How to Contour and Highlight !

Contouring is an effective way to help enhance your features and give structure to your face, add some highlighting in the right places and suddenly that tired looking face is gone and you look ready for a movie premiere ;-)

Many people are afraid of contouring because it appears difficult and looks like you would need a lot of products - however this simply isnt true, a few products (some I guarantee you already have in your makeup bag) and a bit of practice and its simple!

There are 2 ways to contour :

 1. Using a cream contour palette and 2. Using a matt powder bronzer and a highlighter

Here I will give a brief descripton on how to use either method

1. Using a cream contour palette

Using the cream contour palette does take practice and I would only recommend this method for a night out as I personally think that in daylight the contour can look slightly obvious and a bit harsh.

The cream palette I would recommend is the 10 colour concealer palette from Crown Brush UK - its 21 eur and available here Crown Brush UK 

Start with your foundation already done, but not set with powder yet. Your contour colour should be about 2 shades darker than your foundation and your highlight 2 shades lighter so select these accordingly from your palette.

Contouring:
1. Using a foundation brush,apply the contour colour directly underneath your cheekbone, extending  from your ear downward towards the edge of your lip.
2. Use a small eye-shadow brush to softly line both sides of the nose. .
3.You will apply your contour colour below your jawbone, making sure not to apply any colour to the actual bone.
4. Blend your contour colour into your hairline and up into the temples

*Yes, you are looking pretty crazy at this stage, but dont worry, when its all blended at the end you'll look fab!! *

TIP: If your nose is long you can apply a little contour below the tip of the nose!

Highlight:
Taking your concealer that is 2 shades lighter:

1. Blend highligher under the eye area and slightly down by the nose
2. In a fan shape apply into the center of the forehead and apply straight down the nose.
3. Highlight your chin, the upper-most part of your jaw (directly below the ear)

So the next step after the appliction is to use a good foundation brush to blend all the lines together. Use circular motion and blend until you cant see harsh lines anymore. As I mentioned already, using the cream concealers is a heavy look, really only suitable for night time looks.
Once fully blended you can apply your translucent powder to the face as usual.
Now you are ready to apply your blush to the outer part of your cheeks, add your eyeshadow and lipstick and you're done! :-)

Here is a nice clear picture guide from Kim Kardashian to help you clearly see the areas:

2. Using powder bronzer:

So as Ive mentioned many times the above method is a bit heavy and I'd only recommend for nighttime, so there is a simple and less harsh method of contouring for daytime using a simple matt bronzer and a highlighter.

Again start with your foundation on, but no powder.

Penneys stock a great bronzer by St.Mortiz - just make sure you go for the matt, not shimmer! This is a more subtle look, so use the bronzer sparingly.
Taking a brush and your bronzer use all the same steps as above - bronze all the contour areas carefully using your bronzer powder. If you feel your brush is too big and bushy and you cant control the lines, pinch the brush to make it thinner and give you more control.

Next highlight all the areas as described in the cream method, and for highlight you can use anything from a liquid Touche Eclat, or a highlight powder. Mac 'Soft and Gentle' is a really great highlight.

You can also dab some highlighter on your cupids bow to give a fuller mouth.

Add your setting powder and blush as normal :-)
 

I hope this was helpful, just remember to give this a bit of practice and you'll be a pro in no time. Its ok to make mistakes, you'll learn from them, so ensure you try this out before the night of a big event :-)

I will leave you with a pic of the lovey Lauren Conrad showing us how its done ;-)