Practical: contouring the face

Products used:

• Illamasqua matte primer
• Kryolan foundation pallet
• Kryolan dermacolour concealer pallet
• Illamasqua loose white powder
• Kryolan blusher pallet
• Illamasqua sculpting powder - lumos and heliopolis
• Illamasqua contour pallet

Brushes used:

• Foundation brush
• Kabuki brush
• Small round tip brush
• Blusher brush
• Highlighter brush
• Triangle powder puff

Method

To start off, I did my usual preparation which included tying my own hair back and washing my hands and setting up my area. I then went on to prepare my models skin using cleanser, toner and moisturiser. From here, I applied a standard base to match her skin colour.

The general rule of contouring is as follows:

• Highlight and shade should be 1-2 shades lighter or darker than skin tone.
• Highlight parts of the face that stick out
• Shade parts of the face that suck in

Highlights are usually applied under the eyes on top of the cheekbones, jawline, the brow bone just below the brow, nose and forehead if it is needed. To shade, the best way to make sure the right part is being done it to feel the bone structure with your fingers. This allows you to feel the outline of the cheekbones so you are able to gently apply a shade just below them.

When applying shade, ask your model to suck in their cheeks and slightly curve the product round from the ear towards the mouth being careful not to take it too far. Shade can also be applied to the sides of the head, side of nose, chin and jaw.

As you can see, I did the contour very subtly as I wanted it to look natural. You can see the definition in the cheek bones, jaw and nose. I also think it brings a bit of colour and life to the face once it has been contoured. If I wanted the contour to be stronger, I can gradually build up the product to make it stronger.

I then went on to add a very subtle amount of blusher to the cheeks. Scraping the chosen colour (TO) on to a pallet, dip the blusher brush into it and test on the back of hand to make sure the colour is right and doesn't come off too strong. Gently apply to the cheeks to finish.