Her Contour is better than mine!

Well, you know what this will be about. Over the past few years it has been a constant battle between choosing contour products and finding the correct application techniques. This was a requested by some of my blog readers; to do a product comparison and contour guide, so I thought why not do the most common mistakes with just that.

Most common contour mistakes that we are or once were guilty of.

We use the wrong product.
We choose the wrong shade.
We put too much on.
We put it on in the wrong place.
We blend too much.

We use the wrong product

Yes! The wrong product, you would think that to contour the mistake you wouldn’t make is to use an actual contour product. I have actually seen so many people contour with blushers. Yes, you heard right a blusher. It’s not really rocket science to know that this is not the product to be using, but hey, it happens all the time and to be honest it actually makes me cringe. A pink contour? Does it really look great when you look in the mirror? Ask yourselves these questions. You can check out Wayne Goss’s video on draping to see more. So putting my little rant aside, ensure you pick a product that is fit for purpose of contouring. It does not mean that you can’t use other products because you can, you can use foundation, concealers, face powders to contour. However, it is important to use the correct colour to do this. The purpose of a contour is to create a shadow on the face therefore it should be a brown shade which can be either cool or warm toned. The colour tone differs in accordance to a persons skin complexion. You can choose to contour with a cream and powder product or both.

We choose the wrong shade

So many of us are guilty of this. Who would have thought contour could be so hard. Just a colour to make a shadow on the face. Well it is and its one of the most common thing people struggle with. I have seen so many people use the wrong shade for their contour, some are too orange, some are two grey and some are pink. Yes, that’s right I’ve seen people use blusher to contour and think they look okay. So, what is the right shade for you?

The purpose of a contour is that it creates a shadow on your face, therefore it should resemble your natural shadow colour. Depending on your skin tone the colours may vary. If you have a warm undertone and are using a warm bronze to contour with it will make your face look orange. It is important to choose a grey/brown colour which is known as a cool tone, ‘cool brown’ so it can balance the colours of your face. This can also work if your skin is already looking nice and warm.

However if your skin or foundation base has a greyish tone to it then you need to do the opposite and use a warm bronze for the contour instead of a cool brown, if you ignore this and use a cool tone you will end up looking muddy and that isn’t pretty. Also, do not use blushers or any other colours to do your contour, brown is the only colour for this.

We put too much on.

The expression ‘less is more’ definitely applies to when it comes to contouring. I know most of us love a sharp contour but it does not mean it doesn’t have to be blended well. When you don’t blend enough it can easily look like lines on your face and that isn’t a pretty look.

Believe me when I say that. It is fine to have a sharp contour but please ensure you buff and blend it out.

We put it on in the wrong place.

Placement is key for all makeup products, putting something in the wrong area can change the entire look. The whole idea of contour and highlight is to define the structure of the face. Contour should be placed in the hollows on the cheeks, it should start from the ear and stop an inch away from the nose and mouth. If it is placed in the wrong area it can do quite the opposite and make your face look uneven and defeate the puropose.

We blend too much.

This can easily happen when you use cream contour, some fade and move really quickly. This can easily make the face look non-structured if the product has been moved around. It is important to set cream contours or anything that is cream based. Also if you blend too much it can mix into your foundation in the places its not suppose to be and create a blotchy look or change the colour of your base.

My top 4 powder contour choices in order of preference.