I think that highlighting and contouring properly can give a lot of value to your look. It can be difficult to do this with great care and attention. Yet at the same time, you can’t use any product or any style of contouring/highlighting. It does require a bit of an experimentation to be honest. But if you do it right, I can say for a fact that it will end up improving your style and look.

Highlighting process:

1. For me, the most important thing is to apply primer and foundation first. I rub the primer into my skin and use it as the base for my makeup. Then I Let it dry for a little bit, before I apply the foundation. Ideally, it’s important to have the normal foundation shade and then you apply it with a brush. I know some women skip foundation because they want a more natural look, I find that to be fine.
2. After that, you add concealer to the blemishes. What I try to avoid is to not add under the eyes. Add the concealer to the nose, forehead and cheeks. I always try to not go very heavy on concealer, because that can end up making the look more challenging and different than it should.
3. What I always recommend is to use a concealer that’s 2-3 shades lighter than your regular concealer. The idea here is to ensure that certain parts of your face will stand out. In this case, you want to highlight certain parts of your face. If you’re using your regular concealer, then that can be a problem since it will even things out. I also tend to mix the concealer with a natural one that will bring a slightly darker shade.
4. Try to draw an upside down triangle under your eyes with your concealer. Normally, the area right under your eyes is darker in regards to the skin tone. Once you draw it, then fill the triangle with concealer. A trick I learned is that if you highlight that area under your eyes, it will also make your cheeks stand out. Stuff like that makes it great for me, and it shows the exceptional value something like this can provide.
5. After that, I make a concealer line that goes down the nose bridge. Make sure that your line is thin, start fro0m the top of the nose, and then you bring the line down to the tip of your nose. I learned this can help accentuate the length of your nose, while making it look smaller too.
6. I also add a small triangle that’s also upside down right between the eyebrows too. I know not everyone does this, but if you want to make your brow bones stand out, then it can be very helpful!
7. After doing that, I recommend dabbing concealer at the bottom part of your chin. Avoid adding concealer at the top of your chin, because that can make the lips look and feel uneven, something you may want to avoid.
8. Lastly, what you want to do is to blend the concealer with a damp blender or a brush. Doing this will help you ensure that you highlight certain parts of your face, without overshooting.

Contouring tips
When I focus on contouring, the main focus for me is to blend a darker foundation with my own. I go around 4-5 shades darker than my natural shade, and mix a cap of that foundation with a capful of my own foundation. That helps create the perfect blend, and for me it seems to do a very good job.
After that, I draw the line under the cheekbones. What I recommend is to suck the cheeks into your mouth. It might seem drastic, but it allows you to draw a good line and then you can swipe the line properly. I know some of you might use a contour stick, in that case just apply the stick to your face and it will deliver the expected results.
Once I finish with that process, my focus is to add contour lines from the eyebrow arch to the hairline. Generally, I recommend using a flat, small makeup brush that helps swipe a line above the eyebrows, right towards the hairline. Of course, this is good for those that have a larger forehead. If you have a smaller forehead, then this might not even be necessary.
If you want to make your nose look a bit smaller, you can add a few contour lines along your nose bridge. A small brush can help draw 2 lines on each side of the bridge. These lines will elongate your nose, and you will make it look smaller, which is always a handy thing to do.
Another idea I use while contouring is I always tend to draw contour lines under the jaw line. You just need to make some contour lines from the ear right to the chin’s beginning, so it certainly helps. With that in mind, these lines can be prominent and thick. I don’t recommend this if you have a strong jawline, but if you want to define it a bit more, these ideas can help!
A few ways to add finishing touches
• After you contour or highlight certain areas, you can easily continue adding mascara, eyeshadow and lipstick. It’s a good idea to do this along with a complete facial makeup, if possible. I know it works best for me in those situations, so keep that in mind.
• I also recommend brushing your browser into the contour areas that you want to accentuate. That’s a great idea because it will allow you to spread the bronzer and make your contour even better. Of course, this doesn’t apply if you want a natural look. In that case, adding a bronzer is not necessary.
• If you want to shimmer some areas, the way I recommend doing that is via applying powder or liquid highlighter. That can be great because it will help enhance and refine your look, while also making it stand out.
• I also think that suing a spray or setting powder also helps. It assured you that the makeup lasts for a good amount of time. I do recommend not using setting powder since it leads to a phenomenon called flashback. If you will get your picture taken with flash, you want to avoid this powder. It will make you look unnatural, and usually that’s the type of stuff you want to avoid. A setting spray is usually much better and it will still convey a great look.
I think these tips and ideas can help improve your contouring and highlighting process. It will take a little bit to do it properly and without errors, but thankfully the entire process is very seamless and easy to understand. I am very passionate about improving my look and always trying out new ways to add some ways to enhance and improve my look. I think highlighting and contouring the right way can provide real value to your look. All you need is to give it a try for yourself, and I am sure you will be amazed with the results!