Everyone’s face is different, and therefore contouring will be different on everyone. Some people might need to contour their cheekbone and others may just have to contour their nose. You need to experiment with your own face and see where you may want to contour.
The important part is to understand what and why you are going to contour. The contour should be applied lightly to specific areas instead of covering your entire face. After contouring you should highlight.
There are a couple of areas that are most common for contouring; on your jawline, down the sides of your nose, on the temples of your forehead and/or directly underneath your cheekbones (You want to smile to when doing your cheekbones so you can find your cheekbones and contour just below them. To many people do a “fish face” and the results in the placement of the contour to low on your face and to close to your mouth.) We are not saying you need to contour all these places but look at your face and determine where you need/want to contour.
Contour can be applied under or over your foundation. There is no right or wrong way. We apply the contour under the foundation because we believe it is the most natural looking technique.
After contouring always follow up with highlighting. The highlighting will balance out your contouring. Highlights can be applied to the top of your brows, the bridge of your nose, the cupid’s bow (center of your upper lip), under your lower lip in middle of your chin and the tops of your cheekbones. After highlighting, be sure to blend, blend and then blend again. It needs to be well-blended to have a more natural look. Blending can be done with a brush or a sponge – never your fingers. Blending should be done in circular motions for better results.
Since lighting is key when contouring a great trick is to snap a picture of yourself in good light (or use a flash) to see how your finished face looks. The camera won’t lie. This is the best way to see how everyone else will see your contouring.
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