MAKEUP TUTORIAL: Contouring & Highlighting

Let's face it. Most of us wish we could change certain aspects of our faces, but not all of us are willing to undergo plastic surgery to achieve our desired results. Some of us wish we had higher cheekbones, others wish they had different noses, and there are those who just wish for a more radiant complexion. Well, all of that is possible with makeup if you know the technique.

Contouring and highlighting is something that I incorporate into my daily makeup routine. Ever since I learned how to do it, I can't leave my house without 'sculpting' my face anymore. To those of you who don't know what contouring and highlighting is, it's basically a makeup technique that allows you to 'alter' your facial features using makeup alone, by shading certain areas to make them recede, and highlighting parts you wish to pop out more.

There are so many products you can use when doing this: powders, creams, liquid foundations, etc. Personally, I love using powders because they're easier to handle, but it all depends on you.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

* A powder that's at least two or three shades lighter than your skin tone (depending on how dramatic you want the look to be). This will serve as your 'highlighter'. You can use other alternatives such as bone-colored eyeshadow if you want to.

* A powder that's at least two or three shades darker than your skin tone. This will be used to 'contour'.

* Blush

* An angled contouring brush

For this tutorial, I used my good friend Bea as my 'face model'. Admittedly, I wasn't planning on doing this. I just went over to her house to relax and hang out with her and a couple of other friends, but it ended up turning into a makeover session lol. I didn't bring my camera at the time, so forgive me for these low-quality photos taken on Bea's iPad, but since this blog is all about my experiences with style and beauty, I just HAD to post these anyway.

Let's start with a fresh face:

Our aim is to be able to add more dimension and depth to Bea's facial features by applying highlighter, contouring powder, and blush. See the image below:

The white parts indicate the areas where you'll apply your highlighter. The brown parts indicate where you'll apply your contouring powder, and the pink parts indicate where you'll apply your blush. Apply the products using a small brush. Don't worry about making the "lines" look perfect.

Once you have applied the highlighter, contouring powder, and blush, take your makeup brush and carefully blend them to erase any unnatural lines.

And voila! You're done. Check out Bea's enhanced facial features with slightly lifted cheekbones, a more prominent nose with a higher bridge, and a glowing complexion!

Now, here's a "Before & After" photo for comparison:

How about you? Do you contour your face? If so, do you do it everyday or do you save it for special occasions? Sound off in the comments below!

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