Contouring

Contouring is playing with light and shadows.

As the latest beauty trend, contouring is all about emphasising that which makes you beautiful. Whether you're contouring the nose or the whole face, you don't need many products to achieve great results: A Foundation that matches your skin tone to smoothly even out the complexion; a contouring powder or blusher in your preferred shade; a Highlighter to create shimmering accents; a Light-Reflecting Concealer and Bronzing Powder for playing with light and shadows; and last but not least, the willingness to have fun and experiment. You can now get contouring!

Round face? Want to shape your nose? Contouring balances it out.

Contouring emphasises your assets and conceals minor “flaws”. Which parts of the face you choose to contour and how is as individual as your face shape. But as a general rule, light tones highlight areas of the face, while darker tones make them less prominent. A round face, for example, looks narrower if you apply the darker shade from the outer edges of the forehead, across the temples and down to the chin. Then use the highlighter to accentuate the forehead, bridge of the nose, chin and eyelids. To create a narrower looking nose, simply apply the highlighter to the bridge of the nose.

Contouring for beginners: How to do it properly.

Contouring is much easier than you might think. Nevertheless, there are a few things to keep in mind:

• The shade you use for the darker parts should only be slightly darker than your skin tone, otherwise your make-up will look unnatural.
• Don't combine creamy and powdery textures.
• Of course it’s okay to conceal minor “flaws”, but please don’t try to change the entire shape of your face. That would be a shame.

Enjoy playing around with light and shadows!