How To Contour and Highlight Your Face

Popular makeup methods like contouring and highlighting are used to accentuate and define facial features. Although highlighting uses lighter shades to draw attention to specific areas, contouring uses darker makeup hues to give the appearance of depth and shadows. Here are some pointers for efficiently contouring and highlighting your face.

How to Highlight

The most common way to highlight is to use a concealer. Here, is a step-by-step guide on how to highlight your face using a concealer −

Step 1

Same to how you normally would, apply your foundation and primer. As a foundation for your makeup, apply a primer to your skin. Before beginning to apply any foundation, let it dry. Apply foundation with a foundation brush or a blender, choosing your typical shade. For a more natural appearance, you can forgo foundation. Just be sure to fully blend your skin with your contour and highlight.

Step 2

Conceal your flaws with concealer, but avoid your under-eye area. Using concealer under your eyes will highlight your features. Conceal any imperfections on your cheeks, forehead, and nose with concealer in your usual shade, but leave your undereye area bare. Concealer that is used in excess under the eyes might crease and look unnatural. Since you'll be adding extra concealer later, don't use too much at first. Avoid combining powders and liquids. Use a powder concealer if you're applying a powder contour. Use a liquid concealer if you're utilizing a liquid contour.

Step 3

Employ a concealer shade that is two to three shades lighter than your typical tone. You shouldn't use the same concealer to mask flaws and emphasize your features. To make certain areas of your face stand out, choose a concealer that is paler than your skin tone. If the concealer you purchased is too light, you can gently darken it by blending it with some of your own natural concealer.

Step 4

Using concealer, create an upside-down triangle underneath your eyes. Frequently, the skin around your eyes is darker than the rest of your face. Apply concealer underneath your eyes in the shape of an upside-down triangle using the applicator to brighten the area around your eyes. The triangle should be drawn from the bottom of your lower lash line all the way up to the top of your cheeks. Concealer should completely cover the triangle. To draw attention to your cheekbones, highlight the area under your eyes.

Step 5

Draw a line of concealer down your nose's bridge. This line should be fairly narrow. Bring the line down toward the tip of your nose starting at the top. This will shorten and emphasize the length of your nose, making it appear smaller.

Step 6

In between your eyebrows, add a tiny, upside-down triangle of concealer. Place your concealer directly over your nose's bridge. Reach the sides of the triangle outward toward your eyebrows while pointing it downward toward your nose. Apply concealer over the entire triangle. This triangle makes your brow bones stand out.

Step 7

Apply concealer to the chin's bottom area. Your chin should protrude out when you thrust your lower jaw outward. On the lower portion of your chin, apply a tiny rectangle of concealer. Completely fill in the rectangular area. Concealer shouldn't be applied on the top of your chin since it could make your lips appear uneven.

Step 8

Using a damp beauty blender or brush, thoroughly blend the concealer. Make sure there are no hard lines on your face by massaging in gentle, circular motions. If you don't mix the concealer well, it will leave light strips because it is much lighter than your skin. You can also apply your concealer by mixing it in with a blending sponge. Wet your sponge first for the results that will look the most natural.

How To Contour

Here, is a step-by-step guide on how to contour your face −

Step 1

To make a liquid contour, combine your own foundation with a darker one. Choose a liquid foundation that is four to five shades darker than your natural skin tone. Using a makeup brush, combine a capful of your regular foundation with a capful of the darker foundation. Or, you might use a contouring stick or powder. Choose a bronzer or contour powder that is one shade darker than your own if you want to use it. If you use a sparkly foundation, your contour won't blend as effectively.

Step 2

Using your contour shade, trace a line beneath your cheekbones. By sucking your cheeks into your mouth, you may locate the hollows of your cheekbones. Draw a line from the middle of your cheek to the bottom of your cheekbones using a small, flat makeup brush. Make sure the lines on both sides of your face are essentially equal. Apply the contour stick directly to your face if you're using one.

Step 3

From the brow bone up to your hairline, draw contour lines. If your forehead is pronounced, contouring might make it appear smaller. Use a small, flat makeup brush to swipe a line above both of your eyebrows up toward your hairline. Avoid getting any of the contour liquid on your hair. You don't need to shape your forehead if it is naturally small.

Step 4

Create contour lines along the bridge to make your nose appear smaller. Two lines should be drawn, one on either side of the bridge of your nose, using a tiny, fine makeup brush. Brush the lines down from the top of your brows all the way to the end of your nose. Make sure that these lines are narrow and that their middles do not meet. Your nose appears longer and narrower thanks to these contour lines. If you're using a contour stick, pick up the makeup by swiping the stick with a brush.

Step 5

Draw contour lines beneath your jawline to define it. Feel the angular ridges at the base of your face to locate your jawline. Draw contour lines from the beginning of your chin to your ear. Contouring directly under your chin could make you appear strangely shadowed. Make these lines quite noticeable and thick. You don't need to shape your jaw if you have a strong jawline naturally.

Step 6

Use a moist beauty blender or brush to mix in your contour. Blending in your makeup is the most crucial step in contouring. Every line you've drawn on your face should be gone over with a blending sponge or a stippling brush. With an upward motion, blend the lines into your foundation until they are hardly visible. Avoid leaving any sharp angles or lines on your face. To determine whether your makeup appears natural, try viewing it in the sun.

Conclusion

Using makeup techniques like contouring and highlighting can help bring out and clarify facial features. You can emphasize certain parts of your face and provide the appearance of depth and shadows by deliberately using darker and lighter makeup hues. These techniques are adaptable and may be utilized to create a range of appearances, from natural and understated too strong and dramatic.

It's crucial to take your skin tone and the natural shape of your face into account when choosing makeup hues for contouring and highlighting. Moreover, blending is essential to getting a finish that looks seamless and natural. You may learn how to contour and highlight your face to draw attention to your greatest features and get the desired look with a little effort and experimenting.