Makeup Workshop Lessons: Highlighting and Contouring

As much as I dislike the Kardashians (because truth be told, I envy their success; but really though, they should maybe make an effort to contribute something noble and useful to society instead of just dumbing us down with empty entertainment), we gotta give them credit for legitimizing makeup artistry.

I mean, makeup artistry has always been there since time immemorial, but if not for Kim Kardashian making pageant-sagala-bridal makeup a part of her (and now our) daily routine, makeup artistry would not be this HUGE. Growing up in a province in a third world country, makeup over here used to be reserved for important, fancy occasions. Women from older generations only wore makeup 3 times in their entire lives: Graduation, Wedding, Death.

I know, because my mom and aunts and most older women I know never owned a single bottle of foundation, or even a tube of lipstick. Only pressure from over-enthusiastic Avon ladies can make them buy lipstick which they will never use until it expires. I remember being 6 and my mom only had a single tube of lipstick which she also used to color my cheeks for school activities that required makeup. Up until recently, even my non-makeup-wearing mother has familiarized herself with BB creams, concealer, and lip primer. Thanks, Kim K. Your influence has reached such a phenomenal success that it is now on our poverty-stricken shores! Our populace is generally starving but never in dull, pasty, makeup-free states. We starve but our eyebrows are never not on fleek.

The trouble with highlighting and contouring having such popularity is that people fail to realize they are not Kim K, they're not in Hollywood, and unlike Kim K and the rest of them in Hollywood, normal people are mostly under natural lighting. And highlighting and contouring looks RIDICULOUS under natural light. Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

No.

Kim K and her contouring under the sun:

Of course, blending has to be perfect to avoid harsh lines. But even well-blended contour just looks... off under the sun.

I once met with a bridal client at a coffee shop under the 2 pm sun. She was with her sister. Her sister had a nose line on and some cheek contouring. It would have looked nice in pictures, or inside the coffee shop where the lighting was dim and yellow, or at a party 4 hours later that day. But under the 2 pm sun, on an ordinary day, it was... it was just too much. 5 seconds upon meeting her, I knew she hated her nose. That's not something you want casual acquaintances to know about you.

As Ms. Donna says, makeup is not there to bury flaws under make-believe contours and features. The goal of makeup application is in highlighting what's good so well that the flaws become so insignificant to the total look. 

Unlike in the States, or elsewhere where a ton of makeup is part of daily life, contouring and highlighting is best reserved for night events, stage performance, and photo shoots. Nose lines are not worn at the supermarket. Period.

Having said that, here's the general technique Ms. Donna uses on her clients:

Sorry, it's in French. Words are just prettier in French. 

As you can see, the goal is to trick the beholder into thinking there are lights and shadows where there is none. This can be really nice in photos, or on stage where lighting can be too harsh or too bright, and the natural contours of the face are washed out or flattened. For day wear, as in a garden wedding, this can be done in a very light handed manner. It takes real skill to perfect a natural-looking contour. Practice, practice, practice. 

And now, wait, is this Portuguese?

Blush has an often underestimated power to carry out the goals of contouring without looking like there's too much fakery going on. Blush, like contouring products, still look like makeup, but unlike contour that can easily look muddy and shadow-y (like, a gray cloud looming at the sides of the face!), blushers are pretty. The photo above shows the same shape and location for blush for all face shapes. What I personally do is use a darker shade of blush to "contour" the sides of the client's face. This I do for day events. 80s and 90s makeup use the same technique, instead of contouring powder in shades of brown, they use deeper, less bright shades of blushers where the cheekbones are/should be. Looks more natural and less Malificent-y. Again, it should be done with a light hand. Ms. Donna had specific blush rules for each face shape:

1. Round face/full cheeks - sides of the face
2. Long face - thick, horizontal
3. Oval/heart shaped face - apples of the cheek

Ms. Donna says blush should be gradient, not in full blocks of screaming color. She also says it should stop about an inch away from the Nasolabial folds (i.e., the lines around the mouth typically seen in older faces) to avoid emphasizing the lines and sagging. 

Yay. I can't believe I'm almost done with the Donna B Makeup Studio and Summer Madness Mouthful of Words Workshop Seminar series!!!