Contouring continues to be the most popular concept in make-up right now. The basic ideas behind contouring aren’t exactly new, like adding blush to enhance cheekbones and highlighting brow bones with a shimmering shadow. But more serious contouring using the entire facial structure has only come into the mainstream consciousness in recent years. There are lots of tutorials out there that mainly focus on how individual make-up artists do contouring on their own faces. And if you don’t have the same face shape as Kim, it might be a little hard to apply. So, let’s back up a few steps for some introductory info, a review of the basics, and suggestions for where to find the right products, so you can learn to adapt the concepts to suit you.
Let’s start with a simple contouring kit with everything needed for an easy reference. Part of the stellar line of IT Cosmetics beauty products offering quality, full coverage that looks natural, is the My Sculpted Face palette with universal colours for all skin tones, types, ages, and face shapes. It contains all the shades anyone needs to contour without the hassle of tracking down and buying several different products. You’ll want to use the brushes that suit your needs and that you’re comfortable with.
Before we get into shaping, the key to successful contouring is layering. Contouring pros know exactly which shades of full coverage foundation sticks to use and draw away like it’s no big deal. But with a face contouring kit, you can apply and test out subtle shapes and layer them to achieve the best effect for your face. Whereas it’s hard to turn back from thick and heavy foundation sticks or stay-put concealers that don’t blend well or aren’t very forgiving to newbies. Plus, everyone should be using blendable products that look natural in real life and not just on camera!
Generally, you want to slightly darken the recessed areas of your face and lighten the places where your facial structure are raised, like the centre of the nose, cheekbones, brow bones, and chin. It’s based on shading fundamentals in art. With this same idea, rounder faces can be made to look more narrow, with vertically slimming and elongated shading. This is achieved by shading the side perimeters on the face and enhancing the centres. If you look at the picture above, the model has darker shading under the cheekbones and along the hair line to slim the face. But, remember, contouring for a photoshoot or video where the face is looking forward is not what walking around in 3D life looks like, so you’ll want to contour by considering your whole face and head from many angles. Only looking straight on and using a contouring map might have you shading in large, dark areas that look strange from the side. Great for a selfie; not so great for being seen in-person.
Another realistic contouring tip is to look at your progress in different types of light. What looks great in your bathroom mirror might look fake and obvious in natural light. When you’re dealing with shading and highlighting this is important to avoid obvious contrasts, lines, and using far too much product. Again, you’re much safer with a blendable product you can layer and easily remove with a sponge.
Try these basics out on your face, and then, with a better understanding of how it all works, go crazy with the pros on Instagram. Just remember they’re making a video with specific lighting and angles!