The Basics of Contouring

from makeup

Contouring can be a very scary thought for most women because the normal perception is that contouring involves drawing dark lines at the sides of the nose or harsh cheekbone lines. Contouring actually eliminates the white-face look that so many Asian women do. Makeup artist contour almost every face that they see because most women have different color skin tone on their faces than they do their chest or arms. When contouring it's important to keep the highlight and contour colors only a shade or two apart from one another to create a natural look.

Blending is key to contouring. The center of the face should always be lighter than the outer parts (forehead, jawline, cheekbone) of the face. It's important to blend the two shades lightly together so there are no harsh lines separating the shade. However, this doesn't mean that you should mix the two shades completely. Instead, make sure to blend only the outer edges of each shade to connect the two colors together gently.

Light Contouring

Once you've found your favorite foundation, it is recommended for you to buy another foundation one shade lighter or darker than that color. Most skin colors do change a shade throughout the year.

Heavy Contouring

If I want to make a person's skin look significantly lighter, darker, or more sculpted, I use cream or stick foundations as they offer heavier coverage and hide natural skin tones better than other types of foundation.

For Very Dark Skin

Many women with dark skin already have a bit of natural contouring because their skin tone often varies across their face. It's more important to contour dark skin because it's more likely to have strong contrast in color from the center of the face (bottom of forehead, under eyes, chin, and nose) to the outside of the face (top of the forehead, jawline, and cheekbones). If you were to test makeup on your jawline (as someone with light skin would) and use the matching jawline color all over your face, you would realize that you now look much darker than you did without makeup. This is because many times the outer parts of your face may be dark with red undertones and the center of your face will be several shades lighter with yellow undertones. Contouring using those colors is essential to get the perfect foundation match. If you are a makeup novice, it might be wise to go to the makeup counter and find an artist with similar coloring to yours, whose makeup look you admire. If you are more than two shades different on your forehead than under your eyes you might have to get two different powders as well—one for the center of your face, the other for the outside of your face. If you can only purchase one, get the lighter tone and make sure it's sheer.

Contouring Using Powder