Contouring according to face shape: what to pay attention to?

Contouring is a makeup technique that is based on working with light and shadow. Contouring can make your face appear slimmer, longer, rounder, or more sculpted. If you correctly perform facial contouring step by step, certain features can be increased or, conversely, decreased. It all depends on the shape of the girl's face.

Together with our regular expert, makeup artist Alexandra Kogut, we will figure out how to contour for oval, rectangular, square, triangular and round faces, as well as how to contour the face and what brushes to use so that the result will pleasantly surprise your clients. The main thing is to create natural shadows and volumes that will not be too obvious and artificially drawn.

Alexandra Kogut , makeup artist of the MakeUpMe brand, teacher of makeup courses

Oval face contouring

If a girl has an oval face, darken and lighten areas according to the classic scheme. An oval is considered the ideal face shape, so it will be enough to highlight only the cheekbones. If necessary, we work on the shape of the nose: we lighten the back and darken the wings.

Contouring a rectangular face

If the client has a rectangular face, as always, we darken those areas that we want to make visually smaller. We remember that a dark color distances and reduces, and a light color, on the contrary, brings closer and enlarges. In the case of a rectangular face, we darken the lateral areas of the forehead and lower jaw, and lighten the back of the nose.

Triangular face contouring

We mainly darken the massive top, since the bottom of a triangular face shape does not need to be reduced. You can also darken the cheekbones a little closer to the ears. We carefully highlight the chin and bridge of the nose.

Scheme of facial contouring according to shape

Contouring a square face

Girls with a square face shape need to smooth out the angularity, which means darkening the corners of the square. For these purposes, we use a darkening corrector on the sides of the forehead and lower jaw. Then we highlight the middle of the forehead, the back of the nose and the chin.

Round face contouring

Clients with a round face need to darken the cheekbones, temples and side areas of the forehead to visually lengthen it and give expressiveness to their facial features. But the middle of the forehead and the back of the nose should be highlighted with a light corrector.

How to do contouring correctly?

There are two types of facial correction: wet and dry. This means that the first is done with cream correctors, and the second with dry ones.

It is better to apply cream correction products with an artificial foundation brush, and dry textures with an angled fluffy brush. But you should use a fluffy brush to blend both cream and dry products, which does not leave clear lines. It is important to blend contouring products well so that your makeup looks natural and harmonious.