How to Contour for Beginners – Nordstrom

..My name is Tiffany Johnston. I'm a Senior Artist for MAC Cosmetics.

Yaris has this amazing bone structure, and I'm really looking forward to contouring and highlighting her face. We're going start by shaping your face with a nice cream product. You want to choose a cream thats about two shades darker than your skin.

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Start underneath your cheekbone and then sweep that product forward.You're getting the darkest point of application towards the edge of your face.

Another great tip is if you know someone's going to take your picture, you also want to contour underneath the jaw.The next step is using a powder face product. Dip into the powder–just a little tiny bit–and then start, still, at the back and bring it forward.With this product, you don't want to go in too much of a striping motion.

You want to go more in a buffing motion. You're really buffing this into that cream that's already there. Contouring the face is not a standalone option. You also want to contour the eyes and give shape to the center of your face. I'm going to use an eyeshadow called Espresso. It goes right into your crease. Really focus it in the front of the brow and then bring that powder down the side of your nose. When you contour your nose, you also want to think about highlighting.

It's not always about dark. I'm going to use a concealer color that's lighter than your skin tone, and I'm just going to place it down the very center of your nose. If it starts to cover your contour, we've defeated the whole purpose. If you feel your nose is a little bit long, what we can do is use that same color that we used to contour the sides of your face and apply it to the sides of your nose, right along your nostrils and along the tip. What this'll do is just give the illusion of it being a little bit shorter.

The next step is a beautiful neutral lip.

What we're going to do first is we're going to take out all your natural lip color. I'm going to do a little bit of concealer and use a brush, and we're just going to do it right over your lips. This shows me where the edge of your lip is, and it creates a nice highlight through the top, right along the cupid's bow. The next step is your lip pencil.

I chose a color that's very nice and neutral. I'm starting in the outside corner and bringing it right along the edge of your lip. I'm going to be very generous and fill in most of your lip. We're going to leave the cupid's bow natural. What this is doing is contouring the shape of your lip even though it's a natural color.

All right, the final step is the lipstick. I chose a great neutral color.

If you go straight from the tube, you're going to get the most coverage you can possibly get. If you use a brush, you can blend it into that lipliner, creating a very seamless effect. Where I like to start is right in the pout. This is the part where we did not put the pencil. The nice thing is we have so much pencil in the corners that f the lipstick doesn't necessarily blend, you're still getting that contoured effect.

Now we're going to do your top lip. It's the opposite of the bottom. Instead of starting where the pout is, you're going to start at the cupid's bow. This is where there's no pencil. The reason we don't want the pencil to come all the way up to the cupid's bow is because we want that to be highlighted. Then you can use whatever's left on your brush to really blend it right into the pencil in the corners. This is the epitome of no-makeup makeup.

You have a steadfast neutral lip that's gonna last you all day long, and you have the perfect cheekbones.