makeup

MOST IMPORTANT CONTOURING RULE

TUTORIAL + PHOTOGRAPHY BY AMY NADINE, GRAPHIC DESIGN BY EUNICE CHUN

People always ask me what the most important contouring rule is and it’s most definitely this one. Contouring has to be done with a matte formula. Not a shimmering bronzing powder. Why? Because you’re sculpting your face like an artist, using dimension laws to help make things look further away or closer. When you want to sculpt your cheeks for example, you want to create the illusion of a hollow by shadowing it darker, so it looks more inward. Same applies to the crease on your eyelid. If you want your face to look thinner and less wide, you shade the whole perimeter darker. Any time you add shimmer, you are drawing light to that area, which is exactly what you don’t want to do!

TOOLS:

• Your favorite contouring palette — Just make sure the contouring shades are MATTE MATTE MATTE! The highlighting shades can be radiant or matte. I love this pro kit ($$), this one ($$) and this one ($).
• A flat-headed long kabuki brush — I love this one ($$$) and this one ($$).
• A matte eye shadow palette — I used this one from my makeup kit ($$$) and also love this matte palette ($$).
• A lay-down shadow brush — I always use this one ($$) but you could totally use this one ($) too.

You can do all of the above with cream formulas as well, it’s really a preference thing. But if you set it with powder after, make sure it’s a matte powder and not a shimmering one. Once you’ve sculpted your face, you can go back and add all the shimmer you want to the remaining areas. I like to add shimmer shadow to the lids (just under the crease) and above the cheekbone.