The Magic of Contouring

After sharing my favourite highlighters with you in last week's post, of course this weeks' had to be on bronzers and contouring.

Over the past couple of years celebrities such as Kim Kardashian have made contouring even more popular. This isn't a new method, it's been used for decades by Hollywood's most famous stars but thanks to Kim's famous before and after contouring selfies, the world has gone crazy for it!

When contouring has been done properly is should sculpt, slim and enhance the natural definitions of your face. Subtle contouring is best and should look seamless, never a full-on stripe across your cheek. So blend, blend, blend!

For some of you that aren't sure what highlighting and contouring is, in simple terms highlighting can bring out your chosen features such as your cheeks bones (to make them appear higher), cupids bow (to make your top lip appear fuller), and down the bridge of your nose (can make it appear straighter).

Contouring creates a shadow which is why matte bronzers work best as the ones with little particles of shimmer does the highlighters job. So, say you have a long face, apply a matte bronzer around the top of your forehead, this will create a shadow and make it look shorter. Or if you have a wide nose, very lightly apply a matte bronzer each side to create a shadow and make it appear slimmer. If you are not naturally blessed with chiselled cheek bones, suck in your cheeks and you'll be able to feel where your cheekbones are. Sweep some bronzer or contour powder along here to create a light shadow - this little trick can make it appear that you have more defined cheekbones.

Here are a few bits you'll need to help you on your sculpted face journey!

My favourite brush is MAC's 168 or Crown brushes have and amazingly reasonable range. There are so many bronzers and contouring kits on the market and again the high street brands are giving us plenty to choose from. So here are some of the ones I'm loving to suit everyone's budget.

Nars Laguna bronzer of course made the cut.  I always have this in my stash. It doesn't look muddy or dirty after you apply, just a nice subtle sun-kissed colour. It isn't too powdery which is great as this helps reduce the risk of accidently putting on too much. Also perfect as a bronzey blush if you just want a bit of colour.

 

 A recent discovery is Barry M's chisel cheeks contour kit. I came across this after noticing makeup artist Adam Burrell using it on numerous people such as Little Mix and Tanya Burr. At around the £6 it's surprisingly really nice but it can be quite powdery so you need to make sure you tap off any excess from your brush first before applying. The kit has a subtle highlighter and two different contour colours, one being a lighter shade and the other darker for something a little for intense. I find this kit brilliant for travel as it's compact and, as I'm loving bronzey eyes at the moment, it can double up as an eyeshadow.

 

A contour and highlighter kit that is quite a bit more on the pricey side is Charlotte Tilbury's Film Star Bronze and Glow. Now this is gorgeous. Of course the 1920's inspired art deco packaging sucked me in but, as with all of Charlotte Tilbury's make up, you get superb quality products too. The highlighter is a beautiful champagne colour and the bronzer a perfect contour colour for all skin tones. As with most make up, if you're fairer just don't apply as much and if you want a deeper colour add more!

 

 

Rimmel's Natural Bronzer is an old favourite from my teenage years and as you can see from the picture, is still a well loved bronzer even now. It comes in three shades, here in the shade 022 Sun Bronze, which I would say is for medium skin tones. It doesn't have any shimmer which I prefer as you're not at risk of looking like a glow worm, and it's always best to apply highlighter afterwards where you want it. The packaging is cheap and nothing fancy about it but, at £5.99, well what do you expect. Because of the price I don't feel I have to be too precious about applying and often use it on my body when and where I want a bit of colour. One downside is that it can rub off on clothes so watch your collar line!

 

Hello Highlighter

We all need a little pick me up for our skin at times but especially during the winter months and sometimes blusher on its own doesn't do the job. This is where the gorgeousness of highlighter steps in! Here are my favourite ones at the mo from cream to powder that have now become part of my everyday make up routine. This picture is my current inspiration and went straight on my Pinterest board!

                                         

MAC's cream colour base in Hush is a brilliant all rounder highlighter and looks amazing for day time or an evening look. Cream highlighters are so easy to use and perfect if you're a newbie to the highlighter world as you can't really go wrong. Just build the colour up slowly adding a little bit more product at a time. I find I have more control when using a cream than a powder and normally apply with my fingers in a patting motion across the tops of my cheeks. The colour base in the shade hush is slightly pinky in colour so looks really fresh and pretty. Perfect for a spring look!

The Balm is a relatively new brand which I recently discovered whilst on the hunt for a bit more of a hardcore, full on highlighter - and after being super impressed with their Mary Lou Manizer highlighter I'll be having another peek on their website to see what other products they have. You have to be super careful when applying this though; tap off any excess powder first from your brush before applying as it's heavily pigmented. This is a beautiful champagney, golden highlighter and looks stunning on any skin tone - especially on tanned skin, as the golden colour really pops! So a little bit on the top of your cheek bones, inner corner of your eyes and on your cupids bow for an instant brightening effect.
  
                                            

I love MAC's strobe cream and this is a pretty good alternative by Revlon. It comes in four shades from pinky to bronzey. The PhotoReady Skinlights can be worn alone, over foundation, or mix with your foundation for a really radiant look (if mixing with foundation I'd recommend the Bare Light shade). Personally I would apply in a very similar way to the MAC cream colour base, a couple of drops on the back of your hand a pat it over the top of your cheeks for an instant pick me up.

                                      

So, with a couple of pats and swipes of these products, you'll be ready for the new season!