by your hairline. You can apply a little highlighter to the center of your forehead and blend outward if you choose.

Nose: to create a slimming effect on a wide nose, apply contour makeup down the sides of the nose and blend carefully. Next apply a thin line of highlighter down the center of your nose and blend that as well.
To make a nose that "sticks out" less prominent, apply a shade slightly darker than the skin to the part of your nose that seems the "brightest" and then a highlighting powder down the sides.

Browbone: Simply sweep your highlighting shade under the arch and tail of the brow, blending down and outward so there is no line where the makeup starts or ends.

Eyes: I highlight my brow bone and eyes almost daily. For eyes it's easiest to use a highlighter that is powder and comes in a little bottle, almost like a liquid eyeliner. It should have an almost dull pencil shaped sponge tip applicator that sits inside the bottle. I tap or blow the excess powder off and press this, into the inner corner of my eyes. For a more dramatic look I will blend it upward up to my brows, so the inner corner of my whole eye area stands out. Another way is to apply a shimmer light coloured highlighter or eyeshadow to the inner corner of your eye and/or water line with your preferred makeup brush. I use the MAC 266 Small Angle Brush for this, filling in my brows, and with eyeliner. I love this brush!

Lips: To draw attention to the lips or create a plumper lip, I trace the bow of my upper lip with a highlighter and rub horizontally to blend it in. I apply a lip liner in the same tone as my lips, following my natural lip line. I fill in the lip with the liner, and apply a small amount of highlighter or a brighter, sometimes even white shimmery gloss to the center of my bottom lip. Blend, blend, blend, as always!

After you're done contouring and highlighting, if you want your efforts to last you should set the look with a pressed or loose translucent powder. I use Smashbox Halo Hydrating Perfecting Powder. This is another of my HG products, but comes with a steep price tag of $70 or $80 CAD.

I might expand on this later, but right now one of my kiddies is demanding my attention.
Experiment and have fun.
-H. Cat.