Shape Up: Part 4

So you’ve identified your face shape, know where to sculpt if desired and have learned how to minimize features you don’t love. Now it’s essential that you choose the correct products and tools so no one knows what you’ve been up to. Obvious contour and highlight are about as flattering as harem pants.

The Products: Contour

Contouring products come in powder, cream and liquid formulations. You can use whatever best suits your skin type or layer them (but use restraint, please). As previously discussed, contouring makes areas recede, sometimes giving the illusion of a shadow. Because actual shadows are gray and cool-toned, you want to make sure your contour product(s) are also on the cool side. Anything too warm–think orange-y bronzers–will look off. Bronzers are for bronzing, which is different than contouring. And definitely stay away from any contour products with shimmer, as that defeats the purpose. Shimmer brings light to an area, which will make it look larger–the opposite of what contouring is supposed to do. Using a shimmery bronzer to contour can also make your skin look muddy, aka streaky, aka dirty, aka not a good look.

So, what should you use? For powder contour, I swear by Make Up For Ever Sculpting Kit. It includes a matte contour and a matte highlight and comes in different shades for different skin colors. This bad boy has been my go-to for years.

If you like cream products (typically good for normal to dry skin) and have light skin, check out Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Hollow. It’s taupe with gray undertones, so it doesn’t look obvious on fair skin. Jen, one of the AB Beauty makeup artists, uses this and swears by it.

For medium to deep skin, I use MAC Matchmaster Concealer. I know it’s not technically a cream contour, but it’s a stick concealer and works just as well. The shades I use tend to be a little more warm than I’d normally go for, but there’s a reason the rule can be bent. The kind of face sculpting I do isn’t as aggressive as current day contouring, so using something slightly warm-toned on medium to deep skin (it would be too obvious on light skin) works as long as it’s blended well.

For very deep skin–like the gorgeous blue black skin that some people have–you can skip the contour. To shape your face, you’d apply highlight on the areas you want to bring out and the contrast of the natural skin color against the highlight will create a sculpting effect.

The Products: Highlight

Highlight–particularly of the shimmer variety–is crazy hyped up right now. If I can see your cheekbones, Cupid’s Bow and tip of nose (remember–don’t do that!) glowing from across the room, then sweetheart, you’ve done too much. Subtle highlight, whether shimmer or matte, is infinitely more flattering. You can believe me, or you can regret it when your Facebook memory selfies come up in five years.

For cream and liquid highlighters with some shimmer, I like Benefit Watts Up (cream highlighter in stick form) and Charlotte Tilbury Wonderglow Skincare Primer (liquid). Yes, Wonderglow is meant to be a primer, but I think it works beautifully as a highlighter when applied under foundation on the areas you want to highlight.

For powder highlight, I typically reach for the highlight powder from the Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow Duo. I apply it with a very light hand, as a little goes a long way.

You for sure want to avoid placing shimmery highlight on skin with fine lines or visible pores. If you want to highlight those areas, use a matte highlight. The highlight powders from the Make Up For Ever Sculpting Kits are great if you prefer a powder formulation. For a matte cream highlight, you can really use any concealer that’s lighter than your skin. I prefer ones with a thinner consistency for this.

You can also highlight and contour using foundation. For this technique, you’d use your regular foundation around the edges of your face and on any areas you would want to contour. Then a lighter foundation with the same undertone in the same formulation would be used on the areas you want to highlight (but use concealer–not foundation–under the eyes). If you’re someone whose skin color changes throughout the year, this is a great way to use your “winter” foundation during the summer.

The Tools

The type of product you are using should dictate the tools you choose. I always use a brush for powder products. For creams and liquids, I apply with my hands so my body heat–of which I have none of lately in New England, even though it’s MARCH–breaks down the product. When it’s broken down (melted a bit), that allows it to apply more evenly. I then blend it with a buffing brush if needed. My go to buffing brush is the one from the Real Techniques Core Collection.

Any contouring and highlighting you do should be blended well. That’s such a huge thing with highlight and especially contour. A foundation buffing brush is great for blending larger areas, and a fluffy-but-not-too-soft eyeshadow brush like the MAC 217 is perfect for blending highlight or contour on the eyes and nose. A sponge of your choice can also be helpful for blending out larger areas of contour.

If you want to see some pro highlighting and contour in action, check out these tutorials.

