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Most beauty buffs are familiar with contouring by now, but to many, contouring is still a mysterious and intimidating technique. In this post, I'm going to shed a little light on what contouring is, how to contour, and which products are right for you!
What is Contouring?
To put it simply, contouring is shaping your face through the strategic placement of dark and light tones.
One common misconception is that contouring is just for making your face look slimmer. Can contouring help make your face look slimmer? Absolutely! But it can do so much more than that! I like to think of contouring more as highlighting things I want to be more visible instead of covering things I want to hide, which I think makes it a whole lot easier to keep it natural looking! When I first remember contouring becoming popular, I was in high school, and I was so excited to make my face look skinny! I tried that and, in reality, I looked like I had big, orange stripes all over my face. Over time, I got better at contouring, but I didn't get truly good at it until I turned my thinking around and started highlighting the things I wanted to show off instead of trying to slim my face.
Once you start contouring, it can have lots of benefits! It can help give your makeup look depth and detail, allow you to show off what you love about yourself, improve your skin tone, add some color to your skin, and make you feel confident and beautiful!
How to Contour A complete guide to contouring is better in video form for you visual learners, but I'll do my best to give you a short summary. If you'd like to see a video of how I do my contouring check out my daily makeup tutorial below!
Essentially, you want you highlights (lighter tones) to be placed in areas you want to draw attention to. Then you want your contour (darker tones) in areas where you'd naturally have shadows. Remember that when someone is looking at your face, the contour will look farther away, and the highlight will look closer to them. Here's a basic breakdown of where to put each color.
Highlights:
Under the eyes in a triangle shape
A thin line down the bridge of the nose
The lower middle of the forehead
The middle of the chin
Contour:
Under the cheekbones
On the outer sides of the jawline
The outer sides of the forehead
On either side of the highlight you put on the bridge of the nose
The single most important part of contouring is to blend! blend! blend! Nothing will stand out more than harsh, unblended lines. The best placed contour in the world still won't look right if it isn't blended. So take that beauty blender or blending brush, and blend until you can't blend anymore!
What Contour Products are Right for You?
Contouring products are mainly divided into powders and creams/liquids. At the end of the day, the choice between cream and powder is really all personal preference, but I'll discuss the pros and cons of each, so that you can make an informed decision.
Powder contour is great for beginners! It's very easy to blend, and you can easily start soft and build up more color. The downsides to these powders are that they're less precise, and they typically don't stay in place as well as a creams. This is my favorite powder contour!
Cream or liquid contours allow for very precise placement, and they tend to stay in place very well! Creams may be more difficult for beginners because they do require more knowledge of where to place contour. However, if you're someone that can easily replicate a tutorial or what you see in a photo, you may do great with cream on the first try! When applied with brushes or beauty blenders, I feel that creams are very blendable. There are also contour creams that come in a tube like lipstick. In my experience, these sticks are not as blendable and can have a tendency to drag your foundation around.
The next thing to consider is the undertones of your skin. Most contouring colors have a cool tone to them. If your skin has neutral, olive or blue undertones, the majority of contour colors will work for you. If you have red, pink, or even peachy undertones, you may want to look for a contour color that has a warmer tone. I have red undertones to my skin and struggled to find the right color for me for a while! The best fit I've found for my skin is Huda Beauty Tantour! I use the shade fair.
Conclusion Contouring doesn't have to be a scary technique that only your beauty buff friends can do! If contouring is something you want to try, you just need a little practice and the right equipment! Hopefully this post will help get you started on the right foot! Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about contouring or finding the right products for you. You can also check out my YouTube channel for more visual examples. Make sure to subscribe to my blog, so that you don't miss any posts or updates! Just enter your email below!
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