Be your own canvas, master contouring and lighting

Maybe you feel a little confused with so many terms: contouring, concealer, strobing, highlighter. Stop! Let’s take a break and revisit how to use lights, shadows, foundations and primers to highlight the best of your face according to its shape.

As you know, different folks, different strokes, and the same goes with faces, so enough of going around without knowing if you have a diamond or an oval face. Knowing your face type is almost as important as knowing your blood type, this will greatly simplify the way to apply currently trending makeup techniques.

But first… a short glossary:

Contour: must be, at most, two tones darker than your skin, it’s used to add depth to your face and conceal flaws. THE DEFINER Contour + Highlight Crayon is perfect for this.

Luminizer: must be up to two tones lighter than your skin, it’s used to highlight features and add a touch of glow, try our I'M GLOWING Creamy Stick Luminizer

Contouring: use of contour to outline the face by playing with lights and shadows.

Strobing: lighting the spots on the face where light is reflected naturally to highlight your attributes.

The goal of both techniques is to frame facial angles and to correct bone structures to make them look more outlined. Now that we’re clear, let’s put all hands –and brushes, to the face!

Oval face

If you look like Eva Mendez, Megan Fox and Jessica Alba, then your face is longer than it is wide and you have won an oval face on the DNA lottery. Apply contour on the edge of the hairline and below your cheekbones from the ears to halfway through your cheeks. Light below and around your eyes, at the center of your forehead and at the center of your chin.

Rectangular face

If you can draw a straight line from your temple to your chin, congratulations, you have a rectangular face. This is Olivia Wilde’s, Sandra Bullock’s and Tom Cruise’s ex’s face type, whose faces are significantly longer than they are wide. Where to contour? At the edges of the forehead, close to the hairline, under the jaw and below the cheekbones. Where to light? Below the eyes in an inverted triangle, on the brow bone and at the center of the chin.

Round face

Your face is exactly as wide as it is long like a cute little ball. You share this face type with Demi Lovato, Chrissy Teigen and Kirsten Dunst. Have their same fortune in makeup and contour: on both sides of the forehead leaving the center space clear, below the cheekbones and on the edge of your chin. Keep up the good work, lighting around your eyes, from the brow bone to just below the lower eyelids, as well as at the center of the chin and the forehead.

Diamond face

You have a pointy chin, like Anna Kendrick and your face is longer than it is wide... like Anna Kendrick’s. Be cautious with contour, use it just below your cheekbones up to halfway across the cheek. You can be more generous with the luminizer, use it below the eyes in an inverted triangle, on the brow bone, and at the center of the forehead and chin.

Heart face

If your face shape is as adorable as Selena Gomez’, you have a heart or inverted triangle face, that is, you have a strong jaw and a prominent chin. We recommend focusing the contour on the edges of your face, the lower part of your cheeks and on the upper corners of the forehead. Keep contour away from your chin! Light your temples, the area below the eyes and the center of your forehead.

Extra tips:

Prepare your face with a primer.

Always finish with a loose powder.