How to Contour a Face

Contouring your face sounds like an intimidating makeup trick that should be left to the professionals. Contouring and highlighting your face can provide you with the power to sculpt your cheekbones, shorten your nose, and even slim your face. This may sound like magic, but with the right tools, knowledge and practice, this is all possible. Look at your face as a canvas. You are a piece of art and contouring is just one technique that can help provide you with a finished masterpiece.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Concealer
• Foundation
• Contouring brush
• Light color powder
• Dark color powder in the form of a bronzer or a shade darker than your skin tone

1. Apply concealer and foundation to even out your skin tone. This will provide you with an even toned canvas to begin.

2. Highlight your T-zone; the area across the forehead, down your nose, ending at the edge of your chin. Brush the lighter powder across your T-zone. Naturally, this is one of the oiliest areas of your face. Although, many people with oily skin may deem this unattractive, a slight glow is actually attractive. Highlighting your T-zone can provide you with a beautiful glow.

3. Contour your cheekbones. High cheekbones are arguably a universally attractive trait, according to scientists. Apply a darker shadow below your cheekbones. Some women prefer to suck in their cheeks and apply a contour shadow where their cheeks are hollow. Practice to see how much dark powder is needed: too little will have no effect, whereas too much will look dirty.

4. Highlight below your eyes. Though concealer should do the trick with under eye circles, highlighting below your eyes and above your cheek bones can make your eyes pop, as well as contrast your contoured cheekbones.

5. Slim down your nose. If necessary, slim down your nose by brushing the dark contour along the side of your nose. Figure out exactly what you'd like to slim down and apply the powder there. For example, if you want to slim down the widest part of your nose, apply the contouring powder at that location.

6. Slim down your face. Apply contouring powder along the outer edge of your face, along the jawline and around the temples.

7. Disguise that double chin. Brush contouring powder by shading that area below the jawline.

Tips & Warnings

• Contouring takes time and practice, but once you get this technique down, you'll be able to apply it to your makeup regimen. Actors and actresses can't live without this trick.
• If your contouring looks too harsh, consider blending to soften obvious lines.

Resources

• The science of female beauty
• Your beauty spot