Buzz
1. Overdoing the Highlight
Highlighting is a crucial step in makeup, complementing contouring to give your face depth and dimension. However, over-highlighting can have the opposite effect, drawing attention to imperfections like under-eye bags and the nose bridge. A light touch is key, blending it well so that the highlight enhances rather than overwhelms.
2. Skipping Blush After Contouring
After contouring, your face may appear more defined and slimmer, but it can look a bit lifeless. Adding a touch of blush to create a rosy cheek effect will make your face glow with vitality and radiance.
3. Choosing the Wrong Contouring Style for Your Face Shape
Each face shape has its own strengths and weaknesses. Contouring is a makeup technique designed to conceal imperfections and highlight the beautiful features of your face. Therefore, the contouring technique varies for each face shape. It's important to identify your face shape to choose the most suitable contouring method.
4. Failing to Set Your Makeup
To keep your makeup stable and long-lasting, you should use setting powder and a setting spray. These two simple steps will help maintain the color of your makeup and ensure a flawless look all day without worrying about it fading or the contouring blending together. In addition to setting spray and powder, you can also use specialized makeup 'locking' products like MAC Fix +.
5. Choosing a contour powder that's too dark for your skin tone
This is a common mistake that many ladies make when using contour powder. The darker the powder, the slimmer the face? Not really! If you choose a shade that’s too dark, the contrast between the contour and foundation creates a stark difference, making your face look unnatural—almost like being bruised or puffed up, rather than simply slimming it down. Therefore, it’s best to choose a contour shade that’s no more than 3-4 tones darker than your skin to keep it looking natural.
6. Using the wrong contour tools
To achieve a balanced contour, choosing the right brush or makeup sponge is essential. A brush with too large a head will cause the contour to smudge and lack sharpness, while one that’s too small will make it uneven. For contouring the cheeks, opt for a slanted, soft-bristled brush or a beauty blender sponge. For smaller areas like the nose, use a brush that fits the size of your nose to create a more defined contour. Additionally, fan-shaped brushes are perfect for highlighting the cheekbones.
7. Unevenly blended powder
Creating a flawless contour often requires a lot of time spent blending contour and highlight powders into the skin. Because it takes a while for the highlight and contour creams to blend into the skin, many women tend to rush through this step, applying it quickly without properly blending. However, this is a major mistake. If not blended well, your face will end up looking messy, rather than sculpted and refined.
However, it's important to remember that the time spent blending isn't as important as the blending technique itself. You should move your brush quickly and evenly to ensure the powder blends naturally with the base, creating a smooth and well-transitioned finish.