Highlighting with liquid and cream highlighters: https://youtu.be/ESzE9aoq7vQ?list=PL070600888CB9BB32

Contouring:  https://youtu.be/yK–P-FwZqM

https://youtu.be/iZMuqpDjZzM

Contouring with powder: https://youtu.be/xM9bq5YpC-A

That’s it! I think you’re now in good shape (pun intended) if you’re interested in sculpting your face or any features. Feel free to comment with any questions.

Have a beautiful day 🙂

Shape Up: Part 2

Now that you’ve read Part 1 (and loved it) and have identified your face shape, I’m going to help you learn how to sculpt it, if you so desire. I want to emphasize that this is not a necessary technique. There’s nothing wrong with your face shape. Really! But if there’s an area you’d like to minimize, bone structure you’d like to bring out or you’re a makeup artist, you may find this information helpful.

I’ll be addressing face shape sculpting in this post, and Part 3 will be about emphasizing or minimizing specific features using contour and/or highlight. In Part 4, I’ll walk you through product choices and tools of the trade. And Part 5 will be a request for your resume, since you’ll know enough to be a makeup artist who I can hire. (Kidding. There is no Part 5 but if you’re a makeup artist in Rhode Island or Massachusetts, go ahead and send me that resume.)

Ready?

Oblong: If you have an oblong face, you might want to make your face look fuller and less long. To minimize the length, you can contour at the bottom of the chin and the top of the forehead, close to the hairline. To add fullness to the face, applying blush to the apples of the cheeks–blend it well!–will be flattering. Unless you have oily skin, large pores or wrinkles on your cheeks, a blush with a little shimmer in it can help bring light to the apples of the cheeks, making them look more round.

Rectangle: A rectangle face can look a bit sharp around the outer edges, so the idea is to soften those edges by contouring them (which will make them recede). Contouring at the top of the forehead will minimize the height of the forehead if that’s a concern. Blush on the apples of the cheeks can also bring some roundness to the face.

Round: If your face is round, it’s wider than it is long. You can minimize that difference by contouring the temples, under the cheekbones and around the sides of the face.  Light contour right under the jawline is also flattering. Highlighting the chin and forehead will add some height to the face. Blush looks best when applied a little further out on the apples of the cheeks and slightly–now not 80s style, but slightly–blended upwards.

Square: The idea of sculpting a square face shape is to make the chin and forehead more prominent. Applying highlight to those areas will give that effect, and contouring around the temples and on the jawline will make those areas recede. Contouring under the jawline is not advised unless you want to accentuate the angled jaw shape.

Inverted Triangle and Heart: With inverted triangle and heart face shapes, highlighting the entire chin adds width to the most narrow part of the face. If the chin is pointed though–which is often the case with heart shaped faces–I wouldn’t highlight the center of it but rather right around it and onto the bottom of the jawline. Contouring around the edges of the forehead and under the cheekbones on both face shapes is also typically flattering. Often the heart shaped face forehead is short so highlighting the forehead will give the illusion of height there. I don’t suggest doing that if your forehead is prominent/protruding, which is common with inverted triangles. Diamond: This face shape is widest at the cheekbones, so highlighting the chin and forehead will give balance to the bone structure. Contouring the sides of the face will help minimize the width. I don’t recommend any type of highlight on the cheekbones for diamond peeps. Blush looks most flattering when applied on the outer apples of the cheeks.

Triangle: On a triangle face, the forehead is more narrow than the jawline, so highlighting the forehead brings balance. A small dot of highlighter on the center of the chin can be flattering if the chin is weak (meaning in profile, it looks like it’s pushed back in comparison to the nose and forehead). Contouring the sides of the face from the cheekbones down will minimize the width there.  I also lightly contour right on top of the jawline. Contouring under the jawline is not advised, as that will only accentuate the width there. Blush looks best when applied on the outer apples of the cheeks.

Oval: Oval faces are generally symmetrical but the chin can be slightly more narrow than the forehead, so a dot of highlighter there is flattering. Contouring under the cheekbones and highlighting on top of them brings out the bone structure.

I hope this has helped you get a better feel for sculpting your face shape, if that’s something you’re into. There are other factors that can help flatter your bone structure–your haircut, the way you style your hair, your glasses or sunglass frames, even the jewelry you wear–so you can dive in pretty deep if you want.

