What are the best products to contour?

Most makeup lines will make powders/creams specifically for contouring. I prefer contouring with powders, but depending on your skin type, creams might work better for you than powders.

So the best product for you is going to to depend on your skin type, complexion, etc.

Using bronzers to contour:

You can use bronzer to contour, but one thing you really want to make sure of is that the bronzer is matte. When you contour, you want to create shadows to make certain parts of your face recede. This will help give your face some depth and dimension.

A lot of bronzers have shimmer in them, which will reflect light, the opposite of what you’re trying to do when you contour. You want to place shimmer on areas that you want to highlight.

Using contour as a blush:

The color you contour with should be about 2 shades darker than your skin and should have grey undertones so it looks like a shadow is being cast on your face. 

I’d be careful with putting a color like that on as blush…it could make your complexion appear a bit muddy.

I’ve done an extensive post on contouring and highlighting that goes into a lot of detail and also suggests some products/tools to check out, along with a great video on contouring/highlighting. Might be worth a look :]

Hope that helps.

xx

Thank you! :]

Eye shadow is very fun to play around with. When starting out, colors can be a bit intimidating, but it’s all about experimenting and trying out different colors together. I really think practice makes perfect. As you get more comfortable, you’ll probably try a look every now and then that just doesn’t work (I do it all the time, haha), but luckily you can just take it off and try again :]

Some colors I think look great with green eyes are: browns, golds, bronze, purples, and pinks. Be careful with pink around your eyes, because it can make you look a little sick, so blend in browns or purples to help counteract that.

As far as tips for applying eye shadow, I thought I’d take you step by step through an easy look that I do on a regular basis. You can swap out any of these colors for others that might suit your complexion better, but by walking through the steps with me you’ll get an idea of the technique, and that’s key to applying eye shadow.

So let’s get started!

1. Apply an eyelid primer.

Ignore my eyebrows :] I fill them in before I put on any foundation. I do the same with my eye makeup so that clean up from any fall out from my eye shadows is quick and easy.

Applying a primer is going to help give you eye shadow something to stick to. Primer will also keep your eye shadow on much longer and help minimize any creasing.

So, the primer I use is the Groundwork Paint Pot by MAC. And the reason I use this one is that it’s pretty similar to my skin tone. There are a ton of different primers out there so you can take you pick. A good one to try if you’re first starting out is Urban Decay’s Primer Potion. 

2. Apply a dark color to your crease. 

Taking a large fluffy blending brush with a dark color, in this case I used brown, apply it to your crease (the area where your eyelid folds) using back and forth windshield wiper motions. 

After you’ve applied the shadow it will look something like this:

You can see the dark brown helps to add some depth to the eye. That’s why you want to put a dark color in your crease. 

Using a fluffy blending brush will help keep the edges from looking harsh so it doesn’t look like you have a big brown line across your eyelid.

3. Apply a light shadow to your brow bone.

To apply color to my brow bone I like to use a flat shader type brush. The color I selected was a very light, pale, matte yellow.

Applying color to your brow bone is going to help lift the eye. It also acts a highlight. If you don’t have an understanding of highlighting you can very a post I did that goes into that in depth and might be helpful.

After you’ve applied the shadow to your brow bone it will look something like this: 

Can you see how now there is a nice blend from the color we put in our crease up to our brow bone? This gives a nice transition. That’s what you’re going for. You can also see that by brow bone now appears more highlighted. 

4. Apply the color of your choice to your lid.

This is where you can have fun. Try purple or pink or gold. If you want to do something more for everyday, you can try a light cream or beige for a more natural look.

To apply color to your lid, you’ll want to use a flat shader brush.

I decided to go with a yellow for something fun. When your applying the shadow to your lid, make sure you use patting motions, don’t rub it in. This will help pack the color on to your lid so you get the best color pay off. 

Here’s our look after applying color to the lid:

5. Add a definition color.

What I mean by definition color is a dark color that will be concentrated to the outer corner of your eye to help add more depth. For a definition color I like to use black or a dark brown or rich dark purple or bronze. 

I went with a black. When applying your definition color, use a tapered crease brush, so you can really get into the crease of your outer corner so that the color is very concentrated to that one area. 

It should look something like this:

See how it blends into the color we put in the crease, but helps add more definition to the outer corner of the eye?

6. Smudge the definition color along your lower lashline. (Optional)

I like to take the same color that I applied to my outer corner and smudge it along my lower lashline. I think this helps to add more depth the eye and really makes your lower lashline pop.

To apply color to your lower lashline use a smudger brush and really smudge the color in. 

Now our eye makeup should look like this:

See how that helps to pull the top and bottom together?

7. Finishing touches: Mascara, Eyeliner, and Falsies (optional)

Now you’ll just want to add mascara and eyeliner, which you said you’re already familiar with so I won’t go through that. 

If you’re going out and feeling a little extra dramatic that day you can also pop on some false lashes, but that’s definitely not necessary if you aren’t comfortable with them. I’m just a false lash addict :]

So here is our final look: 

I always think eyeliner and mascara really help to pull any look together, so don’t ever skip out on those :]

If you’re unsure about some of the brushes that I mentioned, I have a post that talks about a lot of different eye makeup brushes that might be helpful.

I hope this was helpful and gives you the tips you need to get started applying eye shadow. 

I’d love to see a look you come up with. Have fun!