Happy BEAUTY MONDAY, fam!!! It’s one of the last days of April (like what) and that means summer is coming and sun kissed skin is BACK IN STYLE. Out with the pale, vampire-esque looks of fall and winter (which is sad for me, since that’s pretty much my constant state of being). I’m pretty stoked about today’s post because it’s going to be super informative for those of you who may be confused re: the popular beauty trend, contouring. Is it for everyone? How do you do it? SHOULD YOU EVEN BE DOING IT? What is the best way to get gorgeous cheekbones and a sun kissed look without looking like you rubbed dirt all over your face? All good questions and I am ready to answer them. Let’s dive into this.
Why You Should Be BRONZING Not CONTOURING
What is contouring?
Contouring was made popular (BUT NOT INVENTED – this has been around since the early 1900s, believe it or not) by Kim Kardashian-West a few years back with her makeup artist, Mario. It works to carve out the bones in your face, leaving your looking chiseled and slim with the help of colors darker than your skin to emulate shadows on your face. It works by mimicking your natural bone structure, just making it more defined. It’s definitely recommended here that you are using a matte, cream product to achieve the most believable results. You want to make sure you hit under the cheekbones, the crease of the eyes, under the jawline, the temples and alongside the nose in order to create that optical illusion of sharp bone structure.
What is bronzing?
Bronze is less precise, and doesn’t create an entire new face – but rather, enhances the bone structure you already have. It is popular during spring and summer because we all want that tan, sun kissed glow. It still adds shadow and depth to the face, but it needs much less accuracy. I like to opt for products with a bit of shimmer (not glitter) that reflect nicely in the sun and will fade better throughout the day. Bronzers aren’t quite as dark as contours, and they tend to be much warmer than cool-toned contours (often leaning a bit red – so be careful when shade matching).
Why choose one over the other?
Contouring has become a beast of the makeup world. Every brand is now selling palettes and products aimed to help you achieve a perfectly flawless face with 27 colors and a little sponge. If I’m being totally honest – I just don’t see how anyone has the TIME in a normal day to do a real, complete contour routine. Is it perfect for Vogue editorial makeup? Absolutely. Your wedding day? You could definitely pull it off. But running errands or a fun date night? It’s just unrealistic. And that is coming from someone who sits down and spends between 45 minutes – 2 hours every day doing her makeup. Contouring adds a good 15-20 minuets onto my normal skin routine.
The other issue I have with aggressive contouring is that it simply layers products upon product on your face in a way that does tend to translate beautiful on camera – but in person looks extremely cake-y and overdone. NOW. If that’s your jam – girl GO FOR IT. You should wear whatever the heck makes you feel flawless. I’m here for it. BUT. If you are an everyday average human who is NOT a makeup artist: it’s super easy to go overboard with this type of makeup application.
Instead – I recommend grabbing a luminescent bronzer to put on overtop of your foundation right in the hollows of your cheek bones, temples and jawline. It takes about two minutes to do, and looks so much more natural and less product-y than contour (on anyone – even a makeup artist. At some point, there really is such a thing as too.much.product). It’s radiant, natural (but enhanced) and with help you achieve a more even and defined bone structure if that’s what you are going for.
PIN THIS FOR LATER:
Bronzing and contouring definitely both have their place in the makeup world – and God Bless Kim Kardashian for really driving that point home for us all. But we don’t all have 24/7 makeup artists on call to make sure we’ve blended out each layer of cream product on our face so we don’t look like we have put ashy brown stripes all down the sides of our faces. Bronzing warms your face, adds a bit of sun and color to your cheeks, defines your features and is SUPER easy to apply. Plus, it’s a powder product so it isn’t going to look overly done on your face (plus it will fade a LOT nicer).
Do you contour or bronze?! Tell me why or why not in the comments below!
I totally agree that bronzing is best for the day to day. I do makeup everyday and it’s so so much easier to just throw some bronzer on for more definition when I feel like I need it!
I was always scared of highlighting and contouring until I met Maskcara Beauty. I can do a full application in 10 minutes. I love that they are cream products and the idea is to place the products where you need them instead of (to your point) adding 15 layers of product to the skin. Cream products have changed my world and have done wonders for my skin 🙂