What you need to know to master contouring

Contouring is meant to subtly enhance your features by deepening the natural shadows of your face. Since it moved from the professionals’ bag of tricks for camera-ready studio action into mainstream makeup bags, contouring has inspired a whole new approach to selfie-ready makeup—and with it a whole new world of contour palettes, powders, creams and sticks. Finding the right products for your skin type and shades for your skin tone is step one to mastering the art of contouring, but once you have them—then what? Take it step-by-step.

Step 1: Highlight

Take a concealer or highlighter a little lighter than your skin colour (shimmer or no shimmer). To pull your features forward, dab it onto the highpoints of your face where the light naturally catches—a few dots above and below your brows, directly on top of your cheekbones, down the bridge of your nose with a tiny dot right on the tip, at the cupid’s bow and on the center of the chin.

Step 2: Contour

Define your face. Take a contour shade a little darker than your skin colour. Suck in your cheeks and dab it onto the areas of your face you want to recede to contrast the highlight and create definition—along your hairline, down the sides of the nose, in the hollows of your cheeks and along your jawline.

Step 3: Blend, Blend, Blend

This is where the magic happens. Using your fingertips, a blending brush or a sponge, blend the highlight and contour dots together. Start from the center of the face and work outward, focusing on where the two shades meet to blur away any defined makeup lines. Keep blending until you have achieved a seamless, sculpted look.

Know your face shape

When contouring your face, it’s important you know which areas to focus on. You won’t be able to figure this out until you identify your face shape - so pick one from the list below:

Round: Contour the sides of your face to create dimension and depth. Focus on your cheekbones, temples and the sides of your jaw. You’ll have an enviable ‘oval’ look in no time!
Heart: Enhance your beautiful features while gently softening the angles of your face. Contour the sides of your temples and forehead to create balance, then rub a little colour along the base of your chin to soften the harsh point.
Square: Contour the sides of your face to minimise harsh angles. Start at your cheekbones and contour downwards, pointing towards your chin.

That’s how to contour! (We know, that’s a lot.) Perfecting face contouring takes practice, but Sephora has all the best contouring tools you need to get started. From highlighters and powders to cream contour kits and cream contour palettes—even the perfect contour brush—we’ve got you covered. Shop online!