Beauty

Top 3 Tips for Perfect Makeup Contouring

By Raven Durán | March 2, 2015

Contouring is one of millennial’s favorite makeup tricks. What woman doesn’t want beautifully highlighted cheekbones and a glowing complexion? We’ve all seen the drastic changes contouring can do to the face, making noses appear slimmer, jaws more defined, skin more radiant, etc. But unfortunately learning to accomplish the look is an art and we have seen many sad, powdery and striped faces due to lack of proper blending techniques. We thought there could be no better person to help us achieve a perfectly highlighted face than Allure Beauty Blogger of the Year finalist (yeah that’s right) Angela Lanter. Angela is a trailblazer in the beauty and fashion blogging community and has established a huge following as the founder of Hello Gorgeous! She was named a finalist for the Allure Magazine’s Beauty Blogger of the Year Award and was honored with the “Spotlight Award” for Blogger of the Year at the Popsugar Awards. She’s also been featured in campaigns for Vanity Fair, Allure, American Eagle, Gypsy 05, Forever 21, Steve Madden and Beyond the Rack, among others. She currently stands as a brand ambassador for both Paul Mitchell and Garnier and she sat down with us to discuss the three most important tips on achieving the best blend.

So now, ditch the tribal face paint and let’s get to it.

Top 3 Tips for Perfect Contouring by Angela Lanter

Highlight and Contour have become the beauty buzzwords lately. Until Kim K. dazzled us with selfies of her face slathered in striped makeup, not many of us had even heard those three happy words combined, but let me be the first to tell you, a women who’s properly highlighted and contoured turns heads every single time.

I’m a self-proclaimed HAC (Highlighting and Contouring) queen. In fact, I’ve already done three tutorials on it! Contouring can change the appearance of your face entirely, or it can be used to focus on just one area, such as your nose. A great highlight can pick up light and show off your cheekbones like never before.

Here are my three most important tips:

Highlight the high plains of your face (cheekbones, forehead, chin, bridge of nose),and don’t forget to always add a little highlight to your cupid’s bow and inner corners of the eyes. This will give the appearance of a full upper lip and a nice bright eyed look!
Contour the areas you want to carve out, or slim down. Doing this can help create the appearance of more prominent cheekbones or even help hide a double chin!
Blend, blend, BLEND! It’s so important to be sure that you’ve blended out all harsh lines. You want to look flawless, not striped like a zebra.