pro artist tip of the week – contouring, highlighting, shading, etc.

Apr 18, 2011


pro makeup artists definitely have several tricks up their sleeves - one of the most common being the art of contouring.  a makeup artist will contour to properly shape the face.  this means they will shade certain areas and highlight others.  here’s a basic rundown of why contouring is used and how you can implement it on your own to make your features stand out.

-contouring techniques can be used on all areas of the face including cheeks, forehead, nose, jaw line, and eyes.

-when you contour, you use shading and highlighting techniques to thin out areas of the face and brighten/enlarge others.

-the cheeks are commonly contoured to make the face look thinner.  you can achieve this with stila’s bronzer and kitten all over shimmer.  apply the bronzer starting at the apples of your cheeks.  blend up and back to create a subtle shading on the skin.  then dust kitten all over shimmer on your cheekbones.  these two steps will instantly draw the light to your cheekbones and thin your face.

-if you want your eyes to look bigger, the same concept applies.   apply a light shimmer color on the lid like kitten eye shadow to brighten.  then dust a matte eye shadow color in your crease lightly (try eden or puppy) to shade and contour.  your eyes will look bigger in seconds!

-lastly, keep in mind when makeup artists contour, they are determining what they want to enhance and what they need to correct.  highlight what you want to enhance and shade what you want to correct.  just don’t go overboard!  it should look subtle and natural.

Leave a Reply

stila cosmetics © 2010-2012. Powered by Blogger.

stila fans

find it