How I Contour

Hi Everyone!

Today I wanted to share with you a quick post on my contouring habits. Unless you've been living under a rock somewhere, you'll know that contouring and highlighting is a key part of any makeup lover's regime to slim the face, accentuate the cheekbones and highlight our best features (!) whilst simultaneously trying to hide those that we're perhaps less fond of.

I don't claim to be an expert but I love to have a go at "HAC"ing (Highlighting & Contouring- name borrowed from Maskara's blog!), especially as my face is heart shaped and I have quite a high forehead.

There are loads of products on the market at the moment for HACing, but my personal favourites are:

Contour:

Chanel Tan De Soleil or

Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer or

Topshop Bronzer in Sandcastle (which I cannot find online)

Highlight:

Estee Lauder Ideal Light Brush-on Illuminator or

Clinique Even Better Concealer in Chamois

I also tend to use a powdered or liquid highlighter such as Revlon Photoready Skinlights Illuminator to finish the look and give my skin a real glow.

For the look above I used the Estee Lauder Illuminator and the Chanel Bronzer, which is great for contouring as it is quite creamy and very easy to blend! As you can see I swipe the bronzer across the top of my forehead, under my cheekbones, down the sides of my nose and around my chin/jawline to begin with (over foundation). Some beauty bloggers will tell you not to contour too far down the face and keep it as a clean line to the middle part of your cheek, but if you have a heart-shaped face like mine you may find that this just isn't enough! I like to blend right the way across under my cheekbones to create a more visible 'apple' of the cheek, but that's just personal preference!

I also apply the highlighter down the centre of my nose, under my eyes, on my lower forehead and on my upper lip and eyebrow arch. I tend to blend the bronzer in with my Real Techniques Contour brush but prefer to use my fingers for the highlighter. Just keep blending until you're happy with it! It can be as dramatic or subtle as you like, that's the beauty of it!

To complete my look above I just swiped some Too Faced Powdered Sun onto my cheeks, added a slick of MAC lipstick in Costa Chic and lined my eyes with my Estee Lauder Doublewear Gel Eyeliner and some mascara. Easy peasy!

I'd love to hear about how you contour/highlight and what products you use so please leave me a comment below!

Rosie x