Weddingbee Blog

So now that we’ve all got perfectly flawless faces, it’s time to get those babies contoured.

Now, contouring is not something I do every day. I love how it makes my face look, but it’s a little time consuming for my day-to-day routine and it’s just “too much” for everyday wear, in my opinion. I only ever contour myself if it’s a special occasion and I want to look extra fabulous, or if I know I’m going to be photographed (wedding, derr).

Contouring takes a light hand and a little practice, but it’s one of those things what, I think, is non-negotiable if you’re going to be on camera. Camera flash tends to give you “pancake face” because the light fills all the hollows (read: natural shadows) of your face, making it look like it’s basically all one plane. That ain’t cute.

Before I get into the nitty gritty, I’ll show you my nifty little diagram, so you know exactly what I mean when I say “apple of your cheek” and what not. I left out jawline, forehead, and temple because, seriously, I think you know what that is.

1. Brow bone
2. Cheek bone (yes, it extends up to the top outer edge of your eyebrow)
3. Inner corner of your eye
4. Apple of your cheek
5. Cupid’s bow
6. Hollow of your cheek (find this by feeling where the bottom of your cheek bone is)

To highlight, use a small brush (a fluffy eyeshadow brush will work) and a powder that’s a few shades lighter than your face, and preferably with a slight shimmer. Remember, shimmer, NOT glitter. Shimmer is more of an all over light frost, whereas glitter is chunky, and you’ll look like you just finished making-out with a disco ball. Just say no.

To contour, use a medium sized blush brush and a powder a few shades darker than your skin color, with no shimmer whatsoever. Contour powder should be totally matte and teeter more on the cool to neutral side than the warm side. Shadows are dark and cool, and that’s what you’re trying to create- more shadows.

Now that you’ve got your tools and you know the structures of your face, this diagram shows you where to highlight and where to contour. I split the screen so it wouldn’t look so cluttered, but please, do both on both sides of your face. Blue means highlight, red means contour.

Highlighting does just what is sounds like- it highlights the areas of your face that you want to stand out more. Highlighting your cheek bones and brow bones give the illusion of a higher and more pronounced cheek bone. Highlighting the inner corner of your eyes opens and brightens your eyes. Darkness likes to hide around the eyes, as most of us know. Make sure you don’t highlight your under eye. While the logic might seem to make sense in the context of getting rid of dark circles, it will make you look like you’re smuggling a family of ferrets on your face. Not a good look. Highlighting the bridge of your nose can make a crooked nose seem straighter, and a flatter nose a little more perky. Highlighting right above your Cupid’s bow gives the illusion of a fuller top lip, and who doesn’t like big luscious lips?

Contouring creates shadow, making things seem further away, and in turn, smaller. If you have a fabulous fivehead (that’s right, fivehead, not forehead) like me, you’re going to want to contour that sucker. It just softens the angles of your five forehead and makes it look less, uhm… “pronounced“, if you will. Contouring in a triangular shape down the sides/nostrils of your nose will create the illusion of a smaller/thinner nose. Contouring just a smidge under the center of your bottom lip will give your bottom lip a little more pout. Contouring the hollows of your cheeks will give off the appearance of a thinner face, stronger bone structure, and a more pronounced cheek bone, and contouring your jawline will make it look like you have a stronger jawline and a thinner upper neck.

Lastly, dust a little blush on the apples of your cheeks. For lighter skin tones, use a light pink with tones that match your skin - cool with cool (like the center palette, first column, bottom), warm with warm (center palette, first column, top). For medium skin tones, I generally migrate toward warm peachy pink shades (center palette, #2 and #3 in the top row). For darker skin, I use a bright reds or hot pinks (the palette on the right). They look terrifyingly bright in the palette, but absolutely uh-may-zing on dark skin, I promise.

The left side of this photo is contoured, the right side is not. Notice the color on the cheeks, contoured nose, highlighted inner eye, and poufy lips.

BAM! Cheek bones! See the highlight on the cheek bone and the contour in the hollow, as well as the forehead and jawline.

Thus concludes my face tutorials. What’s next? Let me know what other tutorials you’d like to see.