It all started to trend with Kim Kardashian. You only have to say the name and yep, you got it – contouring. Contouring has been used for years by makeup artists, but only in more recent years it has started to grab everyone’s attention. Now contouring is becoming a big part of everybody’s daily makeup routine.
What is contouring? Contouring is a shading technique used to trick the eye into thinking that certain facial features are enhanced and defined. If done properly you can even change the look of your face. Contouring can make your nose smaller, eyes bigger and cheekbones more defined.
When contouring you want to make sure you pick the right product for your face. First of all, you want to grab a ‘matte’ bronzer powder or cream, whichever you prefer. Just keep in mind if you’re more on the dry side, it’s best to use cream, and if you’re on the oily side, use a powder.
You want your contour to be one to two shades darker than your skin tone. Any more than this and it can become too noticeable and unflattering to the eye. If you’re a fair skin tone, you want your contour to have a cool undertone and you want steer away from anything too orange/red based.
Grab your dark colour and apply it under and along your cheekbones, down the sides of your nose, along the hairline on your forehead and temples. Just be mindful when contouring your shading, so for instance, if you have a small forehead I do not recommend contouring along the hairline, as this can create the effect of your forehead looking even smaller. Instead, you would want to highlight to make it look bigger.
When contouring your cheekbones, you want to contour the hollows of your cheeks and the best way to do this is to suck them in and then apply your product. When doing this make sure you blend upwards using your brush or sponge, because you want your cheekbones to look enhanced.
Highlighting is all about opening and bringing forward areas of the face; anything you really want to stand out. You will highlight, for example, the bridge of your nose, above your cheek bones, under eyes and cupid’s bow.
Contouring and highlighting can be done in so many different ways, you can grab a shade darker in a foundation and a shade lighter in a foundation to do more of a dramatic contour. With contouring and highlighting it’s all about blending and, remember, its a lot easier to add more product than to take it away.
Above is video of a daily contour routine – I hope you enjoy!
Korryn xx