How to contour & highlight.

Contouring and highlighting seems to be an ongoing makeup trend; and a secret that every celebrity makeup artist uses to sculpt your face and make the most of your unique facial structure.  Recently made popular  by none other than Kim Kardashian. Contouring and highlighting is a technique I feel is sometimes overused, and can look dreadful if it is not applied correctly. Let’s reminisce on that time Nicki Minajs makeup artist forgot to blend her nose… Lets not re-live that.

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But when operated with skill, can be your deadliest weapon; literally you could cut someone with that structed jawline. The secret behind it? Using the correct shades, technique and knowing your face shape. With a lot of practice and alone time with your face, you can be a sculpted beauty in no time.

Here’s a little guide I put together that I hope helps anyone looking to start, or just curious as to how I apply my makeup..

• Know your face shape.

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Some are born with a chiseled jaw and strong cheekbones but we can’t all be Kiera Knightley.   Knowing your face shape is as important as knowing your g-spot. If you don’t know it, you never will! Knowing your face structure means you’ll know what features you need to sculpt.  A good example would be a round face shape, you will want to contour under the cheekbones quite dramatically with plenty of blending. This will give the round face more structure. Some face shapes may need more highlight than contour.

• Choosing the right products.

This is of great importance. Knowing your skin type, what sits and blends well with your skin. Personally I have always preferred cream concealers; I feel they blend better on my skin and are buildable. You have a wide variety of choice you can use foundations, concealers, grease paints and powders. Choose wisely.

• Finding that perfect shading tone and highlighter.

Being taught makeup professionally I have always been told to choose a shade three shades lighter than your skin tone, and a shader a couple of tones darker. Okay, personally I do not stick to this when I go dark I go dark. I tend to only go a few shades lighter with my concealer as there is usually a believable contrast (I also fake tan this means you can afford to go darker).  Stay clear of products with an orange or red tone trust me it will end in tears.

• Choose your tools wisely.

Personally I like angled sturdy brushes to contour and highlight. The application is a lot more precise; as you can control the angle of the brush and the quantity of the product you are applying. To blend I would recommend no other than the beauty blender. It blends the makeup seamlessly it does all the hard work for you. Make sure you practice your blending. Blending is an art form do not underestimate it. You need to apply little pressure otherwise you will smudge the contour to another part of your face changing the facial features again, which could make them droop or bigger.

Now we’ve got that out of the way, here’s how I contour and highlight.

• Apply the light shade of product on the center of the forehead, the center of the nose,under the eyes. above your cheekbones, under the brow, and on the crossbow.
• Using the shading product, I apply it at the sides of my forehead, on the temples, along the sides of my nose. below my cheekbones, in the socket of my eye and in the point of my chin

• I then blend using a beauty blender, this blends cream products beautifully. I blend until I cannot see any harsh lines and my face looks more sculpted.
• To finish off the look apply your favourite smokey eye and nude lip.
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How do you contour and highlight? Or for you first timers tell me how it went!

With love Makeup Monster x