This year, contouring and highlighting have become the best ways to accentuate the features you love, and minimise the attention placed on the features you may not be as confident about. They allow you to not only slim, illuminate and define your face, but also give you a chance to try different techniques and pick the ones best suited to you.
1. Know your face shape
The first most important thing before highlighting or contouring, is knowing your face shape. Some people think that if they contour the way Kim Kardashian might, that it will automatically look good on them, but that isn’t true. Each face shape has different areas that should be contoured and highlighted. For that reason, before starting, always make sure to research beforehand what face shape you have, and choose which areas you want to place more of an emphasis on. To help with this process, you can always use the Sephora app that has an “Identify your face shape” guide, to help you choose which areas to contour or highlight.
2. Know your skin type
Just like everyone has a different face shape, we also have different skin types. Based on your skin type, you will want to pick different products to use for contouring and highlighting, therefore, it’s super important to know what type of skin you have, in order to choose the best products for you. For example, if your skin is on the oily side, you’ll probably want to use a powder contouring kit. If your skin is a bit drier, then a cream contour kit is probably more suited to your skin type. With that being said, choosing the products you like best for your skin type is also based upon preference. No matter your skin type, there’s always a way to make a certain product work for you. For example if you like using a cream contour kit even though you have oilier skin, you can always use setting powders to mattify the look.
3. Know your skin tone and color
Skin tone and color is also important to know before you choose the products you’ll use for contouring and highlighting. By finding your skin level and tone, it will help you choose the best highlighters and bronzers. First determine if you’re light, medium or dark. From there you can distinguish if you have a cool, warm or neutral skin tone. Cool toned skin usually has pink undertones, while warm toned skin has yellow undertones. Neutral skin has a mixture of both. You can always use press on this link to help you figure it out!
4. Daytime V/S Nighttime
Even after you choose the best products and techniques to contour your face, you can always switch it up depending on what you’re doing. Usually contouring is for more of an evening look, as it does require heavier makeup, but you can always make it great for the daytime as well. For example, if you’re having an evening out, you may want to dust a bit more bronzer over the parts you've applied contour makeup, just to outline the face and emphasize your bone structure. However, if you’re just going out for a walk, you might not want to put as much makeup on, so just a light application of a slightly darker foundation under your cheekbones will still create the same effect.
5. My favorite contouring and highlighting products
Personally, I like to try out different products for contouring and highlighting. I bought the Aesthetica Cosmetics Powder Contouring Kit, which looks super similar to the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit, and I love it! I do have oilier skin, so I liked that it was a powder kit, but I also tried the Revlon PhotoReady Insta-Fix Makeup stick and I also loved that. Now I usually use the Revlon stick in a shade two shades darker than my skin color to contour and I still use the contouring kit if I want to set my makeup, like after applying concealer under my eyes.
For more tips and ideas visit my Instagram page: la.fille.franglais
