Highlighting and Contouring… What is it?

Nowadays it’s hard not to run across pictures and videos that involve highlighting and contouring. These two techniques are used in the makeup industry to sculpt and give the face definition. Highlighting is blending a lighter shade of makeup on certain parts of your face to bring attention to them,  i.e., upper part of your cheekbones, bridge of your nose, chin, cupid’s bow, center of your forehead and other areas you would want to stand out more than usual.

Contouring is quite the opposite. It is using a darker cream or powder to hide and sculpt areas of your face,  i.

e., side of your nose, around your jaw-line, under your cheekbones and other areas.

You can use an array of powders and creams to create a perfect sculpted face. My personal suggestion is to go 2-3 shades lighter than your skin-tone for highlighting and 2-3 shades darker for contouring.

Make sure to blend well using a beauty blender for cream or a contour/highlight brush for powder. My favorite is MAC’s 168 brush for the cheeks and jawline and the 224 brush for the nose.

I hope everyone found this post helpful.

Remember, practice makes perfect and don’t be afraid to experiment with new products.

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