This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at U Toronto chapter.

When someone says the word ‘contouring’ what’s the first thing that pops into your head? For me, it’s those crazy transformation memes that have been flooding my facebook wall recently! Here’s my personal favorite:

There’s this common misconception floating around that contouring is a tedious process that high maintenance chicks do every day. Well. This is my defense: heavy contouring is NOT meant for every day. Most collegiettes save this kind of thing for a big date, going to the club, or for special events. Here’s my reasoning behind it: this kind of contouring uses A LOT of product and takes up A LOT of time. If we really were doing this every day, we would probably be broke.

Contouring doesn’t have to be a lot of work (contrary to popular belief). I’ve gotten pretty good at turning my contouring routine into something doable and affordable, without sacrificing too much time. There are two different ways you can add contouring to your makeup routine, and I’m going to take you step by step to show you how. You can either use powders (so highlighters and matte bronzers) or liquid makeup (I prefer concealer sticks; they’re kind of in between and easier to work with). By the time we’re done, Kim K. won’t have anything on your bone structure!

Here’s a contouring face map to help you get a feel for which areas of your face we’ll be highlighting and contouring. I’ve marked places that should be contoured in red, and places that should be highlighted in black. Just refer to this chart when you’re unsure of what I’m talking about (Pictures do say a thousand words!):

Let’s start with powder:

Okay, so! Here’s what you’ll need brush wise:

A Contouring Brush

There’s a wide variety of these brushes out there, but as long as it’s angled, any kind of contouring brush will do. Since the brush is doing more movement that your average brush, I suggest investing in a good quality one. I’ve had a really good run with my Sephora contouring brush, it holds up really well even after washing it several times.

A Highlighting Brush

For highlighting you can use a smaller brush with a little fluff and a little precision to it. Try the e.l.f studio small tapered brush or the studio contour brush. These are SO cheap and will do the job without breaking the bank.

A Smaller Contouring Brush

To contour areas like your nose, it’s always a good idea to use a smaller contouring brush. You can use the same kind of brushes I suggested for highlighting.

(Smaller contouring brush on the right, larger angled contouring brush on the left)

Products you’ll need:

In a nutshell you will need 2 products in addition to the ones that are already in your makeup lineup.

For contouring, it’s best to use a matte bronzer or a powder foundation that’s a couple shades darker than your skin tone. You want a shade that’s dark enough to define your features, but light enough so that it looks natural and shadow like. If the store you’re in has a cosmetician, definitely ask for their opinion! If you don’t want to spend too much, try Revlon’s Photo Ready powder foundation line, or Maybelline’s Fit Me Collection. They have loads of shades for your skin tone!

Remember though, that since these are foundations you’ll have to go darker (2-3 shades) than usual. If you’re willing to spend a little bit more, Smashbox has an amazing contouring kit which comes with 3 shades – 2 to contour and 1 highlight. Anastasia Beverly Hills also has a killer contouring kit that people swear by. It comes with 3 contouring shades and 3 highlighting shades. The great thing about this kit is that it compliments a really wide variety of skin tones. These kits are worth the investment if contouring is something you love!

(Revlon Photo Ready Powder on the left, Smashbox Contouring Kit on the right)

For highlighting, you want to look for a product with pearly shine. The highlight will catch the light and make features such as cheekbones and the bridge of your nose more prominent, thus adding dimension to your face.

Physician’s formula has a product called “Mineral Glow Pearls” that gives a really pretty glow on any skin tone. At least twice month, Shoppers Drug Mart puts the Physician’s formula products on sale for half price, so you can basically get this product for a little more than 10 bucks! If you don’t mind spending a little more, Stila’s “All Over Shimmer Duo” has two highlighting shades that last all day and look great! Of course, if you opt for the contouring kits I talked about above then you don’t have to worry about buying two separate products.

(Physician’s Formula on the right, Stila on the left)

Pro Tip: Make sure you have good lighting, natural lighting by a window if possible because good lighting shows you if you’ve blended enough.

Now for the Good Stuff!

When I contour, I usually like to start with applying my regular foundation/concealer routine first. This way, I have nice clean palette to work with.

I start off contouring before highlighting. I think it’s easier to see where to highlight once you contour than the other way around. Let’s start from the top of your face and move downward. Take a look at this contouring/highlighting face map and use it as a reference:

Contouring your Forehead

Take your contouring brush and lightly dust some bronzer or contouring powder onto the temples of your forehead. You want to blend in the powder in a circular motion so you can avoid making any fine lines. Make sure you don’t overdo it in the beginning, it’s better to keep building up the contour little by little instead of applying a lot of product and then blending afterward. If you want to dust a little bit of powder along your hairline, you go girl!

Contouring Your Nose and Brow Bone

Take your small contouring brush and start contouring your nose. Start at the inner area between your eye and the top of the bridge of your nose. Dust a little bit of contour there and lightly continue the line down to the top of your nostril. Like before, you want to start lightly and build up the product if you need to. Repeat on the other side. By doing this, you’re defining your nose making it appear higher and less wide.

Contouring Your Cheekbones and Jawline

To contour your cheekbones, you want to start off applying product on the hallows of your cheeks beginning where your ears are and ending just before the corners of your mouth. Like before, slowly build up the contour- you want to look like your cheekbones are just naturally like this! The contour should be a little darker closer to your ears and a little on the lighter side when it’s closer to your mouth.
To finish off, dust some contour powder along your jawline and we can move onto highlighting!

