What is Contouring Makeup?
Contouring involves using slightly lighter or darker makeup than your natural skin tone to sculpt and add dimension to your face. Contrary to concealer and foundation, which are usually the same color as your skin, contouring is a technique that involves blending too dark and too light shades to create an illusion of shadows and lights.
Makeup artists use contouring to enhance cheekbones, slim down the nose, and chisel out the jaw.
Five Nose Contouring Tips
You can create the illusion of a longer, slimmer nose by incorporating nose contouring into your makeup routine. These makeup tips will help you contour your nose with ease.
1. Use after base makeup. Before your nose contour, apply primer, concealer, and foundation to your face. You can apply contour lines after this, but the results will be less visible.
2. Blend with tools of high quality. Blending is crucial to contouring. Use a small, angled brush to draw contour lines along the sides of your nose, and then a small fluffy blending brush for blending the lines. Blend the contour with a makeup sponge. This will prevent the nose’s edges from appearing too dark compared to the rest of the face. Apply a highlighter with a fan brush on the high points of the nose.
3. Select the right shade. Select a contour color a few shades darker than your skin tone. Too light a contour shade will not produce enough shadow to achieve the desired effect. A too-dark color can look unnatural and make it difficult to blend. To make it easier, many brands offer palettes that come in different colors to suit various skin tones.
4. Take a look at the formula. Both cream and powder contour products are available. The former is best for small areas and concentration, while the latter works better for blending. Cream contour will smudge more on oily skin. Consider contour powder if you have oily skin or a T-zone.
5. Use contour makeup. Bronzer can be used to contour, but a contour palette is best. Contour products have a range dark enough to produce shadows. Conversely, bronzers give you a more radiant glow and often contain shimmer. This won’t create the best shadowing effects.
How to contour your nose
Here are step-by-step instructions on how to contour your nose.
1. Gather all your products. Place your makeup brushes and other products on the work surface as you would typically, and apply concealer, foundation, and skincare. Learn to apply concealer under the eye.
2. Draw a contour line. Draw two thin, parallel lines using the darkest color in your contour palette with a small, angled makeup brush. The width of the lines should be adjusted to your facial shape. To give the impression of a narrower nose, draw the lines closely together while leaving some space between them. Draw a line at the tip of your nose to connect the parallel bars. Make a horizontal line on top of the previous one. This will create a box at the end of your nose that you can blend later.
3. Blend lines. Blend each line by dragging the powder along the sides of the nose away from the bridge. Blending over the bridge of the nose is not recommended. Continue to mix until all harsh contour lines disappear.
4. Add highlighter. Use a fan brush and highlighter to run down the middle of your nose or the bridge. Finish by adding more highlighter at the tip of your nostril.
5. Set the contour and blend it. Use your makeup sponge and blend any product left on your nose’s sides into your concealer and foundation for a natural appearance. Seal the cream contour with translucent setting powder to create a longer-lasting, more profound effect. If the contour powder is still visible and you want to soften it, use a little of the lightest shade.
