Tips & Tricks: It's All About That Contour Honey!

I always feel a little extra sassy when my contour is on point. So today's Tips & Tricks is all about getting the perfect chiseled face. You don't have to be a master makeup artist to contour and there is even such thing as a Lazy Contour. The UnitWise Heroes about laughed themselves into decommission when I told them about lazy contouring. I will get into that particular style at the end of this blog, but I want to tell you all about contouring that anyone can do themselves. It's actually really easy once you understand what contouring is meant to do.

The Purpose
You might have heard the generic definition that contouring chisels out your cheek bones and slims the face. That is true, but there is a bit more information that needs be explained. Contouring is the art of using light and dark shades to create highlights and shadows on the face. Your light shades usually have a pink, yellow, or golden undertone that draw the eye to the areas of the face where they are applied. Your darker shades usually have a grey, copper, or golden undertone that are categorized as cool or warm tones.

You can use both warm and cool down contour shades together or separately depending on your preference. Some people prefer a cool tone contour while others prefer a warm tone. What I have found out after many hours of makuping (It's a word. I think. Eh, just go with it) is that cool tone contour shades are pretty complementary on all skin tones and create a perfect shadow effect. I have a love-hate relationship with warm tone contour shades. I usually end up using them like a blush and apply it right above my contour and blend it back towards the hair line. It creates this really nice gradient. Other days I just fail epically and end up looking like I dipped my face in mud. Using both needs a smidgen of practice.

The Fool Proof Contour
There are tons of contour maps out there for every face shape showing you exactly where to put your contour shades. Honestly, all you need to know is how to find the hollows of your cheek and know what type of brush to use. Before you start applying any color, take your fingers and gently press under your cheek bone and feel the hollows of your cheek. This is where you want to apply your dark contour shade. There is a technique of using a makeup brush and place it at the top of your ear and blah, blah, but I found that isn't always the case for everyone.

You can make contouring a lot easier on yourself if you have an angled blush brush or something similar, but you really need a medium size face brush, similar to the MK cheek brush, to get a nice contour.

Once you know where you want to place your contour, start applying product in your hair line and blend towards the corners of your mouth - stopping about halfway. You should be able to fit three fingers in the space between the corner of your mouth and where your contour ends. Don't forget to blend, blend, blend.

Then you want to take the contour shade on the top part of your temples and along your jawline. If you want to slim your nose, then contour on either side but leave the middle blank for your highlight.

Once you have your contour on and blended out, it might look a little funky, but your highlight shade will blend out those edges even more create a really pretty effect. You want to apply your highlight on your cheeks (above the contour) and along your upper jawline (right under your contour shade). Then apply just a little bit in the middle of your forehead - going down on the bridge of your nose. To even everything out, do a touch of contour on your chin. Then just keep blending until you achieve the look you want.

The Lazy Contour
I do this a lot when I just want a pretty glow and I'm running 15 minutes late for work - which is actually pretty good for me (lol). Take a fluffy domed face brush, similar to the MK Powder Brush - I know this method completely contradicts the one above, but it works when you only have seconds to do your makeup. Take your contour shade and quickly buff it into the hollows of your cheeks, hit the temples, then swoosh-swoosh on the jawline. Take a shimmery highlighter and run it right along the contour shade on your cheeks and done. Your face is slightly slimmer and glowy and bronzy and slap on a few coats of mascara, then a gloss and out the door you go. I'm trying to convince the Heroes to do a Contour Race and film it, but I need your help convincing them in the comments below. Comment with "Contour Race!" below or on all the UnitWise Social Media so we can make it happen. Here's all the links: Facebook   Twitter   Instagram .

Thank you so much for checking out my Tips & Tricks blogs. They are so much fun to do. This particular blog was requested via our Facebook page and if you have any Tips & Tricks blog request, I would be more than happy to cover them. I'll hook you up with more information than you thought existed ;). Have a wonderful day and keep your contour game strong!