It’s time to talk about the single-most overlooked cosmetic product/technique by the average woman: contouring make-up. With the right combination of highlighting and lowlighting shades, you can adjust the look of your features in myriad ways. You can make your nose appear slimmer, your eyes deeper and your jawline softer. You can soften the look of jowls and hide the wattle beneath an aging chin. All it takes is a little practice, some patience and just the right colors for your skin type.
I’m going to break with tradition here and tell you now that there is NO need to go out and purchase make-up specifically labeled as contouring make-up. In fact, some makers are getting away from the “specifically purposed” cosmetic products and appealing to the modern shoppers’ sensibilities by marketing the products that are basically the same as multi-purpose items.
The truth is you don’t need a specifically designed “contouring make-up” for proper contouring of the face all you need is a make-up that is a shade darker and a shade lighter than the make-up you use for your foundation. It’s just that simple.
What Kind of Foundation Works Best
You can use any foundation formula for your contouring make-up, and if you have a brand and type that you absolutely cannot do without, then by all means stick with what you love. It will make it easier for you to master the contouring application techniques if you feel comfortable with the medium with which you are working.
However, it’s my opinion that the newer “mineral powder” make-up formulas are ideal for use as contouring make-up – even if you prefer to use a liquid or cream foundation. In fact using a powder make-up for contouring over a moister foundation application can actually work well for many skin types. Just remember that the goal is ultimately to create very blended looks. This won’t be possible if there’s too much moisture, so apply your foundation in smooth, thin, even coats and blend it in well.
How to Know what’s Right
In order to choose the right colors, it’s going to be necessary to go where you can “test” the make-up. Unless you are very familiar with the whole range of shades for the make-up your are working with, or you have loads of money to spend, the test is best.
This testing is doubly important if you are going to use a different formula of make-up to the kind you use as a foundation. If you plan to use the mineral powder formula and you regularly use liquid foundation, it will help you to get a feel for the way the minerals are applied and how they blend.
Find your base shade, then look at the shades one step lighter and one step darker than your base shade. Remember that your base shade should apply to the skin and become invisible. If you can see where the make-up is applied because it is lighter or darker than the skin around it, then it’s not appropriate and you need to shift to the next shade.
Once you have the proper shade for your base color, look at the shades next to it on either side. Select one shade lighter and one darker and apply them next to the test of the color that matches your skin tone. The difference between them should be subtle, but apparent when side by side. You’ll blend out the demarcation lines when you apply the contouring. In some cases, you may need to go to the shades two steps from the one you use as a base if the transition between the shades is very minute.
Once you’ve chosen the contouring colors for use with your foundation, you’re ready to master the contouring basics.
Basics of Contouring
The entire concept behind contouring is the theory of the interplay of light and dark to create depth and perspective in drawn and painted shapes in artwork. Just as an artist can take a plain, white, flat piece of paper and through the use of lighter and darker colors and shading can create an image that looks three-dimensional (even though it is still only a flat surface).
Once you apply your foundation and allow it the proper amount of time to set (using translucent powder as appropriate), you can begin trying out your contouring techniques. If there is a feature you want to enhance, such as the cheeks, apply the darker contouring shade in the hollow of the cheeks by puckering your lips and dabbing the color on the underside of the upper curve of the indention. Then apply the lighter shade lightly to the top of the cheek bone in the same manner. Afterward, use a blending brush to gently smooth away any sign of demarcation.
Once you’ve selected your contouring colors as appropriate for your skin tone, it’s time to discuss the possible ways contouring can help you enhance your look, and then we’ll look at some specific application techniques that you can put to good use. Contouring serves a number of purposes in make-up application, and in fact, some of the cosmetics you already use serve similar purposes.
Eye shadow and blusher are primarily used to mimic the subtle arousal responses of a youthful body – the pinking of the cheeks and the darkening of the soft tissue around the eyes – but they also serve to give definition to the eyes and add shape to the cheeks by drawing the focus in those areas. Adding in the specific application of cosmetics that will serve the purpose of helping to enhance and adjust the shape of the face and features only serves to make the other cosmetics work even better.
