It seems like anywhere you go on social media, there are tons of fantastic MUA’s showing off their contouring and highlighting (sometimes called ‘strobing’) skills. You may have watched several highlighting and contouring tutorials, only to throw your hands in the air and give up, but if you’re still willing to give it another go, these pro tips will help make the process a bit easier for you and you’ll be strobing and baking in no time.
1. UNDERSTAND THE TERMS
You can’t really experience success in anything without understanding what that thing is first. For starters, contouring is when you create shadows on the face by outlining to create the look you desire. When it comes to the face, shadows help to define specific areas. Contouring creates a super sculpted look that can help your nose appear slimmer, your forehead smaller and your cheekbones more sharp without going under the needle. Next, let’s talk about highlighting. Highlighting is the exact opposite of contouring. Instead of adding shadows, it’s adding light to the face. When you add a highlight to the face, you are “pulling it forward” and making the area appear more prominent. Think J-lo.
2. CONTOURING AND HIGHLIGHTING TOOLS YOU NEED
There are several different types of tools you can use to apply contour and highlighting products. First, let’s talk about brushes. There are a few different types of brushes you can use for the products. When it comes to buying brushes, don’t skimp on them. Find good-quality brushes that will last you a while so your product is applied nicely on your face. For contouring, there are a few different brushes you can use, each one helping to apply the contour a bit different. An angled contour brush helps to get the perfect outline when contouring, while a small contour brush helps to produce a more sculpted look.
The small contour brush is best used when highlighting smaller areas on the face, (like on the sides of the nose and under your bottom lip) while the angled contour brush is best used for your cheekbones to get that nice line we all want. Kabuki brushes are great for blending the contour out so there are no harsh lines. When it comes to highlighting, we love fan brushes, which picks up just the right amount of highlighter to make your cheeks look luminous.
3. TYPES OF PRODUCTS
The amount of different products you can use to contour and highlight can be over-whelming, but we’re here to break it down for you. When it comes to contouring, the most basic contour is a powder bronzer. It’s easy to work with and super easy to blend. The next step up would be a cream or cream to powder contour, which creates a more defined and sculpted look, but needs a little bit more work to blend than a powder contour. Cream bronzers can come in a tube, which gives you more control over the application, or a palette, where you have to use a contour brush to apply. However, the benefits of using a cream contour that is not in a stick formula is that you have more control over the amount of color that goes on your face and how intense it goes on.
Also Read: 9 Easy Ways to Incorporate Meditation Into Your Beauty Routine
