Contouring is also called shading. It has gained a lot of attention in the last year or so as if it's a new thing, but it’s actually a trick that makeup artists have been using forever. With contouring and highlighting you can define your bone structure. Contour will make your nose appear smaller, cheekbones more pronounced, jaw more angular, forehead smaller, and eyes bigger. You can change the shape of your face with just using makeup.
Apply your highlight color on the top of your cheekbones, under your eye area, down the bridge of your nose, and in an upside-down triangle on your forehead.
Apply the contour color in the hollow of your cheekbones, down the sides of the nose, underneath your chin, in the depth of the temples, and along your hairline.
Next blend, blend, blend
If all of this sounds a little confusing to you, don’t worry it's okay because some Cosmetics lines have made it simple to make your face appear more lifted and bring out your best features instantly! Anastacia Beverly Hills, Kat Von D, SmashBox and Sephora have contouring kits I recommend.
If you want a no fail help with contouring and highlighting try a palette that comes with 2 to 4 contouring shades designed to match all skin tones and 2 highlighting shades in both a shimmer and matte.
Here are some helpful tips for when you are contouring and highlighting. For contour, you want to always use a matte shade. It should be 2-4 shades darker than your skin tone. You may use a cream base or a powder for contouring. For highlighting, use natural shades that are lighter than your skintone, in powder, cream or liquid form.
Dermablend Original Setting Powder and Sacha Buttercup Setting Powder are two of my favorite powders to set the highlight under the eyes.
Invest in a good setting spray. This step is optional, but I highly recommended it. A setting spray will help your makeup last all day and keep everything looking natural and not cakey. Dermablend Set + Refresh Setting Spray is one of my favorites.
Now get contouring!