5 Easy Steps To Highlight And Contour Your Face
How an illuminator and highlighter can enhance your natural beauty
Highlighting and contouring your face is one of the most effective beauty trends to enhance the natural shape of your face and your complexion. When done correctly, this technique enhances your features, subtly sculpting your face to bring out your cheekbones, slim down the appearance of your face and make your skin look luminous.
However, there’s lots of contradictory information out there about how to achieve this look, and it’s easy to get confused. Read on for five easy to follow steps that will help you to highlight and contour your face perfectly.
You’ll need:
• Highlighter/Illuminator — powder, liquid or cream
• Brown/bronze contouring product
• Blush — gel, cream or powder
• Makeup brush/sponge
1. Choose the right products
Choosing the right textures and shades is essential for contouring your face correctly. Your contouring product should be darker than your natural skin tone and should look very dark unless blended.
2. Be selective about areas to contour
When considering which areas to contour, you should remember that a little effort can have a noticeable effect; there’s no need to do your whole face. Focus on your jawline, cheek bones, nose, and forehead to add definition. To give the appearance of a more defined jawline, apply your chosen contouring product under your chin and then in your cheek hollows to highlight your cheekbones. To define your nose and make it appear slim, sweep the product in parallel lines down each side of your nose. Finally, apply some around your hairline and temples if you want your forehead to seem less pronounced.
3. Layer products lightly
To highlight and contour your face correctly, you’ll need to layer each product lightly and carefully to avoid a “dirty” look. Build up the colors slowly until you get the desired effect, which should be as natural as possible.
4. Blend thoroughly
Properly blending the colors is the key to highlighting and contouring. If you don’t combine each layer efficiently, you’ll end up with broad stripes of makeup, which will look far from natural. Depending on the products you use, there are various methods of blending. Powders blend well when you use a soft brush in a buffing motion; use your fingers and a damp sponge to apply creams and liquids.
5. Use highlighter for balance
Apply blush before highlighting your face. Your highlighting product should be the same texture as your contour product and should be shimmery. Apply it at the top of your cheekbones and underneath your eyes where the light naturally hits your face to brighten your complexion and give it a luminous effect.
To finish your look, add some cream blush to your cheekbones. Voila! You’ll be glowing. Highlighting and contouring your face can be tricky to get right. However, all you need are diligence and the right products to achieve fantastic results. To retain a natural appearance, always layer the products lightly and blend thoroughly. When you use all these 3 mentioned products together, they will balance out the contouring and give a glowing, luminous finish to your skin.
