Learning to Contour

          I skipped a few steps in the process (doh!) but I hope you at least mildy enjoy the pictures that follow...

           I have done a lot of research on the proper ways and products to contour your face correctly and have learned in the process that everyone has their own method and tricks that work best for them that are based off of the same rules. With all of the countless videos I have watched, I have seen big and small women contour their face flawlessly, making their faces look thinner and look as though they came straight out of a magazine. I have also seen some pretty horrible (and really funny) fails. I'd like to think I did it right, but I'll let you be the judge of that. 

          I have many brushes that I use and some that I don't, because honestly, some of them I don't even really know what they are for but slowly but surely I am putting them all to good use. I tend to improvise at times on what I think a brush should or could be used for. That is one thing I have learned: if it gets the job done, who says you can only use that particular brush for one particular thing. After all, makeup (if done well) is sort of an art, right? Do and use what works best for you.

Here is an un-contoured face. ^^^^ This picture is a little old, but not by much so it is still relevant in what I am trying to describe. There is zero dimension to my face in this picture. I love this picture still, but knowing what I know now, I would have done a lot of things differently.

The products used for the following pictures:

-Loreal Invisalift Foundation 

(applied with MAC brush #191 flat foundation brush)

- Almay Wake Up Under Eye Concealer 

(applied with bare minerals concealer brush)

-Bare Minerals Original Mineral Powder Foundation

(used very lightly as a setting powder)

-POP Bronzer in Sunkissed

(Used for Contouring)

- NYX Baked Blush in LadyLike

-E.L.F. All Over Color Stick 

(used as a highlight on the very tops of my cheek bones)

-Urban Decay Cream Highlighter in the color SIN 

(Discontinued. I use this stuff sparingly. I LOVE IT! I used it down the length of my nose, right above my top lip and along the bottom line of my chin.)

Goodness! That's a mouth full of products, just for my face! However, the end result is fantastic.

(This picture is a sort of halfway mark during the process. You can always add more. It's hard to take it away once you've started.)

I wish I had gone through the steps of all that I did on this picture but I think I pretty much aced it. Okay, add a little bit of a different sleep schedule and a maybe a few extra lbs, and that's how you get those giant bags under my eyes. Maybe it's genetics, who knows. The difference a little bit of bronzer and highlighter can make is amazing to me! Again, this is my first time so be gentle with me. I will point out that when I went to talk to my boyfriend, after disappearing into the bathroom for a couple of hours he did tell me I had a giant brown line going from my ear to the corner of my mouth that I had missed. Blending is key! Blend, blend, blend and blend some more! Otherwise you're going to end up with all sorts of funky lines on your face.

After applying all foundation, concealer (which I apply in a triangle from under my eyes down to the sides of my nose) and setting powder, I took a clean angled foundation brush applied bronzer along my jaw line (stopping right before the square of my chin). I also applied it to the area right below my cheek bone from the corner of my mouth in a straight line to my ear and then curved around to my temples and brought it up to the sides of my forehead. Before blending, I applied my blush but made sure not to apply it directly to the apples of my cheeks. This is a step that I have been doing wrong for so many years until recently. If you add blush directly to the apples of your cheeks, it will actually make your face look a little bigger; unless of course you already have a really thin face. I have a setting powder that I bought from ELF cosmetics that is translucent in color when applied, but the powder itself is white so I used that to highlight the area between the bronzer under my cheek bone and right above the bronzer line on my jaw. Then I took a clean powder foundation brush and just blended it all together. I tried to keep the lines together, so as not to just spread bronzer all over my face, but you have to blend those lines together in order to get the desired end result.

So there ya have it. A little contouring 101. 

Next up? Eyeshadow!!