So we’ve covered foundation and the eyes (by the way, any other questions do ask, I love hearing from you!) and I wanted to cover Contour, highlight and blush under the umbrella of powders. As an oily skinned gal, (I haven’t mentioned that before, have I?) I don’t use cream contouring and highlighting cosmetics. They break down too quickly for me and a cream blush will be gone faster than a toupee in a storm. So, it’s strictly powder for me.

The Don’ts

#1 Do NOT use a warm tone bronzer or one containing shimmer to contour. The whole point of contouring the Face is to add structure with smoke and mirrors. Therefore, the “shadows” you are trying to add to your face should be a convincing tone. Bronzer is to bronze, to add warmth and a sunkissed glow.

#2 Do NOT apply blusher too low on the cheeks. You want to look as fresh, lifted and youthful as possible. Applying blush too far down drags and sags the face.  Not the look one should be after!

#3 Do NOT use a highlight shade that is too deep for your skin tone. Bronzey highlighters are beautiful, yes, but they are for bronzed complexions and will look grubby and out of place on a pale complexion. A highlight is supposed to catch the light, not stand out from the face, head on. With that in mind, do NOT go ham with the highlight. Get over the strobing trend and move on. Let’s go back to make up to enhance natural features people!

#4 Do NOT forget to connect your nose contour, in an appropriate tone, to the inner part of your brow. You know that wee sweep where your nose and brow bone connect? There. Delicately apply your contour powder in this area and then continue down the nose for a harmonious flow of shadow. 

#5 Do NOT forget to blend, blend, blend! As with eyeshadow, blending your contour and blush in particular, is so, so important for an airbrushed, perfected, put together look. You want someone to say you look beautiful, not your make up. If your blush and contour is sticking out like a sore thumb, that’s all anyone will see. 

The Do’s

#1 DO use a light hand when applying blusher. Even drugstore brands are producing highly pigmented blushers right now and the danger of applying way too much and emulating clown cheeks is all the more achievable. So, dip into your blush shade, tap off the excess and build from there. So much easier to add than to take away.

#2 DO think about blush and contour placement. For blush I don’t do the whole ‘smile and apply to the apples of the cheeks’ anymore because when I relax my face, the cheeks go down and I run the risk of applying product too low. Instead, with a relaxed face, I place my index and middle fingers to the side of my nose (to help with how far into the face the colour should be placed) and, feeling where my cheek bone is, apply my blush quite high on the cheeks but slightly under the cheekbone. Top tip and takes the mystery out of product placement!

With contour, not everyone needs to contour the cheeks, the forehead, the chin and the nose. It’s all down to face shape. I, for example, have quite a long and thin face so any sculpting I do on the sides of mon visage is usually pretty subtle. I don’t contour the sides of the forehead but focus on the top and then just under my chin, to make my boat race appear a little more squat than it really is. Search on YouTube for some help with your face shape. 

#3 DO apply highlight to correct area of the cheekbone. Think of a ‘C’ shape of light on the cheekbone and to the side of the eye/brow area. I, personally, bring my highlight so it’s roughly level with the outer part of my iris. Bringing it any further than that defeats the whole purpose of lifting the face, you’ll just have highlighted your whole cheek. Also, highlight in the wrong place will make any texture from open pores etc so much more obvious.

#4 DO use products for their intended purpose when applying bronzer and contour powders. Bronzers are warm toned and should be used to add a healthy colour to the complexion- top of the forehead, across the nose and on the cheeks. Contour shades are cooler in tone and typically a greyish taupe or cool toned brown. This will create that smoke and mirrors illusion and sculpt the face, pushing certain features further back and allowing highlighted areas to come forward.

#5 DO feel confident enough to skip contour and highlight all together. I’ve mentioned before that the whole Instagram make up thing is so unrealistic and makes more natural applications seem insignificant by comparison. It’s so not!! A fresh base and pop of blusher is just as beautiful, if not more so, and will make you look so healthy and radient that people will wonder what you’re doing differently. As useful as contouring and the lark can be, it’s not actually necessary people! Mix it up!

As always, if you have any tips for bronzing, contouring, highlighting and blush application then let us know in the comments below! That rhymes. We all learn from one another and I love it!

Thanks for stopping by!

J x 

Current Thoughts

• What is the actual point of football. 
• Should really hang that washing out.
• Subculture.