Contouring! A makeup post.
Mar. 23rd, 2014 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eternalsojournOkay, so I've been fucking around with makeup for awhile (again) because I'm 37 and I think it's time to shake things up again and learn some things. So I looked at a bunch of tutorials, bought some stuff and started messing around. I didn't use a tutorial for this particular technique: I more absorbed all the tutorials and then winged it when I bought this foundation I figured would work for that purpose.
So here's my 2nd attempt at contouring. I'm no expert obviously, but hopefully this also shows that it's not an expert's technique. It's kind of easy, and though my technique could be improved, I think early results are positive so the learning curve isn't that steep. Here we go.
First up, here's what I used on my face throughout. I kept it to a minimum today for ease of documenting and because I can't be arsed.
Here's the foundation stick I used to contour.
Here's me with nothing on my face but moisturizer (jojoba oil, generic base cream) and sunscreen. The sunscreen makes me ghastly white which is why I now use foundation pretty much daily. I find reducing my foundation to more of a tinted moisturizer is enough to even out my skintone, though.
This is more my natural colour, though it's evened out, obviously. This is with diluted foundation, concealer, and a curled lashes.
c
And now with a bit of makeup. This is pretty much just eyeliner and mascara. Oh, and I filled in my brows. I forgot to photograph my brow products. I suck at this, clearly.
And a front view, looking dopey.
Here we go with the contour. As you can see, the colour is surprisingly dark. I imagined a line going from the top of my ear down to the corner of my mouth and drew the upper portion of that line. I also (very messily) drew down the sides of my nose and around the point. You can also sort of see the little divot I put just under my lower lip. At this point everything is very dramatic and alarming. It's cool, though, it'll calm down. The first time I did this I was hanging around at home so if I looked like a caricature of myself, no one would know but me and my husband.
The nose and lip divot a little clearer.
My chin. This is actually just about my favourite bit for that "just lost 5 lbs in 5 minutes" look. ALso, you know what? I'm not even going to apologize for pimples and stuff because who cares? They happen. Whatever.
And another one. Not sure why I went back to this angle.
Now the blending. I didn't use any special tools. I just took my finger like you see in the picture and started to wiggle it a little in place. I blended upwards mostly. At this point I didn't worry about making it all look natural, I just wanted to spread the colour around a little.
Like so! I tried to get the mid-blend stage here because this is where the tutorials always lose me. They always go from harsh lines to perfectly blended off camera. Like, wave hands, voila! Red carpet ready!
Now from there I took a clean finger and just kind of brushed lightly around the edges of things, as if I were trying to loosen a hair that got stuck to my face or something. Just lightly fanning things around until no lines were left. I have no idea how it happens, but it really does go from "good god, you done finger painted yer face" to "oh, contour!"
And then after doing exactly the same blending technique on my nose and lower lip, here's what it looks like.
And here it is under the chin. So for the chin I'm a little more careful. I make sure that when I'm blending the upper portion of the line, I do it side to side, windshield-wiper like. Then I take the colour down towards my neck and really blend that shit out. So the upper line is much more crisp and the lower line just sort of disappears downwards.
And a couple of different angles of the finished product, with a very light application of that ridiculous bright pink lipstick, just to give a bit of colour.
So there we go. That's my face, and me playing with my face.
So here's my 2nd attempt at contouring. I'm no expert obviously, but hopefully this also shows that it's not an expert's technique. It's kind of easy, and though my technique could be improved, I think early results are positive so the learning curve isn't that steep. Here we go.
First up, here's what I used on my face throughout. I kept it to a minimum today for ease of documenting and because I can't be arsed.
- MAC mineralize moisture foundation in NC30 - I mixed this 50/50 with my moisturizer because I don't like a heavy made-up look for everyday. I applied this with a latex sponge, which I forgot to photograph.
- MAC concealer in NC30
- Random drugstore concealer brush. The quality is not very good, but it did the job.
- Maybelline Shine-Free foundation in 330 Toffee - This is my contour product
- Bdellium tools liner brush
- Shiro loose eyeshadow in Ganondorf, a lovely deep maroon
- Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in 075 Lollipop
Here's the foundation stick I used to contour.
Here's me with nothing on my face but moisturizer (jojoba oil, generic base cream) and sunscreen. The sunscreen makes me ghastly white which is why I now use foundation pretty much daily. I find reducing my foundation to more of a tinted moisturizer is enough to even out my skintone, though.
This is more my natural colour, though it's evened out, obviously. This is with diluted foundation, concealer, and a curled lashes.
cAnd now with a bit of makeup. This is pretty much just eyeliner and mascara. Oh, and I filled in my brows. I forgot to photograph my brow products. I suck at this, clearly.
And a front view, looking dopey.
Here we go with the contour. As you can see, the colour is surprisingly dark. I imagined a line going from the top of my ear down to the corner of my mouth and drew the upper portion of that line. I also (very messily) drew down the sides of my nose and around the point. You can also sort of see the little divot I put just under my lower lip. At this point everything is very dramatic and alarming. It's cool, though, it'll calm down. The first time I did this I was hanging around at home so if I looked like a caricature of myself, no one would know but me and my husband.
The nose and lip divot a little clearer.
My chin. This is actually just about my favourite bit for that "just lost 5 lbs in 5 minutes" look. ALso, you know what? I'm not even going to apologize for pimples and stuff because who cares? They happen. Whatever.
And another one. Not sure why I went back to this angle.
Now the blending. I didn't use any special tools. I just took my finger like you see in the picture and started to wiggle it a little in place. I blended upwards mostly. At this point I didn't worry about making it all look natural, I just wanted to spread the colour around a little.
Like so! I tried to get the mid-blend stage here because this is where the tutorials always lose me. They always go from harsh lines to perfectly blended off camera. Like, wave hands, voila! Red carpet ready!
Now from there I took a clean finger and just kind of brushed lightly around the edges of things, as if I were trying to loosen a hair that got stuck to my face or something. Just lightly fanning things around until no lines were left. I have no idea how it happens, but it really does go from "good god, you done finger painted yer face" to "oh, contour!"
And then after doing exactly the same blending technique on my nose and lower lip, here's what it looks like.
And here it is under the chin. So for the chin I'm a little more careful. I make sure that when I'm blending the upper portion of the line, I do it side to side, windshield-wiper like. Then I take the colour down towards my neck and really blend that shit out. So the upper line is much more crisp and the lower line just sort of disappears downwards.
And a couple of different angles of the finished product, with a very light application of that ridiculous bright pink lipstick, just to give a bit of colour.
So there we go. That's my face, and me playing with my face.
