Friday, May 1, 2009

Reader's Corner: How to Contour



Question:


"Nikki, if you're not so busy, please do a tutorial on how to contour the cheeks. Im really curious how to do that because I've been blessed, err.. cursed.. with full cheeks " --- Khymm

Answer:

Hey Khymm, yes I'm not busy now so I got the time to do a photo tutorial on how I contour my cheeks. There are so many ways to contour the cheeks out there, but you are one lucky gal! I am blessed with full cheeks too! So I will share with you how I contour my cheeks. Hope this helps! :D
What do you need to contour and blush?

  1. Dark contouring powder or bronzers
  2. Your choice of blush color
  3. Highlighting powder or any powder that's 2-3 x lighter than your skin
I will be using
Dollface Contouring Palette
in this tutorial




Brushes to be used?
Your choice





Step 1:

Choose your preferred brush or any brush easy to work with. Dip in a matte brown or bronzer onto the brush



Do not forget to tap on
the excess powder




Step 2:

Press the brush just in front of the ear near the hair line.



Step 3:

Swipe the brush in an angle (like a diagonal inverted triangle) as shown on picture below. You can build the color as you go on!



Step 4:

Using the same brush or you can use a different brush (again your choice), choose your blush color. Do the tapping motion again.




Step 5:

While the contouring powder (black triangle) is not yet blended, apply the Blush powder on top of the contouring powder (pink triangle), the application is the same manner as you apply the contouring powder.



Step 6:

Using a loose powder brush, in my case, I use my Ecotools Kabuki Brush, gently blend in the colors together.

Tip: In this step, you can reapply the contour powder and blush powder if needed.




Step 7:

After the contour and blush powder are blended well. Dip in the brush with any highlighting powder you prefer.



Apply sparingly right above
the blush powder
and you can also include
highlighting the browbone
if needed



Here's the final look

(Note: I applied more than the usual
to show the colors on photo)




This is just one of the many
contouring
and blushing techniques :)
Try to experiment
and see which works
best
for your facials structure!
Do have fun on the process!
Keep smilin'!

Stay Happy!


Happy Labor Holiday!!!



Want to check out blush tips for different face shapes? Smile and click here

55 comments :

  1. Nice tut sissy!!! Contouring makes such a huge difference to your overall look. I love whoever that came up with this technique. ehehe

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  2. nice tutorial :) I think i need to get one kabuki brush too :X

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  3. great tutorial, nikki! It was very helpful. neat technique for applying blush first then only buffing.

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  4. this is great. i need me one of those contouring palette.

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  5. this is so informative.
    thanks nikki. :)
    i personally have high cheek bones.
    but i do wanna make my face sharper.
    the cheek bones make my face so round

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  6. Very well-written! The pictures are so easy to follow. Great tutorial. :)

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  7. wow.. very helpful.. i always tend to over do it.. :D thanks for this post..

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  8. Wow, it was really helpful of you to apply more than you need to show the effect...

    My camera always eat color away so if I ever apply enough blusher that actually shows (even a tiny bit) I will be looking like a clown in real life...so I never wanted to to cheek swatch for blushers

    You are sure very dedicated...now all I need is a bronzer than doesn't look orange on me...

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  9. Contouring face is what I'm not good at. :(( Thank you for this tut. Nikki!! gonna try this later...

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  10. Pretty! Reminds me of Benefit's "Do the Sexy Sweep" or something...

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  11. ooooh your blending is FLAWLESS :)

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  12. i love it! thanks for posting that. i'm also researching contouring on the nose :)

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  13. Hi! I really have full cheeks, er chubby cheeks, and this is very helpful. Thank you.

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  14. ooh! yay for tutorial! \o/ my face is like 80% cheeks so this is really useful! I've been contouring the lower part of my jaws though. (coz I have too much fat going on there) I am not a blush person and I rather keep my face tan ^^; i don't know why but I want brown-ish toned blush.

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  15. Great tutorial Nikki!! Your face definitely looks slimmer and more chiseled after!! :D

    I always forget to do the "C" when highlighting!! I just highlight above my cheekbones!! :P

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  16. i dont own a fan brush
    can u tell me more about it? ^^

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  17. woahh!! i never know how to contour my face!
    this seems really easy and fun to do!
    thanks for making this tutorial~~ :D

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  18. NIkki this looks like a pro did it! Very impressed ... good job!
    I've been using MAC Taupe blush for the past year so I think I've been contouring without knowing, lol! But I recently wanted to get a "real blush" so I'm looking around...think I want to save up for NARS Orgasm. I remember it looked stunning on you a while back from your review :)
    Renee

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  19. hey thx for the tut! i suck at contouring so this helped, hehe

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  20. EbeautyBlog, I know twin!!!! Who in the world would have thought of contouring your face??? And body?? It's a neat technique :)

    Acutelife, you can use any face brush to do the buffing :) No need to purchase more brushes, not unless you are finding excuse to purchase one *winks*

    Connie, thanks! I'm glad you find it nice :)

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  21. iambeautiful20, any dark powder foundation can work as contour powder too :)

    LyNn, wow, lucky you for high cheekbones :) I bet your face isn't round! :) You're welcome!

