Make Up Monday - Contour & Highlight

Contouring and highlighting are two make up works that can cause several reactions - a look of being completely clueless, confusion, and in some of us fear of looking stripy! Well fear not I am here to help, it is Make Up Monday after all!

When I first started training as a beauty therapist we covered make up at a basic level and if I'm completely honest that would have been the first time I had heard of contouring and highlighting when it came to applying make up. As it was explained to me I definitely had the look of being completely clueless (although I do tend to carry that look quite often!) and all I could envisage was three varying coloured stripes on the side of my face?!

Well once I had put this technique to practice I nailed it and it is something I do in my every day make up routine and a must for any bridal make ups I do too.

The idea behind it is to create more definition to your face shape whether you have great cheek bones or not! For those of us who are not lucky enough to have naturally highly defined bone structure this is a great trick to learn!

This technique is carried out in three steps, as shown in my beautiful diagram below!

This gives you a rough idea how you would apply your three  colours!

1. CONTOUR - You use a darker product, either a contouring powder or bronzer, and create a soft line that runs along the underneath of the cheek bone (you make wish to make a 'fish face' to get the position correct). This will give the illusion of the face being slightly hollowed which in turn makes the cheek bone stand out more.
2. BLUSHER - Use your blusher applying from the apple of the cheeks in a soft line up towards the bottom of your temples (by smiling when applying you will get a better idea of where to apply).
3. HIGHLIGHT - For this you can use a cream or powder. Apply the product just above the top line of your blusher, be careful to blend completely if you are using a cream product.

To see in more detail how to contour and highlight take a look at my tutorial!

This is a really simple and easy make up technique which once you have the application right you will have have everyone fooled by your super model cheek bones!

If you have any questions about contouring and highlighting, or if there are any make up techniques you would like me to cover in a Make Up Monday post please get in touch.

Have a great Make Up Monday!

Stay Gorgeous
Grace x