How to contour: How to do it and what you need to know

1. Map out your angles

Once you apply a primer and your foundation, nows the time to start mapping it out. The darker shade for your contour should be 2-3 shades darker than your actual skin tone in order to get the shadowed look. Don't apply too much product to start or else the next step will be too difficult. Once you've found your shade, take the product and apply it to the areas you want to contour. The main areas you should be applying the darker product is just slightly under your cheekbones, around your forehead, along your jaw line and down the sides of your nose.

2. Apply lighter shade on highlight areas

Next, highlight the highlight areas. In doing this you not only create more shape to your face and brighten the areas but you emphasise the contour you just laid down. You'll want to find a highlight shade that matches the undertone of your skin, whether it is neutral or has pink or yellow undertones. Take the product and apply it under your eyes in a triangle shape, the middle of your forehead, down the bridge of your nose and if you like a more dramatic look, under the darker shade on your cheekbone. The reason we place the light and dark shades in two steps is so the shades not mix together and go super muddy. Plus it allows you to clean up anywhere the darker shade went and we didn't want it to go.

3. Blend into contour

Now we want to blend this all together so it looks seamless and stunning. You can either use a beauty sponge or a buffer brush and blend this into the skin. Use a brush to blend in the darker shade, then a beauty blender to blend in the light shade. However, make sure you don't blend or place the products on top of each other or mix them together too much or else it will begin to look muddy and cakey and that's not a good look.

4. Set with a powder

We're so close to being done and you could pretty much be the sixth Kardashian sister. However, unless we set this stuff, it's going to melt off or transfer and all our hard work was for nothing. Therefore you'll want to set the highlighter areas with a loose translucent setting powder. The Laura Mercier is my personal favourite as it provides a flawless finish and no flashback. For your contour, take a bronzer that isn't too warm or cool toned and lightly dust this over the area. If you want a sharper look then apply a little more products. The Benefit Hoola Bronzer is a perfect in-between shade for this step!

Do:

• Balance it out with a highlighter and blush. This will make the look more natural
• Even it out with your eyes. Applying just a bit of bronzer in the crease can do the trick.
• Layer it. Start with a little bit of product and build it up.
• Contour to your face shape. Understand that what works for others may not work for you.

Don't:

• Don't use a shimmer shade. Make sure the product is completely matte or at least contains no glitter.
• Don't use a warm shade or you'll look orange
• Don't use a super cool tone shade
• Don't choose shades too light or too dark
• Don't place too much product on your face. It makes it incredibly difficult to keep the contour in the right areas.

1. Square face

If you have a square face it means that the measurements of all points of your face are fairly equal and your jaw line is sharp rather than round. To contour this face shape you'd want to apply your contour shade to the sides of the face on the cheekbones, forehead and also jaw line in an effort to lengthen the fact and make it look less square.

2. Round face

If you have a round face this means that your cheekbones and face length are equal as well as your forehead and jawline length. With a round face you want to put some more angles into your face, so emphasising your cheekbones with contour is one of the best ways to do this! You can also place a little around the temples and jawline to lengthen the face a little.

3. Oval face

An oval face means that your face is longer than it is wider creating an oval shape. You're jawline is also thinner than your forehead width. To even out your face mainly place the contour on your cheekbones as well as a small amount on your outer forehead. Then use highlighter to emphasise the high points of your face.

4. Oblong face

An oblong face is ever so slightly different to that of an oval. The face is again longer than it is wide and the chin is quite rounded rather than sharp. Therefore, you'd want to use your contour to sharpen your jawline as well as the top of your forehead to create a less rounded shape.

5. Heart face

Probably one the most ideal face shapes when it comes to contouring. The forehead and cheekbones are the widest part of a heart shaped face and the chin comes to a slight point. Here you can contour the cheeks slightly but if you go too heavy you can start looking a little gaunt. Also contour the edge of your forehead in order to slim the area and lengthen your face. The reason a heart shape face is ideal is because this is already the main shape people aim for when it comes to contouring.

6. Diamond face

For a diamond face the cheekbones are the widest point of the face with the forehead and jaw being close to each other in width, however the chin does come to a slight point. The main features of a diamond face are the prominent cheek bones so work with your contour to flaunt the natural curve of your face. Feel free to even place a small amount of contour on the temples.

1. Nose contouring

Nose contouring is one of the most popular forms of contouring. It allows you to create the illusion that you're nose is small than it is. Whilst this doesn't necessarily work for a profile angle it definitely does when facing front on. When contouring you're nose it varies from person to person and the shape you're aiming for. Essentially, you want to place your dark contour shade on the sides of your nose. The closer these lines are, the smaller your nose will look. Plus, grabbing a little bit of highlighter and placing this on the tip of your nose and down the bridge will emphasise the look further.

2. Lip contouring

Unlike nose contouring, the point of lip contouring is to try and make your lips look as though they're bigger. This achieved using a liner and a lighter lipstick shade and an optional gloss. Using the liner, you'd want to follow the natural curve of your lips, but take the line slightly outside your natural lip line. Then use a light lip shade to create an ombre look, creating the illusion of bigger lips. This is a trend that came in significantly after Kylie Jenner and her all too famous lips after she stated the reason for their growth was over-lining. However it was later found out she'd had lip fillers.

3. Boob contouring

If you're someone who wouldn't mind rocking a little bit more cleavage then this is the trick for you. Complete honesty, you do need to have a little bit of boob to work with in order for this trick to work. The idea of this is to emphasise the already existing shadows in order to create a more chesty look. Even if you don't wantin to create some cleavage, this technique is perfect to emphasise your décolletage too! Using your contour and highlight shades as shown in the image, blend these in as you would normally and it's as simple as that! Just ensure you're not wearing light colours or else the makeup will probably rub onto your outfit.

4. Eye contouring

Contouring your eyes is pretty much the same as doing your eye makeup. However, there are certain ways to do your eye makeup that will flatter your eyeshape more! Using the guide you can see how you can apply eyeshadow to create a subtle contoured look but for your eyes!

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