What is contouring & how to use it?

Contouring meaning

Contouring is one of the most impressive makeup techniques, as it creates the feeling of a more sculpted and harmonious face and body.

Although shading and bronzing (warming up the face, as if we are more tanned) have been known in makeup for decades, contouring has become known in recent years, mainly from social media and influencers. Kim Kardashian helped popularize it around the world, with hundreds of influencers presenting tutorials about contouring techniques on digital channels, such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

Contouring is the makeup technique, in which we create dimensions on the face and/or the body. This can be done with the power of 2 different shades: Use a light shade to create light, and a dark one to create angles.

This practically means that we don’t want to find shades of foundation/ concealer/ powder in exactly the same color tone, but we want one lighter and one darker (at least) shade. Choosing the right shades is the key to a successful result.

Something that will help you is to look at your skin in natural sunlight, so you can see which spots are “high” (brighter). In these you should apply the light shade, while in the places where the face would have natural corners, you should apply the dark shade.

• Face contouring

If you want to emphasize your facial structure or make your face look slimmer, contouring is the solution! Use the dark shade (you’ll need one with cool undertones if you’re fair or bronze if you’re dark) under your cheekbones, around your face and on the sides of your nose.

• Nose contouring

Nose contouring is (perhaps) the most popular, due to social media. Thousands of digital influencers have published many video-tutorials, with the aim of helping to “shrink” their nose, with the help of the contouring technique.

To achieve this, the process is simple: Use the dark shade on the sides of the nose, and the light shade on the bridge of the nose. Then, blend well with your fingers, or a brush.

• Body contouring

Although it is not as frequent as the previous ones, body contouring is used in special occasions, for an impressive look on our body! It can be used on brides, evening looks or actors to highlight specific areas of the body such as the body or chest.

Most of the time, body contouring is applied by specialist makeup artists, so that the effect lasts for many hours

What are the best products for contouring?

First, you should choose whether you want a shimmering or matte finish to your contouring. It is important to choose the right shades for a harmonious result. Many times, if we choose the wrong shade and do not blend well, the contouring may look like a smudge.

The Garden Contour Brush 04 Shading Brush will help you make flawless contour technique easily!

For a glowing effect, you can choose shimmering shades. The La Roche Posay Toleriane Teint Bronzing Powder has the ideal shade to warm up any skin tone.

If you want a natural, everyday look, the matte/satin shades are ideal. The Maybelline Master Bronze is a contouring palette that will help you to make the perfect cuts.

Before or after the foundation?

For a more intense, evening effect, you can choose creamy cuts. This means that before the foundation you can apply them on bare skin (for a smoother effect), or over the foundation, for a more three-dimensional effect.

If you want a more natural effect, choose cream or powder products for contour & highlight. You can apply these on top of your makeup.

Contouring VS Bronzing: What to choose?

Although contouring as a concept is much more known than bronzing, these are two very beautiful techniques that are worth getting to know better. It is a fact that they are similar in effect, but each has its own (different) purpose. Both can be applied together, or separately, depending on the result we want to give.

Contouring helps to make the face look more sculpted and slim, which is why cool shades are used. Essentially, we want to create the feeling that our face has more angles. In contouring, we usually use tighter brushes to achieve a more targeted effect.

Bronzing, on the other hand, helps make our face look more tanned/warm. For this technique, we usually use larger (and tufted) brushes and warmer shades.

At Vita4you you will find a wide variety of face bronzers, to choose the one that suits you!