Contouring - lose 5lbs without even trying

Have you ever wished that you had more defined cheek bones or that your face didn't look quite so puffy and round?  There are a few really easy make up techniques that you can use to give your face a little more definition and make it look like you've lost 5lbs without even working at it.  By playing up the natural shadows on your face, you can make your face look slimmer using a matte bronzer or even a matte shadow if you can find one in an appropriate shade.  As always, with any application - practice makes perfect and you can always wipe it off and try again.

The effect should always be subtle, and you should always apply with a light hand.  In the photos below, the only difference is the addition of a bit of matte bronzer to the hollows of my cheeks and to my jaw line and temples.  You should have to look pretty closely to see a difference between the two.  You don't want a streak of dark that is too noticeable, especially during the day.  You have a bit more room to play if it's a night time look as far as going more dramatic with the contour.

You can figure out where to apply by looking in the mirror and making a "fishy face"  sucking your cheeks in.  You want the contour to start at your hairline and be in a slight triangle shape with the wider area starting at the hair line and it coming to a point that ends in the line that comes straight down from the outside corner of your eye.  Don't bring it in too close to your mouth, you want the color to be the darkest at the hairline then softer as you get to the middle of the apple of the cheek.

You also want to apply it along the jaw line to make that area look slimmer as well as along your temples and hairline for a bit of warmth.  Usually if I'm using a bronzer to contour, I don't bother with a different color as a "bronzer".  It's just easier to sweep the same color under the jaw and along the temples to give my face a bit more life.

Here are a couple of brushes that I use pretty regularly.  The one on the left I use when I'm looking for a quick bit of definition.  The angled shape lets you get right into the hollow of your cheek and the soft fluffy bristles don't pick up too much product which looks too unnatural on the skin.  Keep a clean powder brush handy to blend out the bronzer if you over do it.  The Real Techniques Contour Brush I like for when I want a more precise application or when I'm doing my makeup for a special evening out.  Both work great, and even a plain old blush brush would work fine with powder bronzers.  If you have a cream bronzer that you want to contour with, just use your fingers in the same area and it will work just as well.  I prefer powders because my skin is oily and cream bronzers as well as blushes tend not to last very long on my skin.

Angled contour brush and Real Techniques Contour Brush

When picking a good bronzer to contour with, you want to stick to matte shades that do not have any shimmer or sparkle.  You are trying to deepen the shadows in an area and shimmer will only make that area look more noticeable.   The ones that I have listed in the picture below work for tons of skin tones and the texture is very easy to work with and they do not look orange on the skin.  You do not want to look like Snooki or an Oompa Loompa trust me.  They are in descending order of price with the NARS Laguna being the most expensive and the NYX Matte Bronzer really in the drugstore price range.  I reach for all three pretty equally, but will say that the Too Face Chocolate Soleil smells the best.

Top to Bottom:  Nars Laguna, Too Faced Chocolate Soleil, Nyx Matte Bronzer

You can also lightly contour your nose by using a fluffy eyeshadow blending brush and put the bronzer down the sides of your nose to make it look a little thinner.  Be cautious not to over do it in the nose area or your face is going to look really odd.

There are days when I skip the blush entirely and just add a bit of contour with lip stick. brows and mascara, then I'm out the door.