By Sheila Arkee
One of the most popular posts on Painted Ladies in recent times was the extreme contouring and highlighting Breaking Down Beauty.
As intense as this look is, several readers wanted to know how to translate this look to everyday makeup. It’s an easy way to give your everyday look a boost. Adding contouring and highlighting to your face- whether extreme or subtle – goes by this same principal: LIGHT adds, DARK receeds.
The products I used to create this everyday contour are simple: A bright peach blush, a brown blush, and a highlighting powder.
To get started, apply your foundation and powder as usual. Start things off by adding contour around your face. I prefer using a shimmer-free neutral brown powder for this purpose. One of the best everyday contouring products you’ll ever use is a face powder that’s several shades darker than your skin tone, but for this tutorial I used a brown blush. You’ll want to apply this brown around your face like a frame.
Apply the contour right below your cheekbones, on your jawline, around the edges of your forehead, and down the sides of your nose, even right under your nose.
Next, I add blush, right on the apples of the cheeks and extended towards my temples.
Finally, add a highlighting powder on the high planes of your face: your cheekbones, forehead, down the center of your nose, on your cupid’s bow, and in the middle of your chin.
Before adding eyes and lips …
And after.
You don’t have to go to extremes to add some contouring and highlighting to your skin.Adding dimension to your face with a little powder is part of the transformative magic of makeup. Try it sometimes, I promise it’s easy!
I was trying this in the locker room bathroom at the gym, and I was getting some funny looks!
The highlighting really works for me, but if I wear brown powder on my face it just makes me look dirty. I avoid bronzers because of this. Any suggestions?
One thing that might work for you is a deep, matte plum blush, applied with a light hand. I will look around and find some product suggestsions!
Also a pressed powder just a few shades up from your natural shade, with a peachy undertone, like something in the MAC NW range.
WOW, excellent tutorial- Sheila! Thank you!
Thanks a lot… this is the easiest contouring tut i have come across…
Great tutorial! I’ll post this on FB. Like Monika, I have problems figuring out what to contour with because bronzers can be too dark, too brown. I’ll try a darker shade of foundation. Thank you
actually, couldn’t figure out how to share this post. Help please
Hi Allison – thank you! All you have to do is copy the link and paste it in your facebook status update