A Verrrrry Basic Guide To Contouring
by Audie Metcalf
Contouring is hard and most people can’t do it.
Trends that have rich lives on screens don’t always translate into the lives we live, you know, in actual real life. Sitting across from a real human being. Drinking iced tea. 3 feet away. In sunlight. In those conditions, the goal is for your skin to look impossibly beautiful and glowing, not caked in brown stripes.
But if you MUST try contouring, here’s a few products and techniques for the best possible results:
1. The Brush
When using a powder contour product, try using a stipple brush. It lightly deposits color and helps diffuse the overall effect so you don’t end up with stripes.
2. THE PRODUCT
Kevyn Aucoin makes one of the least scary and easy to use contour powders, in a cool-toned almost greyish color.
3. the perfect combo
The greatest product/technique combo that I’ve used for a mindless but sculpted but natural look, is the Clinique chubby sculpting contour stick, and an extremely bouncy sponge. Draw short lines right beneath the natural contour of your cheekbones, starting at the ear. Douse a makeup sponge in water, squeeze out the excess completely, and bounce it into the cream contour. Continue to blend by bouncing the sponge on your skin (not smearing) which gives a very diffused, undetectable lewk. You can draw similar lines on the forehead and the jawline to give some dimension to the face, and use the same bouncing/blending motion with your wet sponge.
If you, like me, feel contouring is a semi-ridiculous trend which might be over by the time this article hits the press, you can alternatively wear an easy-to blend bronzer all over your face (like this, this, this, this, or this), sweeping across the nose in a horizontal motion, and pinching your brush or sponge slightly at the end of your application to press more firmly right under your cheekbone, toward your temple. This will give you an ever so slightly sculpted look without looking like you put your makeup on in the dark. DM me with Qs. Or just if you want to complain about contouring. I’m literally down to talk about that anytime.
Audie Metcalf is the Editor-in-chief of The Candidly, and lives in LA with her family. You can find more of her articles here.
