It has been talked about contouring for so long, and knowing how to do contouring is a great makeup skill to have.
It is never late to learn this relatively simple makeup technique!
What is contouring?
A kind of shadow technique where you play with light and dark colors to “fool the eye” and adjust the proportions as you wish. The light highlights and the dark hides, simply described. Contouring can conjure up amazing results and change a face altogether. It can also look completely crazy if you get a little trigger happy and use too strong contrasts without blurring properly, or simply not controlling what you do and why. Contouring is sometimes also called ‘sculpting’ or ‘remodeling’.
What products are needed for contouring?
The easiest thing is to buy a finished palette with both light and dark shadows. There are different textures on the shadows, some are creamy while others are more powdery. It has little to do with how you prefer them to feel on the skin. If you have very dry skin, you can feel more comfortable with cream-based contouring products. You also need different brushes, one for the bright and one for the darker shades. Application sponges are also a matter of taste, but it can be easier to get to different shades with just brushes.
How to get started with contouring makeup
- Make sure your skin is thoroughly moisturized before you begin.
- Apply foundation, just as you usually do.
- Look in a mirror and analyze your face. What do you like about your face, what do you want to emphasize and highlight? Start with the bright shadows in dot-marking form.
- Then wipe them out so that there are no sharp edges
- Then bring out the darker shadows. Carefully wipe the edges!
- Finish off with a little bronzing powder or any kind of shimmer product that you brush on abundantly on the face with the help of a large brush.
Tip! It’s just makeup and nothing dangerous! If it gets messy, remove it and start over. You should not choose a new tattoo, you should sculpt your face – relax! Play out the shadows and take a bit at the beginning, then increase the intensity. The most common mistake is not that people do too much but too little – and then you miss the whole purpose of contour makeup.
Did you know that…
Contouring is not a new phenomenon. The doctrine of light and contrasts many makeup artists have known for a long time. They often act as artists and use the skin as their canvas/painting cloth. In the 1980s, makeup artist Kevin Aucoin was a master at just contouring and worked with five different types of brown shades to change the models’ faces.
