Facial Contouring

Facial contouring helps improve the features of the face in so many ways. Looking at how society has perceived beauty, most men and women have specific areas of their face that they want to improve or accentuate. Some are very conscious with having large cheeks or round-shaped faces. While some complain having hollowed faces, brought about by aging which caused the skin to lose its elasticity. Others are conscious about not having asymmetrical features and are very discontented with the shape of their noses or chins. 

Steps:

1. Prep your face by cleansing and applying your usual foundation (exact colour of your skin) and concealer.
2. What you need for the contouring is — a bronzer (or a foundation 1-2 shades darker than your skin tone), blush, highlight powder (or a foundation 1-2 shades lighter than your skin tone), and eye shadow, eyeliner and makeup brushes.
3. Stand under an overhead light which brightly illuminates your face. Use this as a guideline to see where your shadows naturally fall and contour your face accordingly.
4. Alternatively, you may start by sucking your cheeks in and locating your cheek bones and the hollows under it. The hollow is where you need to apply bronzer (or the darker foundation) in a sweeping movement from the top of your forehead’s hairline. Extend the brush movement to the area directly underneath the apples of your cheeks. Blend well.
5. If your face is small, you can just shade the hollows of the cheeks starting from the temples. Shading on the forehead along your hairline will make your face appear even smaller.
At the same time, those with a broad forehead can benefit from using bronzer to shade around the hairline to minimize its apparent width. It is very important to know what your face shape is and work with it accordingly.
6. If you have a wide face, use bronzer to shade the outer edges of your jaw line to make it appear smaller. People with narrow thin faces may skip this part.
Those with a double chin can sweep the brush under the jaw line to create a shadow there.
7. The apples of your cheeks may be highlighted with highlight powder and a blush in a colour of your choice.
8. Pick up a smaller brush. Apply your strokes from where your eyebrow begins down along the sides of the bridge of the nose. Leave the bridge untouched. Repeat on the other side, blending really well to avoid harsh lines.

When you get to the tip of your nose, examine its shape carefully.
If your nose has a wide tip, blend your bronzer inwards underneath the tip, to create a v-shaped shadow facing inwards. Use highlight powder to make the tip of the nose more prominent, and extend the highlight along the bridge.

If your nose has a naturally narrow tip, then flare outwards from the tip forming an upside-down ‘v’. Soften the tip with a neutral shade of foundation. This will balance a very sharp nosed face. Use highlighter or a neutral foundation powder along the bridge to give it the desired shape.
Some noses may be shaped perfectly and will not need to be over defined. With trial and error, you will know what looks most aesthetic.

9. Use highlighter to lighten your brow bone just underneath your brows to lift the eye. Add a hint of highlight along the inner corner of the eye for a more wide-awake look. Shade the crease with a dark brown or any deeper shade of eye shadow. Apply the eye shadow as usual. Line your eyes and apply mascara.
10. You may want to apply a slight touch of highlighter on the Cupid’s bow to give definition to your lips. Line lips with a deeper shade than your lipstick colour and fill inside the outline with lipstick.