By: Soraya Janae
Don’t have cheek bones? Don’t fret, just draw some on! If you wish to achieve a flawless, defined and photo-ready face, you need to learn the magic of “Contouring”!
We all know that Kim Kardashian-West is the face of the current contouring trend that has been sweeping the beauty world for the past few years. But what people don’t realize, is face contouring has been around for years, sculpting your face is one the oldest practices in the makeup industry.
Contouring is a makeup technique in which you use a color that is a few shades darker than your skin tone to emphasize the natural shadows in your face, and make those areas you don’t like look smaller. The key to contouring is to have a light hand and to blend, blend, blend, and blend some more!
Do not get this confused with “bronzing” (we will touch on this subject later).
Highlighting enhances certain areas of your face giving the appearance of the more raised areas in your face. *Make sure to place the highlight where the natural light hits your face (think t-zone).
There are a few options when contouring:
-Powder (if going this route, use cool tones to achieve a shading effect )
-Cream (easy to blend)
– Liquid Foundation (a few shades darker than your skin color)
For beginners, I recommend going the cream route, rather than powder because with creams you can clean it up with foundation, but with powder, you will need to start over from the beginning.
To embark on this adventure you will need a few tools:
- A cream contour kit, or two concealers that are a shade or two lighter and darker than your skin tone.
- Beautyblender (Damp)
Start with a clean, moisturized and primed face
Apply a thin layer of foundation ( I used L’Oreal Infallible Pro- Matte Foundation) To achieve an even complexion.
Apply your cream highlighter to places where the natural light hits, also to brighten certain places that can get dull.
Apply cream contour color. Use this to de-emphasize places on the face you wish to appear smaller/slimmer.
My favorite part: BLEND!
After you blend, apply the rest of your makeup.
Bada Bing, Bada Boom, Presto!
Powder Tutorial coming soon!
xoxo,