Contouring for Dummies

Among the top three most terrifying inventions of our time (the Shake Weight and Egg Cuber in second and third place, respectively), contouring is number one.

I gave in to it during the first wave of contour hoopla. How could you not when the proof was in every miraculous before and after photo on Instagram? I once bought a makeup palette with more interpretations of beige than a Nancy Meyers kitchen. It came with a half eaten croissant and a note hand written by Meryl Streep that was like, “LOL, GOOD LUCK.”

But it doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, it can be easy — so long as you simplify your tools.

Before we begin: Ditch the 200-shade color palette that someone on a late night infomercial tricked you into buying.

Choose a mini palette that literally has just two colors to avoid hue-related stress. For the below GIFS — oh yea, GIFS are coming — I used Estée Lauder New Dimension Shape + Sculpt Face Kit. (Do I sound like a beauty vlogger?!)

That’s not me, by the way. That’s Elizabeth. Her face is gonna model for us today.

This stuff rules for a few reasons: 1) It’s designed to work on a variety of skin tones and 2) it’s super lightweight. I tried it this summer during the sweatiest day of the year and everyone was like, “Oh my god, Amelia, your cheekbones just sliced my hand open!” And I was like, “Don’t touch my face!”

Step 1 — Go Streaking: Make a fish face and, using the darker color in your palette, draw a line from sideburn to right under the apple of your cheek.

Step 2 — Optional: If you want to give the appearance of a more-narrow nose, add a line on either side. Your nose is a great nose as is, but I understand that sculpting is therapeutic.

Step 3 — Trust Me: Add some stuff to the side of your forehead.

Step 4: Draw under your jaw.

Step 5: Now blend, because you look insane.

Step 6: Using the lighter color, highlight the area above your unibrow, below your eyes, under the arches of your brows, your chin and the tops of your cheekbones. Or add it anywhere you went overboard with the darker color.

Step 7, Bonus: Use an actual highlighter (I used the shimmer eyeshadow from Estée Lauder’s Shape + Sculpt eye kit), and dap a little bit anywhere the light would naturally hit, including the dip above your lip.

Step 8: Step into natural light then blend again to avoid a bit of what we have going on in the above GIF, which is known as Too Much Makeup. (That was my fault. I just got so excited! #Butthosecheekbonestho.) Note: when you do blend, blend up. I learned that bit from Leandra. What a gal.

Now just one more thing you have to do…

Step 9: Flaunt the curves…in yo FACE.

But try to not cut anyone with your new cheekbones, k?

In partnership with Estée Lauder.

Photographed by Krista Anna Lewis

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