Hello again, today I present you with another tutorial! By request, I'll be going over my everyday highlighting and contouring routine. This routine is good for people who want to achieve that sculpted look, but don't want to spend 45 minutes getting there. If this sounds like you, buckle up and let's jump in!
1. In this first picture I've already applied my foundation. You'll want to have a nice "blank canvas" to work with. If you're one of the lucky ones and your skin is already a nice blank canvas then you can skip foundation and opt for something like a tinted moisturizer or just concealer.
2. Next I concealed and highlighted with
MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NC15, using my
Beauty Blender to blend. NC15 is a bit lighter than my natural skin color so it works well to conceal my undereye circles as well as highlight the areas outlined below. The basic concept of highlighting is that whatever you choose to make lighter will be softened and less defined. For example; since I want to make my undereye circles less defined, I will make them appear so by choosing a lighter shade than my skins actual color. This will reflect more light and make those areas appear brighter and softer. For this particular step of highlighting we want to avoid using products with shimmer in it. Having shimmery undereyes will just draw even more attention to those unwanted dark circles.
3. Next I choose to cover any blemishes with
Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in Light. I applied this concealer with my fingertips and patted it in until it was blended.
4. Then I went back in with some more highlighting to emphasize certain
points on my face. I used
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk. If you prefer a more luminious look to your skin, then this is the step where you could use a product with shimmer in it. This step is different from the highlighting step above because we are emphasising smaller points that we want to be noticed instead of softening larger areas we want concealed.
Below you'll see that I've applied Milk where I want to draw attention to. You can choose to highlight other areas as well, this is just my preference. I like the tops of my cheekbones to standout more because I like my face to look lifted. For this same reason I've highlihted above my brows to give the illusion of a higher, more lifted arch. I've also highlighted the bridge of my nose, tip of my nose, cupids bow and chin to draw more attention to the center, smaller part of my face.
I blended it all out with my
Beauty Blender using dabbing motions. Be sure not to swipe when blending because you'll take away the base you've applied underneath.
6. Next I moved on to contouring. The purpose of contouring is to make certain features more defined and certain features appear smaller. You can use contouring to make your cheekbones appear more sunken in making your face look slimmer. You can make your forehead look smaller and your nose look slimmer. This is because darker colors, when contrasted with lighter colors, will absorb more light and create, what looks like, a shadow. For this step you'll want to use a matte color that is one to two or two to three shades darker than your natural skin color. You want to stay from a shimmery powder because this won't look as natural. I've used
Benefit Hoola Bronzer as my contouring powder.
In the picture below I've outlined the areas that I chose to contour. I have more volume in my cheeks so in order to make my face look slimmer I've added definition to my cheekbones and jaw line. I've also added a bit of contour to the sides of my forehead, this will also make that area look slimmer. If you have a smaller forehead and you want it to appear bigger, don't contour that area. I also want to give the illusion of a smaller nose, so I've contoured along the sides of my nose as well. I used a
Sigma F50 Duo Fibre Brush to buff the product in. Be sure to use a light hand when working with bronzer or a contouring powder. You should apply it in layers, this will prevent it from looking patchy and muddy.
7. Then I added a bit of color back into my face using the peachy color from the
Bh Cosmetics 10 Color Professional Blush Palette. I applied this with the
SS013 Deluxe Angle Brush from Crown Brush to the middle of my cheek bones and sweeping upwards towards my temples. I did not apply this color to the apples of my cheeks because I want to give the illusion of a more lifted face. Adding color directly to the apples of my cheeks would draw attention to a lower part of my face than I prefer.
And that's the finished look! I hope this tutorial was helpful! If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments below! Thanks for reading!
Laters,
xxgk
