Whenever I take the extra 40 seconds to contour my face, I always feel a little more confident. But there is something about contouring that is a little disturbing.
When you’re taught to contour in a classroom setting, you are taught to contour with one main goal in mind – to achieve the appearance of an oval face. The oval face is the beauty industry’s standard for perfect face shape. While I love the effect of contouring on most people, I can’t help but poo-poo this idea. After all, we have some strikingly beautiful people in this world that proudly flaunt fabulous no-oval faces.
Just to name a few:
Reese Witherspoon and Michelle Pfeiffer work their hard core heart shaped faces.
Victoria Beckham maintains her “posh” status with a triangular face.
Sandra Bullock and Janet Jackson - both rocking the square face.
And just when you think it couldn’t be done…. Liv Tyler…. sports the long face with grace.
I think some of these women are uniquely beautiful BECAUSE of their distinctly different face shape.
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| The Smashbox Contour kit |
Here’s what I’m willing to stand behind about contouring. Contouring is an AWESOME tool to accentuate features that you love and minimize the features that you’re not as crazy about. It can help a crooked nose appear straight, get rid of a double chin, help a face appear slimmer, and give you beautiful cheekbones for an important photo moment. Instead of looking in the mirror and contemplating how you can give yourself an oval face, try looking for what YOU want to stand out about your face and work from there.
Contouring – the Basic Rules
The basics of contouring are easy! Just remember that a darker shade will “push things back” or recess a feature. A lighter shade (the highlighter) will bring a feature forward. You’ll want to use a matte color for your contouring that is two to three shades darker than your skin tone. Your highlight color will be two shades lighter than your skin tone. Some people prefer matte colors for highlighting as well, but there are some beautiful light-catching shimmery highlighters that do a beautiful job (especially if you want those glowing cheekbones).
Gettin’ Beauty Schooled,
Rita
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