Contouring: face shapes and about knowing where to contour

Intro:

Esta es una traducción de mi entrada publicada el 1 de junio de 2011. Si quieres consultarla, puedes verla aquí: Lecciones del curso de automaquillaje vol. 05: Más contorneo, correcciones oscuras

This is a translation of my post published on June 1st, 2011. It gives some explanation on face shapes and some ideas of contouring. I’ll post tomorrow another translation, of how to contour a round face. I did that one a year ago, and I actually had a rounder facer back then.

 

Now here goes the post:

As I said before, in my self-makeup lessons I was taught how to contour with powder and a bit with concealer (referring to a year ago when I took lessons). In my second lesson this subject was better explained, so I now have the ability of somehow explain how to do it. I must tell this lesson was even a therapy, since I could realize not all girls who show on TV or magazines are perfect, they are actually “corrected”. This, my dear friends means you can look very pretty if you do a proper contouring work. I think this contouring part is the one I take more time to do, and the one that matters the most for me when I don my makeup –right, even more than lipstick- so I’m really concerned about improving on this.

 

Face shapes

First of all, you need to identify your face shape. The four main ones are: oval, round, square and diamond, but there are many other variations:

In general, we look for an oval face, but I must tell square shaped face is very liked too. What must be done? You need to darken some parts of your face in order to make it look like an oval. 

In the picture you can have an idea of where to darken.

 

Face proportions

Now, you need to define how proportionate is your face, since disproportions must be corrected too.

You need to measure your eye’s width, which must be the same as the distance between your eyes. That must be also your nose width and if you multiply it times 2, that should the your mouth’s width.

 

Now, measure your forehead lenght, that should be the same lenght your nose has and the same distance from your nose to your chin.

 

Measure the distance from the center of your face to the center of you eye. That must the same distance from the center of you eye to your hairline.

 

Whatever goes out those measures must be corrected with a darker shade. If the measurement is smaller, then you need to correct with light.

Corrections

For my face, I barely only need dark corrections, from which I have two options. The one in the left is the most common, and that’s the one many MUA use to get high cheekbones. The one in the right looks a bit like a skull, right? But, that one makes the face look thinner, and it’s very helpful for round faces like mine.

If there is a subject that really amazes me in the world of makeup is this one. I think a good contouring makes the difference between a great MUA and someone who just likes makeup. That doesn’t mean we all need to become a skilled MUA, but we must admit it’s not enough having cosmetics and brushes, this is an art. I believe for very especial occasions we should leave our makeup to skilled people.

As I said before, contouring helps celebrities look so perfect. Just look at Kim Kardashian or JLo’s video “On the Floor”, they contour a lot. In Pixiwoo’s tutorial about JLo’s video, they even recommend using a taupish eyeshadow to contour the nose.

Now I’ve showed you a bit of contouring and what applies to a face like mine, but since all faces are different, we have different contourings. I really recommend you show go with a MUA to show you yours.

 

Adding this a year after:

I’m not yet a master, but practicing different ways of contouring has really helped me develop my skills. I used to believe back then that any MUA would contour my face better than me, but reality is that at this moment noboby knows my face as I do and I barely get a contour I like done. I’ve seen great contouring work here in Mexico done by MUA’s who work for television and some Nars MUA. However, I haven’t found much work done by other brands MUA’s. I believe tutorials are helpful, but a good contouring lesson by a skilled MUA will make the entire difference.

Next post will be another translation: a contouring step by step.