    Jen, Whew, I'm glad you find the photos easy to follow, since this is not a video, i am worried on how to explain this well! :)

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  22. Debi, thanks!

    donnarence, I know what you mean! Most people either overdo it or use so sparingly they think it doesn't make any difference :)

    Citrine, yes, I do the test, applied, then shot! And if I don't see any colors, I do re apply again :) I know what you mean about blushes, when I do FOTD, most of my blush colors goes "gone with the wind" lol

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  23. Nehs, you are welcome! enjoy contouring!!!

    Lisa, oohh I don't know about Benfit's "do the sexy sweep" :) I will take a look at it :)

    Audrie, thank you sweetie!

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  24. Ida, nose contouring??? EKKKK!! I know what you mean, it is difficult to contour the nose...but there is a trick *winks*

    Pammy, I am glad this is helpful! thanks for leaving a comment and letting me know!!!

    Gia,no way! Your face is NOT 80% cheeks! I've seen photos of you!!! LOL

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  25. Jenn, yay! thanks!!!! The C on highlighting definitely helps! :) Especially on photographs!

    Vanessa M, tanks

    Yumeko, sure! I will tell you more about the fan brush ! :)

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  26. miRaCLe, yes! I'm glad I help out :) Even a bit!!! Thanks sweetie for the sweet comment!

    Renee, awww, thank you sweetie!!! NARS Orgasm is something really nice but you have to swatch them on your skin first..on testers as it doesn't show up to some people :)

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  27. so thats wut the white one is for! lol hmm how about conturin other places.. like nose forehead n such? i wanna see! xoxo


    -jeSMakeup

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  28. Nice tutorial! Very helpful... always wanted to know how to contour properly (;

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  29. Thanks for the tutorial! That's actually really really helpful! :D

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  30. Trang Do! Hey how have you been girl! It's been awhile!!! thanks for leaving a comment!

    Lipstick Staiin, lol sure! i will probably do the rest of the face contourring soon :)

    E.motion in Motion, thanks for saying that this is helpful! :)

    Catherine, I'm glad! :) I wonder how you contour yours?

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  31. Trang Do! Hey how have you been girl! It's been awhile!!! thanks for leaving a comment!

    Lipstick Staiin, lol sure! i will probably do the rest of the face contourring soon :)

    E.motion in Motion, thanks for saying that this is helpful! :)

    Catherine, I'm glad! :) I wonder how you contour yours?

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  32. your picture tutorials are the best nikki! so easy to follow and really self-explanatory

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  33. I love the tutorial! just wanted to let you know that I tagged you. :P

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  34. Thank you for this ^_^!!!
    I have a fat face so I needed this :-P ;D.

    I'm still collecting things for our blind swap :D, I'll tell you when I'm done ^_^.

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  35. nice tutorial nikki! i have full cheeks too and i really envy those girls with prominent cheekbones.

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  36. Thanks so much for showing me how to do this, I have been wondering and its great that you made it step by step pics :)

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  37. JENSMAKEUPBAG , thanks for saying so, I really want to make it clear as possible :)

    My-my, really I'll check it out :)

    Cris, hey, no worries, same here! i'm on the process of slowly collecting too :)

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  38. Crystal, true, I don't have prominent cheekbones so I might as well create one :P

    happy1234, you are very much welcome and I'm glad you liked the step by step photos :)

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  39. nikki! i just wanted to tell you that i love reading your blog everyday. i was wondering where you got your fan brush! and what brand is it? ive been looking for a thicker full one (: thank you and keep up the great work!

    amy

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  40. Amy, thank you so much for the kind comment :) About the fan brush, you can find them at selected Watson's branch, I bought mine at Landmark it costs around Php200 ! :)

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  41. That's a great tutorial. I love the difference contouring can do :)

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  42. Thx for the tutorial, it really helps a lot!♥

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  43. great tut! i love the pics. visuals are always good :)

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  44. kk~
    great tutorial!
    so I've been trying to contour better...recently...and thought I had it down. Well My friend took a side shot of me at the club this past weekend...and lets just say I was mistaken...AH! lol Blending is mega important...I need to try and blend more :P

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  45. wow! super thanks NIKKI for answering my question! That was fast! hehe.. You're the best talaga!! I'll practise tomorrow =)

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  46. Pixie , hey there! I know! I've been the laziest at Contouring but the effect really is phenomenal :)

    ✿Ji✿, you are very much welcome! it's my pleasure to help out :)

    aquaracer, thanks! I'm glad you find the visuals clear enough!

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  47. Rasilla, yes, so true! blending is super important, we sometimes tend to add more contour powder if we see that it's not visible to our eyes ! LOL

    Khymm, this one is for you! :) Thanks for the query!

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  48. OOO yay! A contouring tutorial! I've been waiting for this too hehe.

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  49. Kasumi! LOL you don't need this! hahahah you really don't!

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  50. Hi Nikki! Is the CS contour palette good? I'd like to order sana in prep for may 11 :D teeheee

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  51. Kim!!! :) You can use mine! Don't worry about it, then that's the time you will see if you really need it or not :) :) We can share! we're classmates kaya!

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  52. wow thanks nikki! hugz =D cyah

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  53. No worries Kim !:) See you on Monday :)

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I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to comment your questions, suggestions and just anything you may want to say! Keep smiling and stay happy!