Back to basic: contouring

Today I continue with bronzer theme and would like to write about the contouring. As I mentioned last Monday, not every bronzer is suitable for the contouring. It should have cool undertone to fake natural shadow that is created when the light hits your face and it should be matt as well.

Contouring of face parts is very individual, depends on each person as we all have different face features. Also everybody would like to enhance or maybe hide something else.

Classic contouring:

• creates more prominent cheek bones (apply bronzer under the cheek bones, from place where the ear begins towards mouth, you can find that place under the cheek bones by making a fish face),
• creates thinner face (apply bronzer on temples, around hair line),
• changes partially nose shape (if it’s too wide or misshaped like mine L),
• hides partially double chin (by applying bronzer under the chin),
• fakes for example cleavage, bigger décoté (at least I don’t need that J).

(left) blush-bronzer NYX in Taupe, (right) highlighter The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer

Besides bronzer you can use highlighter which creates better contrast between darker and lighter parts of your face: what is lighter stands out, comes forward and what is darker recedes. Highlighters come usually in powder format, but creams and liquids are used as well. It can be few shades lighter than your foundation, it can or cannot have glitter, shimmer, it all depends on personal preference what you are going to use. Highlighters without shimmer/glitter appear more natural and girls who are not used to wearing lot of makeup usually prefer those (in this case try a regular powder that is few shades lighter than your powder, or product/eyeshadow with light pearl colour).

(from left to right) Hourglass Ambient Lighting powder in Diffused light, The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer, MAC Mineralize Skin Finish powder in Soft and Gentle

Swatches (from left to right) MAC Mineralize Skin Finish powder in Soft and Gentle, The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer, Hourglass Ambient Lighting powder in Diffused light  

In this video the makeup artist, Wayne Goss (gossmakeupartist on YouTube), used bronzer and highlighter as well. Contouring is a bit extreme but at least you can see really well the difference in shades. He used cream products and blended it all with foundation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow1rdFOlxnk&feature=relmfu

Here the contouring is less extreme; the makeup artist, Lisa Eldridge (Lisa Eldridge on YouTube), used powder bronzer, cream and powder highlighter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8g3orq4M7U&feature=plcp

As bronzer for contouring I recommend:

• Nars Laguna bronzer (in Sephora) 
• NYX blush in colour Taupe (in Germany in Douglas perfumery, or for ex. at cherryculture.com)
• Sleek Face contour kit (it has bronzer and highlighter, in UK in Superdrug, or at sleekmakeup.com) 
• Solait Maxi bronzer (in UK in Superdrug) 
• ELF contouring blush & bronzing powder (it comes both in powder and cream format, few different colours, at elf-kozmetika.eu/sk in Slovakia, at eyeslipsface.be in Belgium) 

Highlighters I recommend: 

• ELF blush in colour Gotta glow 
• The Balm Mary Lou manizer (in Belgium in some DI drugstores, try to see in your drugstores) 
• MAC Mineralize skin finish in colour Soft and Gentle (in MAC stores) 
• Physicians formula Powder palette Mineral glow Pearls in colour Translucent Pearl (in some drugstores in USA, or at www.iherb.com, code IPO591 for a discount from your first purchase, you’ll get your code for your friends as well) 
• Hourglass Ambient Lighting powder vo farbe Diffused light (in USA, in Sephora)