Highlighting Your Forehead and Brow Bone

The first place you want to highlight is the area above your nose on your forehead. Lightly coat your highlighting brush with the highlighter and move your brush upwards, gently brushing the product onto your face.
To highlight your brow bone, just dust some highlighter underneath the arch of your brow.

Highlighting Your Nose

Coat your brush again and dust some highlight down the center of your nose, right to the tip. Make sure you don’t go too heavy on the highlighter here!

Highlighting your Cheeks, Cupids Bow, and Chin

Next up, you want to apply highlighter right on top of your cheekbones. Like the bronzer, start off on the outer edges of your face and lightly bring the brush in a circular motion inward.
Dust a little bit of highlighter on your cupids bow and on the center of your chin, and you’re ready to finish up your look and head out to show off your perfectly chiseled cheeks!

Here’s the Liquid (sort of) Version:

Products You’ll Need:

Like the powder contour, you’ll also need 2 products. Even though I called this the ‘liquid’ contour, it’s liquid comparative to the powder version. I typically use foundation and concealer sticks instead. The sticks are easy to use, you can apply the product directly onto your face without a brush, and aren’t as messy or runny as concealers or foundations. At the end of the day for me, it’s creating a look that says “I really took the time to look fabulous this morning” when really it took about 5 minutes! Liquid contour gives a sharper, more dramatic look than powder offers and most makeup gurus will use liquid contour to create those sharp lines you see in the tutorial pictures online. An example is below:

You think she made lines that sharp with powder?

For contouring I like using Maybelline’s Fit Me Foundation Stick. It’s affordable, easy to apply, and less messy than other products. Like always, if you want to invest in a higher quality product, I have friends that rave about the Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation Stick. It comes in more shades, and also blends out really nicely.

(Maybelline on the left, Bobbi Brown on the right)

For highlighting, I use Rimmel’s Hide The Blemish Concealer. It’s pretty cheap and does what it’s supposed to. It also comes in 4 or 5 shades so you can pick one that flatters your complexion the most. Smashbox also has an amazing concealer stick, the Camera Ready Concealer really illuminates your skin while also COMPLETELY concealing any dark areas- it works wonders!

(Rimmel on the left, Smashbox on the right)

Brushes You’ll Need

I’ll be totally honest with you, I don’t use a brush when I use my foundation sticks to contour, but I do recommend a blending sponge to make sure those lines are perfectly blended all the way through. You can use the beauty blender (which is pretty pricey but pretty incredible) or a drugstore sponge if you want to stay on a budget. Another alternative is to use your fingers (I plead guilty) but blend blend blend!

To Start Off:

When I do a liquid contour I don’t usually apply any liquid foundation – so start fresh faced. The liquid contour will grip better to clean skin as opposed to a layer of makeup, where it can slide around. You can conceal any dark circles if you want but it’s not necessary since the highlight will probably take care of those bad boys. Just make sure you’ve washed your face and moisturized!

Contouring Your Forehead

Start off by taking your contouring stick and apply two dots (about the size of the actual stick) to your temples. You can also apply smaller dots along your hairline if you want a more defined contour. I usually save blending for the end.

Contouring Your Nose

Moving onto your nose, use the stick to draw a line from the hollows between your eye and your nose down to the bottom of your nose, to the inner tip of your nostril. Repeat on the other side. An important thing to remember when using sticks to contour is that less is ALWAYS more. Don’t press too hard, and don’t apply too much!

Contouring Your Cheekbones and Your Jawline

When defining your cheekbones, make dots starting on the hollows of your cheekbones from the outer edges of your face (where your ears are) toward the corners of your mouth. The last dot should be about half an inch away from your mouth
To define your jaw lines, draw another broken line from one end of your jaw to the other end

Highlighting Your Forehead, Nose, and Brow Bone

Take your highlighting stick and make a dot in the middle of your forehead.
To highlight your brow bone, dab a little dot underneath the arch of your brow (you can feel the bone right there if you’re unsure)
To highlight your nose, draw a broken line down the center of your nose bridge and stop at the tip of your nose.

Highlighting Your Cheekbones, Chin, and Cupids Bow

For your cheekbones, start right at the beginning of your cheekbone (where it meets your hairline) and make dots along the bone until you get about half an inch away from your nose.
To accentuate your cupids bow and chin, make one dot on your cupids bow and one in the middle of your chin.

Now It’s Time to Blend!

To blend, use your fingers or blending sponge to smooth everything out in a small, circular motion. Remember ladies, leave absolutely no harsh lines!
When you’re finish blending, take some tinted finishing powder to set everything in place. Now you can continue with the rest of your beauty routine looking fierce and fabulous!

Even though the step by step explanation might look long, actually doing it only takes 5-7 minutes. Once you get into the routine, you’ll be doing it in 5! We don’t all have Angelina J.’s bone structure, but who needs to know?

Stay classy ladies,

Vanessa

Photo Sources:

http://necolebitchie.com/2014/08/this-is-what-happens-when-guys-get-bored-makeuptransformations/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/178103360235424824/

http://www.taylorandrew.com/2013/02/brighten-up-your-dull-winter-skin/

http://beautyhigh.com/how-to-contour-makeup/

http://thelifeandbeauty.blogspot.ca/2014/08/elf-studio-contour-brush.html

http://www.eyeslipsface.com/studio/brushes/single-brushes/angled_blush_brush

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Revlon-PhotoReady-Powder/13865254

http://makeup411.com/products/id/3510/

http://massachusettsmask.blogspot.ca/2011/08/physicians-formula-powder-palette.html