Contouring has long been hailed by beauty gurus as the perfect alternative to permanent procedures such as cheekbone enhancements and nose jobs.
The easy-peasy (or so they say) beauty trick has long been used by Kim Kardashian to enhance her features, slimming her nose, defining her jawbone and chiseling out the hollows of her cheeks.
But it’s easy for makeup artists like Kim’s Mario Dedivanovic to get it right – he’s had years of practice to get each client’s facial features defined precisely.
But while Mario may have spent the past five years contouring Kim’s face within an inch of its life, we ladies usually whip out the beauty hack for special occasions or nights out on the town.
I mean who really has time to contour every day?
With our lesser knowledge of contouring comes certain problems which can take away from our natural beauty rather than enhance it.
We’ve made a list of the most common contouring problems below along with their solution:
Your face looks dirty
If your face looks dirty after contouring, you’re clearly not blending enough.
The blending process is what makes the look au naturale and will give you a subtle enhancement without looking like you’ve rubbed your face in dirty.
Try using a round Kabuki style brush to blend out the lines and give an airbrushed finish to your makeup look.
Your nose looks weird
Contouring your nose is meant to make it look straighter and thinner – but that’s all well and good if you have a keen eye and a steady hand.
If you don’t contour your nose in the right place, you can make it look too wide, too thin, or even crooked.
To make sure you get it right every time, we recommend using the base of your blending eyeshadow brush to gauge how wide the gap between the contour lines on each side of the nose should be.
Your double chin is more noticeable
If your double chin is more noticeable after contouring, or it looks like you have a beard, then you’ve gone too dark with your contour colour.
You should use a foundation a shade darker than your usual foundation to conceal your double chin and then use a bronzer to clearly define your jawline. Choose a gold-tone bronzer if you have medium to dark skin, or a rose-toned bronzer if you have fair skin.
You look washed out
When contouring, the aim is to deepen those shadows that are naturally created by the light as well as brightening areas that catch the sun of their own accord.
But we’ve all fallen victim to the highlighter before.
The most common problem you can encounter when strobing your face is using too much of the product. This can leave your entire face looking washed out and sickly. A little goes a long way, so always err on the side of caution.
Another problem with highlighter is not using the right colour for your skin tone. Fair skin girls can use a champagne colour to highlight their features, but this tone is too light for girls who have a bit of tan.
Olive skin tones should use a slightly bronzed or blush coloured highlighter to give their face some subtle wattage.
Follow these steps and you’ll give Kim K a run for her money in no time.
The post The big contouring mistakes you probably don’t even know you’re making appeared first on EVOKE.ie.