Monday 3 September 2012

MAKE UP ILLUSIONS: FACE CONTOURING, SCULPTING & PRIMING

Kim Kardashian makeup free on left, still gorgeous looking and perfectly made up with trademark falsies (lashes) and a narrower looking nose. 
images via Zimbio & Style Bistro

Morning all and welcome to the new week! Did you have a good weekend loves? I had a lovely, rare day at the beach with mr. Perseus and I could have turned into a prune after spending all the hours in the sea...

I love this neat little beauty trick, you may have heard about contouring, sculpting and highlighting already, but when putting the combinations to use, can totally transform your face shape enhancing your features and make you look drop-dead gorgeous.
Face contouring technique. But when the highlighter is a little too excessive, it can look like the shot above right when the light/flash from cameras are too harsh & strong.

Whilst I am Kim Kardashianed-out & have had enough of the siblings (sorry KK fans), one thing I have found is that she knows how to look striking at every photo-op and every red-carpet, using make up to the best of her advantage.
Kim's make up artist Mario Dedivanovic has got this skill down to a t, by highlighting & accentuating the high points on her face whilst depressing some of the low/hollow points resulting in faking a perfectly sculpted face.
Think of it like David Beckhams sensational abs in a major campaign - instead of Photoshop, I think a little makeup trickery might have helped too, using a darker shade of matte foundation to create faux indentations where none might have previously existed!
Makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic via Kim Kardashian Celebuzz

Always start with a moisturized face, apply primer & foundation of your choice so you're starting with a completely even surface.Depending on your skin tone/shades contouring can be applied differently to make the most of your features, make your face appear thinner or even give you cheekbones to die for. This step-by-step Contouring kit from Smashbox will make this technique easy, unless you already have the basics - highlighter & concealer both one to two shades lighter than skintone, bronzer & blusher.

If you have lighter/paler skintone contouring is your preferred technique, working with bronzers/slightly darker shade of foundation.
If you have darker skintone, it would make sense to highlight the high points on your face as you've already got the colour base for the low points - I picked this trick up in the video below!

As per the illustration above, the sides of the nose are contoured to make the nose appear more narrow/smaller. A highlighter can also be used along the bridge of the nose too - I know that was one of Naomi Campbells personal faves.

******
UPDATE: 5.09.2012
Um, has Kim Kardashian been reading my blog? The Daily Mail just posted this Twitter image of Kim Kardashian and a load of concealer & contouring on her cheek area! I know, it does look weird but the results are just striking!
 via Daily Mail/Kim Kardashian Twitter

I wouldn't leave you high and dry without a great info tutorial video! :) Check it out below!


via Goss MakeUpArtist on Youtube
Now that's what I call make up trickery and creating an illusion!
 
Kate Beckinsale at MOCA 2009 & Blake Lively & Salma Hayek at perfume launch, Venice 2012
via Style Bistro 
Kate Beckinsale's makeup is perfect - you can see where the highlighter has been swept on the cheekbone and directly underneath a sweep of blusher in the hollow area of the cheek - all blended softly so there are no obvious streaks! On the right Blake Lively was recently seen in Venice looking every inch the super star, with highlighter just underneath her eyes, sweeping upwards to the side of the temples and blusher on the apples of her cheeks. Take a closer peek at the side profile of their make up!

Because it's Monday... Now, onto the totally wacky-doodle... Primers! Only Kim could tweet a photo of her mid-make up with crazy yellow lines drawn all over her face. It looks like a child went wild with Crayola Crayons, but this infact was celebrity MakeUp Artist Mary Phillips little trick for disguising dark circles underneath the eye and even out Kim's skintone.

via Dailymail and SmashBox Primers available here or Sephora.

Colour corrective primers are brilliant for concealing a multitude of sins, evening out skin imperfections and also helps give your foundation extra staying power.

Nearly most highlighting creams have yellow tint which help reflect light, making the skin appear more vibrant, allowing the face to glow.
GREEN primers: Best for covering up rosacea/redness/spots, evening out skintone.
LILAC/PURPLE primer: Best for adding life to dull skintones
LIGHT PINK/PEACH primer: Best for concealing under eye circles, age spots, freckles. Also great for medium to dark skin as it provides a natural glow.

NB: The blue looking bottle by SmashBox is actually a Photo-finish Hydrating foundation primer, although I have heard the MakeUp Forever Microperfecting primer in blue #5 does help with redness & also evens out the skintone via amazon.
Have any of you tried sculpting or contouring techniques? Or do you just stick with good old bronzer and highlighter?

Wishing you a super awesome week loves!
x.o.x.o
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