What Contouring Can Do & How To
Contouring as a general term for the cosmetic application to refine and enhance the features covers three basic jobs: accentuating, minimizing and contouring. These jobs are achieved by the same basic application techniques, but the results are important enough to have their own distinction.
Accentuating
Accentuating your best features is probably the favorite use of contouring for most women. Making the eyes deep and sexy, making the cheekbones stand out and appear dramatic are two of the ways you can accentuate your best features with contouring. With the right combination of shading and highlighting you can create a dramatic visage and make your best features truly the stars of your face.
Minimizing
Sometimes we have features that we don’t want to appear so prominent. Perhaps our face is wide and seems flat or our forehead is too broad, and instead of enhancing these features we want to make them less prominent. Contouring make-up works for this in that you can take the shading and highlighting techniques and refine the shape of the broad features, making them appear smaller.
Contouring
Of course being called contouring make-up it is obvious that contouring would be a legitimate function of the technique. Once you master the techniques of shading and highlighting, you can subtly reshape the face and seemingly sculpt the face into the more pleasing esthetic you envision. Whether it’s a flat cheek, or a jaw that’s too square or too round, or just too much, you can alter the look of the shape and create the look that you want.
Specific Tips and Tricks
For a Flat Nose:
Use a circle of lighter color on the tip of the nose, paired with a slight shading on the underside in order to give a sense of depth and make the nose seem to extend more. Gently blend the lighter color vertically along the nose, but only to soften. Don’t spoil the effect of the lightening of the color on the tip. Blend the shading on the underside of the nose in a horizontal motion.
For Flat Cheeks:
Apply your lighter color in an elongated oval in an angle across the top of the cheekbones and pair it with a slim stripe of shading along the bottom edge of the cheekbone. This makes the cheeks appear prominent and gives depth to the face. Blend the colors by gently brushing the shading in a downward motion over the cheeks to diffuse the lower edge, and just burnish the ovals of lighter color to soften the edges.
To Reshape the Jaw Line:
Whether your problem is that your jaw is too square, too round, or you have a wattle or double chin, you can create the shape you desire by applying your shading color first along the underside of the jaw line and carefully add more shading to make the shape into which you want to transform your jaw. After placing the darker color as desired, apply an oval of lighter color on the chin.
Blend the underside of the jaw downward on the neck to fade the color and blend it into the neck, and use brushstrokes in the same direction as the curve you created at the jaw line in order to soften and blend the shading in that area. For the lighter color you applied on the cheek, use your brush and gently blend outward from the chin to reinforce the line of the jaw as you created it, and to make the new jaw line appear to come forward.
For a Wide Forehead:
Apply your lighter color in a rounded triangle shape in the center of the forehead, and use your shading color at the temples and upward toward the hairline on each side of the brows. Gently blend the shading upward and toward the center of the forehead, while lightly brushing the center lighter color to soften its edges. This will make the forehead appear to become narrower and extend slightly forward.
For a Wide Face:
Many women have a wide face at or near the eye region and upper cheeks. By applying the shading color you’ve chosen at the sides of the face from just below the brow to the cheeks and blending it in a softly curved line, and pairing it with the lighter color applied in sweeps just along the tops of the cheeks and blended to soften them, you can bring in the width of the face and bring forward the cheeks, giving depth to the eyes in the process.
Shaping and Defining the Eye Area:
Due to ethnic and other genetic factors, some women have shallower natural contours around their eyes. In some cases, this can be significant enough to make the face appear flat. To enhance eyes that are insufficiently contoured (or to enhance the contours already present) use your shading color and start at the outer corner of the eyes and create a curved shadow from the outside of the upper lid and following it along the crease of the eyelid. (In some cases of shallow eye sockets you may have to actually create the shape of the lid). Add additional vertical lines of shading along either side of the nose from the inner ends of the brows and extending downward to just past the eyes.
Pair these applications with lighter color along the underside of the brows, vertically along the bridge of the nose and in dots on the center of the eyelids. Use your blending brush gently to just remove any clear edges to the contouring make-up. This should give your eyes a depth and drama that you were otherwise lacking.
So, as you can see, contouring is a simple concept to learn that can take some effort and practice to master. However, the results of getting these techniques down are clear, and will allow you to create more dramatic and pleasing make-up looks for yourself and your friends with special needs.
