A Professional Makeup Artist Tells Us How To Apply Makeup Based On Your Face Shape

2. Contour Your Forehead

After realizing how long or short your forehead may be, this the first area of focus for your contouring. Winkenwerder says to find the spot that "starts at one outer eye corner at the natural hairline and extends to the far corner of the other eye." Here, you are to lightly dust the face at the hairline with a "sheer powder foundation or contour stick." Next, she says to "blend seamlessly so there are no stark lines from your skin tone to the area where the makeup is applied." Apply additional makeup as needed over or around your contour lines.

3. Focus On Your Cheekbones

Now, Winkenwerder instructs to "find your natural cheekbone line." This line starts at the far edge of your nose, curves around the natural round of the cheek, and slants upward to the lower ear line. Onto clean skin, she says to "draw a color contour line along your natural cheekbone line that is 2-3 shades darker than your natural skin tone." Next, blend this line downward with light strokes. Inside that line, draw another line against the darker line, the full length of the first line. "Blend this line upward with light strokes," Winkenwerder notes, adding that you should see a "solid contour taking shape." Blend the two lines together gently, making sure they maintain their own color. Like with your forehead, you can always "apply additional makeup as needed over or around your contour lines," she points out.

4. Highlight Your Outer Face Frame

The outer face frame is the "area starting at the lower ear lobe to the lower jawline where the lower face starts to take shape into the full jawline," Winkenwerder says. This is the third main area where you should be contouring. "Onto clean skin, draw a line along your natural outer face frame that is 2-3 shades darker than your natural skin tone," Winkenwerder advises. She then says to "blend this line downward until it is seamless into the skin." Next, "draw another line that is 2 shades lighter along this line, blending upward until the shading is seamless." Lastly, blend the two lines together gently, "making sure they maintain their own color."

Product Type Suggestions

In order to contour effectively, you'll need the right tools, Winkenwerder says, listing "concealers, stick foundations, cream foundations and contouring wands." These should be according to your current skin tone, which you can find by testing swatches on your hand. "These range in 2-3 shades lighter than your present shade and 2-3 shades darker than your present shade," she continues.

It's best, she says, to choose shades that are not too light or dark on your skin tone as these shades "must blend well (as standalone wearable formulas) with your present foundation or BB cream," and appear seamless after blending. "These types of makeup tools adhere very well to the skin," she adds, making them optimal for creating facial contour lines and finishes. In addition, grabbing a "round flat top makeup brush" is vital for blending the "seams" (the places where the color changes meet).

Winkenwerder also notes that "flesh tone or light liquid shimmer highlighter" will be your best friend when contouring. You can apply this to features you "want to visually appear outwardly, like the natural cheekbones, the balls of your cheeks, or the bridge of your nose." Applied under and around the natural eye area, she concludes that a shimmer highlighter makes this area "seem brighter, placing more focus on your face's contouring finish/ art."