Tutorial: Contour and Highlighting

Contouring and highlighting has become a kind of makeup 'trend'. Kim Kardashian seems to be leading the trend by posting pictures of her highlight and contouring work before it's blended. Bearing this in mind, and considering my post which reviewed my new 20 shade concealer palette, I decided to show you all where I contour and highlight.

Apologies for looking like some sort of alien in these pictures! Also, it was wiped out of my hair (of course)!

Contour: Contouring an area of your face pushes it back and is great for making features smaller, thinner or less noticeable. As you can see, like most girls, I contour under my cheekbone to make my cheekbones stand out. I use one of the darker creams in my palette to do this. I then contour the sides of my nose to make it slimmer and more defined. I have a paranoia that I am a modern day Crimson Chin, so I always put a dark concealer on the bottom of my chin to shorten. I also apply it on my temples and up around my forehead which is again, very slimming.

Highlight: Highlighting a section of your face will bring it forward and make that feature pop. In the pictures, you can see that I highlight the areas that the sun would hit (if there was any sun in Ireland). So that is the cheeks, top of my nose, my cupids bow, the middle of my forehead and my brow bones. I used the white cream to do this but for everyday wear, you may want to use a more yellow-based concealer to make it look more natural. I apply some on the edges of my lips and the middle of my chin to brighten those areas.

I love highlighting and contouring as it really defines my features. The trick is to make sure you blend your product enough for it to appear natural, but not so much that it is no longer defining. Word of warning: I love using my cream palette but for my ladies with oily skin, this may just infuriate you because it will appear shiny and won't dry matte! Opt for powder palettes instead ;)

Do you highlight and contour? Do you like the look or is it just too much effort?

Let me know what you think in the comments and if you have any of your own highlight and contour pics I'd love to see!

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