Proper Blush Application and Facial Contouring

Many women these days either don't wear blush, or don't know how to wear it. This is a tutorial on the proper way to highlight your cheekbones and contour your face to the most flattering shape.

Highlighting and contouring your face help to thin it out and bring out your features. Makeup in general is made to accentuate what you already have, and contouring is the epitome of that concept.

 I made a map of my face to illustrate what and where you need to shade, highlight/luminize, or blush.

Yellow = Highlight/luminze
Orange = Shadow/contour
Pink = Blush

Gaga Ooh La La

You will need:
-A color about one shade darker than your skin that is matte, loose powder about half a shade darker than your skin can help blend (Shadow/contour)
-A highlighter that lighter than your skin, creamy or pink tones work well (Highlighter/Luminzer)
-Blush (make sure it's the right shade for your skin)

There are a lot of eye & cheek palettes available, so it's not too hard to find one with shades that pair well with your skin. Some recommendations are LORAC Red Carpet Reveal, Urban Decay's Naked or Naked II Palette, and Tigi High Density Eye Palette.

MK's Loose Powder, Mac's Set Powder, & Tarte Blush. 

From left to right: Dome brush, kabuki brush, blush brush, The Love Brush.

I start the contouring under my eyes, but the order of parts you highlight is irrelevant. The only thing that really matters is putting on the blush after the contouring. I actually go in a weird order. Rather than doing all of the light or all of the dark first, I highlight under my eyes, then do all of the shadowing, then the rest of the highlighting, and last blush. There is a method to my madness, and it's that I use set powder to catch any extra eye shadow (which you know if you've read any of my eye makeup tutorials), so when I sweep that away, I have the first part of my contouring done.

Here is a more detailed legend to my map.

Yellow Sections - I say "highlight/luminize" because they are in the same category, but still slightly different things. Highlighting is making a part of your skin lighter to bring it closer to the eye. For example, your brow bone. Most people use a light eye shadow to highlight their brow bone and bring it out so it "pops". Luminizing is not actually a real word, but it's used in the makeup industry to mean illuminating a part of your skin, making it seem luminous, or lit up. The biggest difference is that "luminizers" have a shimmer or usually gold tint to them, helping the light catch your skin, so the reflection brings it closer to you. I use both while contouring my face.

A great product to help "luminize" your cheekbones, forehead, nose, and lips is Mac's Lustre Drops. I use this in combination with powder because I don't like to use it on my chin. I stick to powder with my chin because it's prone to break-outs. The product doesn't break me out, but I try to touch my face as little as possible with my hands. To minimize the spread of bacteria always thoroughly wash your hands before touching your face and make sure your brushes are clean.

Apply the Lustre Drops to the top and bottom of your lips, like so:

Another amazing map by yours truly.

Use a blush brush to apply a powder highlighter or use your (clean) fingers to apply a liquid luminzer. For the powder I use "Vanilla" and "Champagne" from Tigi's High Density palette. I use "vanilla" under my eyes (even though I already had set powder there), on the bridge of my nose, my chin, and forehead. On the outer corners of my cheeks, I use "Champagne" because it has a shimmer to it, while "Vanilla" is matte. Refer to the map for specific regions of each part.

Shadow/Contour - "Contouring" is what we're are doing to the whole face, by changing the shape. I use it to describe the darker parts that we're shadowing because it makes a huge difference and it's like you're sculpting your face. I use "naked" from UD's Naked palette, because I'm very fair. Seriously, Snow White looks like a bronzed goddess next to me.

Start with your temples (although, like I said, it's irrelevant where you start, I just picked a point). Use a thick, wide shadow brush. I used Bed Head's "The Love Brush", although Tigi has redone their whole makeup line and now the brushes don't have fun names anymore. :(

Sweep the shadow from your hairline to about half of the way across your eyebrow. When I say across your brow, I mean above it, but stop about halfway across the distance of your brow. BLEND. BLEND. BLEND. You can also make parenthesis with the shadow around the outside of your eyes, but I usually save that for bronzer (if I'm using it).

Next, the nose. To thin out the appearance of your nose, use the shadow on the sides where the light creates a shadow naturally. We're just emphasizing what's already going on, so use shadows (referring to actual shadows, not the makeup) to your advantage. Apply with a vertical motion. You can also add a little to the tip of your nose so it appears shorter. Remember to blend.

We will do three different things to define your cheekbones. We have already highlighted the top, next we will use the shadow to contour underneath the bone. This makes that area of your cheek appear to be deeper, because it seems further away from you. To do this, first make a "duck face".

Or eat imaginary spaghetti.

See how there is a shadow underneath the cheekbone? That's what we want to emphasize. Draw a line from your hairline (lady sideburns) to the corner of your mouth.

Keeping the ducky face for emphasis.

 I will now remind you of the most important aspect of contouring: BLENDING. You don't want to look like the Joker got a hold of you, so blend that line away, but in the direction you drew it. It still needs to be there, but it needs to have the appearance of shadow, not a douche beard. I use loose powder to help blend it in. My powder is about half a shade darker than my skin, so if I'm in a hurry, I use it alone.

The last part to contour is the jawline. Start behind the ear, so you don't have a harsh start line. Draw the line underneath your jawline, from ear to ear. Then you must blend.

Blended, yet still making that stupid face...

Blush - So many women do not realize they are applying their blush wrong. It's just pink on your cheeks, right? Wrong. The best way to describe the proper application is to draw a circle on the apples of your cheeks, then make a U-shape with that circle. I'll show you the map again to explain (and also so you don't have to scroll to the top).

Here's how I do it. Smile really big, like a jackass. If you feel stupid, you're doing it right.

Say cheesy.

Then create the U-shape from the circle.

Fishy fishy fishy.

Of course, next we blend. I add a touch more of "Champagne" to the outer corner of my cheekbone. Just as with eye shadow, I start with the lightest color, but I go back and reapply it at the end to make sure it stands out. Once you start to incorporate this method into your daily makeup routine, it won't seem so complicated. It really isn't, it just takes awhile to explain the application and reasoning behind it. Here is my face with just foundation (and eye makeup) compared to after the contouring.

I look scared in the after pic, but I was going for fierce.

I still have a voluptuous face, and always will, but it is much more flattering after contouring. I hope this becomes a part of your everyday makeup routine! Good luck!

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