Contouring and highlighting your skin doesn’t need to be an elaborate 10 step process (a la Kim Kardashian). With the right products and tools, it can be a simple process to enhance and define your cheekbones and jawline and incorporated into your daily makeup routine.
1. Start with the right products:
Bronzer: For beginners, a deep matte powder 3-4 shades darker than your skin color is a great place to start. Benefit Hoola Powder, Smashbox Step-by-step contour kit or Nars Contour Blush, or Anastasia Contour Kit are all great options to test out.
Brush: You will also need an angled blush rush or contour brush will help you sculpt your final makeup look. I really like the Eco Tools Tapered Blush brush to contour and the Urban Decay good karma blush brush to very lightly sweep my cheeks with highlighting powder. The Smashbox Fan Brush #22 is also great for highlighting, but I prefer a blush brush.
Highlighter: You will also need an illuminating powder, gel, or cream. My favorite is Benefit 10 (the shimmery side), Nars Albatross or Nars Illuminator in Copacabana.
2. Draw a 3 on your cheeks:
Suck in your cheeks and dust your blush brush with bronzer in an upward motion from the sunken part of your cheeks to your temple. Now sweep upward from your temple to the outside edge of your forehead! In the same motion, sweep back down toward your cheeks and now brush along your jawline. When all that’s done, you will have formed the shape of a “3”. Finally, blend blend blend!!
3. Highlight all the right places:
Smile! And with a blush brush take some rosy blush and apply to the apples of your cheeks. Switch to a fan brush, or use a smaller brush like the Urban Decay karma blush brush and apply some highlighting powder on the tops of your cheeks and down the tip of your nose. With an eyeshadow brush, apply a little bit of highlighter above the top of your lip in your cupids bow, and above the arches of your eyebrow and lightly dust the inner corner of your eye.
That’s it! With a little bit of practice, you can perfect this basic contouring and highlighting technique into your 10 minute morning makeup routine.