If this is fun for you or there’s an area of concern you want to address, I say play around with this stuff until your little heart (and maybe heart shaped face) is content. But remember that there is nothing wrong with your face shape or bone structure so you don’t have to do any of this. It’s optional, like a hair glaze at the salon or leather seats in a new car (heated seats, however, are essential in my book.) Just because an option exists doesn’t mean you have to take it. That’s a good thing to keep in mind if you’re dating, too…

Have a beautiful day 🙂

Shape Up: Part 1

Contour. As a makeup artist, I’m a bit sick of that word. Contouring has been around since Elizabethan England, when stage actors used soot to define their faces so that the audience could read their expressions better. But a lot of people seem to think the Kardashians and their makeup artists were the first to contour. No surprise there…

Contour has been quietly on the scene for almost 500 years, particularly in the entertainment industries (theatre, film and the courts of European and Asian royalty.) In modern times, makeup tricks of the trade were kept quiet in Old Hollywood, which is why those of you who know it’s not a new technique still might have thought it was something Kevyn Aucoin created in the 1990s. Contouring and its sister, highlighting, has become trendy in the past three years, and it’s a trend that some say is on its way out.

There is Kardashian contour, and there is the more subtle sculpting/face shaping type of contour that I (and most makeup artists I know) do. This technique is more about flattering each face shape than covering the skin in layers of highlight and contour creams and powders to achieve the “perfect” shape.

To do this kind of face shaping, you need to know what your face shape is. A big problem with today’s contour craze is that it assumes everyone has the same oval face shape. So for Part 1 of this Shape Up series, I want to help you identify your face shape so you know where to subtly highlight and contour, if you’re into it. Part 2 will go into the specifics of sculpting your features to flatter your face shape.

There are nine commonly recognized face shapes: Oblong, Rectangle, Round, Square, Inverted Triangle, Heart, Diamond, Triangle and Oval.

Now for a closer look at each face shape. To figure yours out, pull your hair away from your face and pin back those bangs that you either newly love or are desperately trying to grow out.

Oblong: If you have an oblong face, your face is longer than it is wide. Your forehead, cheeks and jawline are all the same length. Your face shape celebrity twin is the beautiful Liv Tyler.

Rectangle: A rectangle face is about one and a half times longer than it is wide. The cheeklines running from temple to jawline are straight. The jawline is defined, unlike the oblong jawline, which is more rounded. If you have a triangle face shape, you’re in good company with Hilary Swank.

Round: A round face shape is as wide as it is long, with the widest point at the ears. If you have a round face shape, your jawline is softly curved. Ginnifer Goodwin is your super cute round face shape sister.

Square: A square face shape is characterized by a defined jawline that’s only slightly curved, as well as straight sides of the face. It’s almost as wide as it is long. Bombshell Olivia Wilde has this face shape.

Inverted Triangle: If you’ve got an inverted triangle face, your forehead is wider than your jaw and your chin maybe be pronounced. You know, like the fabulous Tyra Banks.

Heart Shape: A heart shaped face is similar to the inverted triangle, but the forehead tends to be shorter in height. The chin is usually the most pronounced part of the face. Many people with heart shaped faces have widow’s peaks. If you’re not French and feel a kinship with Audrey Tautou, it could be because you have the same face shape.

Diamond: Diamond faces are characterized by high cheekbones and a pointed chin. If your face shines bright like a diamond (shape), you’ll see the widest part is at the center. If you’re a diamond, you share a face shape with one of my favorite celebrities, Anna Kendrick.

Triangle: If you’re a triangle, the widest part of your face is the jawline. The forehead is narrow in comparison. Think you might be a triangle? Then you’ve got a connection with the talented Minnie Driver.

Oval: Oval is sometimes referred to as the ideal face shape, because it’s the most proportional. If you are an oval like smokeshow Megan Fox, your forehead is only the tiniest bit wider than your jawline. Oval faces are similar to oblongs, but with a softer chin and more of a curve to the sides of the face.

There’s no ideal face shape, contrary to what oval enthusiasts may believe. If you want to look proportional, some light sculpting (as well as the right haircut and style) can help you out. But if you’re happy with your face–and I hope you are, because I can tell it’s a good one–don’t feel any pressure to contour, highlight, strobe, sculpt, shape or otherwise give the illusion of different bone structure.

If you are interested in sculpting your face with makeup in a subtle way, stay tuned for Part 2 of this series, where I’ll go over the typical techniques for highlighting and contouring each face shape. It will also be a good read for aspiring or beginner makeup artists. I promise.

Have a beautiful day 🙂