Beauty and Fashion For the Fringe

Now is the time to try facial contouring because of all the products that flood the counters in summer that will make contouring as easy as can be. You want two products- both powder or cream is fine but I prefer powder- one lighter than your skin and one darker. Rule of thumb is a few shades each way. You don’t want to go too dark  or else you will look like you’re wearing a mask.My tip is to picture the range from your shade to the darkest end of the spectrum and pick the shade exactly in-between the two. A lot of the bronzers released in the summer will work fine but it must be matte!! No shimmer. As far as the lighter shade you can just buy a regular powder or foundation that is a couple shades lighter than your skin unless you are very pale, like me.  Then you will need to buy a product meant to be used as a highlighter. This can be shimmery, unlike the contour color.Fyrinnae has wonderful highlighters that are very inexpensive. You could also look at the drugstore for something like an illuminating cream but high-end brands have more products specifically meant for highlighting. For brushes, a blush brush that isn’t too big or stiff will work  nicely, or try a fan brush.

Contouring can be used on lips and eyes but I want to focus on the face for now. The reason for doing this is that it gives you a nice, pulled-together very finished look. It brings out cheekbones and gives dimension to a face that may not have sharp angles anywhere. This is a great technique for people with round faces!

Anything that is dark receeds, and anything light is brought forward. The oval shape is the most desired, so you want to mentally trace an oval around the outside of your face. You can begin by lightly applying the darker color to the outside of the oval focusing on the sides of your face above and beside your eyes curving up and over just to the arch of your eyebrow and the hollows of the cheeks. You can apply some color to the hairline but go lightly. Blend!!

If you want your nose to appear smaller or straighter, take the lighter color and apply it from the bridge to the tip of your nose as wide as you want it to appear and then apply the darker color on the sides of the nose.

You can also apply the darker color to the jawline to make your face and your neck seem farther apart. Also, a trick for creating the illusion of having cleavage- dust bronzer on the inner curves of your breasts! A little highlighter on your collarbones is pretty too.

Now you want to highlight in between your eyebrows, on the browbone, the tops of the cheeks above the darker  contour color, below the under-eye area and the cupid’s bow.Blend the light and dark colors into each other very well, it should be seamless!! Blend and blend some more. You should notice that your face looks more angular!

Whenever I do this my mom tells me I look “glowy.”

Also, if you want to add an undead twist- Instead of bronzer in the hollows of your cheeks, use a dark purple.