Scouse Bird Problems – Cheats guide to cheekbones – the contouring blog

Posted On: 07/01/2014

By: Scouse Bird

After the huge success of my ‘Cheats guide to a curly blow’ blog which to date has been read an amazing 23,967 times, I’ve decided to get my arse into gear and get around to writing a blog that I’ve been getting begged for for some time.

I’d been hearing a lot about contouring and if you’ve ever looked through Samer Khouzami’s make up pics you’ll see why I was intrigued. I visited Illamasqua in the Met Quarter in summer last year to find out a) what a difference it would make to my face and b) how the hell to do it. I have never looked back! I’ve been asked for a while to do a blog about what products I use and what shades etc so here you go:

The tools

Firstly I use a stiff, slightly angled contouring brush to actually apply the dark contouring in the right areas followed by a highlighting brush for highlighting (obv) and for blending and buffing the foundation. 1. If you use any other type of brush/any method other than buffing* to apply your foundation then you’re living in the past and you really need to get on it, it’s amazing. 2. You can apply bad makeup with good brushes but not the other way around so I’d seriously say the tools of the trade are the most important!

*Buffing by the way is applying a small amount of foundation in small circular motions over then skin. You’ll get a much more even finish, your make up won’t feel as heavy and your foundation lasts much longer. I usually squeeze a bit of foundation out onto the lid of the creme foundation (see further down) and use it as a kind of painters palette to get the brush evenly loaded for the rest of the face.

The Products

I use a Skinbase foundation in my shade (a 9) and at first I used a pale concealer for the highlighting but once I gained a bit more confidence I started using the pure white foundation (Skinbase 01). This is also a great buy for goths.

For the contouring I use a dark creme foundation in a 355 (which has currently been reduced to £10 in the sale).

The technique

The ultimate goal here is to create depth in strategic places to make your face look thinner. Areas to contour using the dark foundation: The cheekbones, the sides of your nose, the temples, the jawline and just under the bottom lip (makes your pout look bigger). Areas to highlight: Under the eyes/top of cheekbones, bridge of nose, forehead just above the brows, chin.

I apply Illamasqua hydrabase first (best primer ever) before working on the areas I’ve just mentioned. Here’s a picture of Holly from Geordie Shore getting her contour on just so you have a reference of how ridiculous you should look while doing it. You can keep it subtle for an everyday look or go really dramatic and make the darks really dark and the lights really light if you want full on night out glamour.

Once you’ve done that, start buffing your foundation over the top (a tiny, tiny amount) and blending the contoured areas and voila! You’ll end up with subtle scupltured cheekbones, a slender nose and a perfect pout!

As a finishing touch I like to dust a bit of the Illamasqua Sculpting Powder Duo (shades Heliopolis & Lumos)  on. Lumos, a shimmering highlighter just on the cheekbones and Heliopolis a subtle scuplter in a number 3 shape (temples, cheek hollow, jawline).

So there you go that’s my guide to contouring. I got 99 problems but not having amazing cheekbones ain’t one!

XOXO

Scouse Bird

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