MAKEUP BASICS 101 ON HOW TO CONTOUR AND HIGHLIGHT YOUR FACE: PART 1 CONTOUR

Hello everyone.
I love makeup is no secret as I am a beauty blogger and most of my posts are makeup related. But for today's post I am going to share why I love makeup so much. It sometimes works magic on the face. Contour and highlight are two such tools of makeup which literally transform your face. I shall demonstrate to the best of my capability how I contour and highlight my face.
CONTOUR: What is contouring? To those who are relatively new to makeup or arent much into it let me begin by explaining what is contouring.
Contouring is basically sculpting your face in the areas where the lights dont hit the face directly and create a shadow like effect and hence brings out the contoured features more sharply and angled thereby slimming the face or the contoured area. Contouring the face allows you to add shadow and depth, not all of us are blessed with the perfect nose or the perfect cheek bones. Well no one is and you dont need to be. Contouring allows you to create the illusion. Here is how I do it. For this demonstration I am  using cream based product although one may choose powder based product too.

Taking my SONIA KASHUK FOUNDATION BRUSH I take some of the cream foundation in the 3 shades darker to my skin tone and make a fish face and apply it below me cheek bones along the length of my cheek bone.

Next I apply it along the jaw line and below my chin.

Next I apply it along the edges of the face running it all the way through the temple to the jaw-line.

Next I take the left over product on the brush and run it along the sides of the bridge of the nose like so.

 Next begins the blending. taking the same brush I start to blend in the foundation slowly with soft hands not using too much pressure on the hands else it makes the face looks muddy. You may use a sponge wedge as well, just make sure to damp it with water and squeeze out any excess water. Blend blend blend. And you are done.

From personal experience I can say few things.
1. You are not going to get it perfect when you try it first time around. So just practice you will get it right .
2. It might look odd at first since you are trying something new for the first time, but take pictures and you will see the difference.
3. When you begin contouring always take less product and build it up as required, dont load up too much product and make it messy. You can always add more product as required.
This has become a lengthy post. I shall continue with high-lighting in part two.
Hopefully the collage below will give a better idea of the before and after.
Left side pictures in the collages are BEFORE CONTOUR and Right side are AFTER CONTOUR.

 Here is another one, hopefully you can tell the difference.

After taking the pictures I realized I could have contoured the face a bit more, then the difference would have been more noticeable , but I am overall satisfied you can always add more if you want sharper features or if you are going to be photographed in flash. This much contouring is appropriate ( according to me) for regular basis.
I have also highlighted my face in the "after shots" but will do another detailed post on that, as this post was getting too lengthy.
I hope it was useful.
UNTIL NEXT TIME...

PHYSICAN'S FORMULA BRONZE BOOSTER GLOW BOOSTING PRESSED POWDER IN MEDUIM TO DARK REVIEW

Hello my lovelies,
I have been wanting to get this bronzer forever and then it took me forever to write this review.
This has been the most raved about bronzer in the beauty circles after the NARS LAGUNA bronzer, I wanted one anyway so I thought why not try this one, but then this isnt readily available here I had to wait and well I finally got my hands on it and now I know why all the hype.
WHAT THE BRAND SAYS:

Description

Bronzing powder is formulated with glow activators¿a blend of nourishing vitamins, moisturizers and anti-oxidants¿to create a healthy sun-kissed glow. Bronze Booster Glow-Boosting Pressed Bronzer by Physicians Formula glides on smoothly for even coverage. Use alone or over makeup. Mirrored compact includes a precise-application brush. Hypoallergenic. Fragrance free. Dermatologist approved.

Directions

May be worn alone or over makeup. Lightly brush powder over face and neck for a natural-looking tan glow. To accentuate and contour, apply more over cheekbones. For the most even application, be sure to tap excess powder from brush before applying.

PRICE: $14.95 USD This bronzer is priced on the higher side for a drugstore brand.
Packaging is like a standard compact packaging with two sections ,the fisrt one opens up with hte product and a mirror and

the one at the bottom has a brush, which is rather hard and rough on the skin. I quiet like the packaging and specially the color, gives it rich looking feel. But it is a tad bit bulky.

When I opened it I was disappointed as I thought t would be too light for my skin and wouldn't show up as I wanted to use as a contour product also.But after I swatched it I was pleasantly surprised as it appeared to be just about right.

So next came the pigmentation test, I quiet liked it, you dont need a lot of color for the effect to show up, and the bronzer blends like a dream . Another thing that I liked the most was it didnt oxidize on me, it did not turn orange after some time.

But this bronzer is not matte, it has fine very fine milled shimmer to it, which I was aware of while purchasing it, but hoped that it wouldnt be too evident, and its not, the shimmer rather gives the face a glow under sunlight ,  and otherwise it isnt very evident and obvious.

I use an angled blush brush to apply it as a contour under my blush, and also to contour the entire face where ever required. Sometimes I use it with a bigger blush brush to warm up the face.

So overall I am quiet loving it. It feels very light on the skin and blends very easily and also the shimmer present is very very fine and rather imparts a glow to the skin. I would definitely recommend it and repurchase this one.
Until next time.