What I Now Know About Contouring

As with my discovery of primer, this journey of mine added yet more vocabulary to my verbal repertoire: contouring.

I had previously seen TV commercials for a New Zealand product called 6-in-1 (pronounced “sux in wun”), and I remember the way the lady says that it can be used as 6 different makeup products, including a contour. My first and subsequent reactions to this commercial were, up until recently: what the hell is that and why do I want it on my face.

So, naturally, as my journey went on, I decided to find out what a contour was.

Contouring, as it turns out, is a relatively simple, aptly-named makeup technique. Basically, you get a powder or cream (like a concealer) that’s a shade or two darker than your skin tone and you use it to give your face some dimension; you “contour” it! It follows a basic principle: what is darker will appear sunken or shadowed while whatever is lighter will appear to pop out or glow.

This can be done in many, many ways, but for my face and experience, I stuck with something simple. I use this darker powder on the lower and outer portion of my cheeks to make my face look thinner and to make my cheekbones appear more prominent, and I also use it under my chin to define my jawline. Other people use it on the outer thirds of their forehead, on either side of their nose, all kinds of places; most of where they contour depends on the look that they want.

So what are products suitable for contouring? For really striking effects, you can use cream concealer for deeper color and then blend it out with a brush (and then soften it with powder). If you’re using powder, bronzing powder will do the trick, just be aware: some bronzers will have shimmery effects to them while others will be more matte. I prefer a matte finish when I’m contouring but I can see the appeal of the shimmery ones too since they also draw attention.

TIPS AND TRICKS

There isn’t much I can share with you here that isn’t infinitely better explained by Lisa Eldridge, so I’m just going to go ahead and link her tutorial. It covers all the basics for a beginner as to how to determine what kind of contouring best suits your face!