The RIGHT Way To Contour And Highlight For Your Face Shape

FINALLY: One of beauty's biggest mysteries — SOLVED.

By Caithlin Pena — Written on Jun 29, 2016

Photo: weheartit

Beauty Secret To Contouring Finally Revealed!

Finally! One of the greatest mysteries of makeup has been revealed: how to contour and highlight. Cosmopolitan has provided us with a complete guide to contouring and highlighting.

First things first, you have to distinguish the two. Contouring is using matte products two shades darker than your skin tone. Meanwhile, highlighting or strobing is using concealer two shades lighter than your skin tone to accentuate the areas of the face:

Fair skin: Use champagne tones
Light-medium skin: Use pink champagne tones
Olive skin: Use golden tones
Dark skin: Use teracotta tones

Now, you're ready to contour and highlight. The next step is to determine which parts of your face to accentuate, based on the shape of your face. Follow Cosmo's beauty guidelines below.

1. Diamond-shaped face

If you have a diamond-shaped face, you should contour the area below your cheekbones, from your ears to the middle of your cheek.

With an upside down triangle, highlight under your eyes. To brighten your eyes, highlight along your brow bone. You should also highlight narrow areas like your forehead and the middle of your chin.

2. Heart-shaped face

For a heart-shaped face, contour along the sides of your forehead and temples to balance both halves of your face. Also contour along your cheekbones, from your ears to the middle of your cheeks, and the area below your chin.

In an upside down triangle, highlight under your eyes, and also the middle of your forehead and chin.

3. Oblong-shaped face

If you have an oblong-shaped face, you can make your hairline appear narrower by contouring the sides of your forehead. Contour from your ears to the middle of your cheeks.

Highlight the middle of your forehead and your chin. To bring out your eyes, highlight under your eyes and along your brow bone.

4. Oval-shaped face

With an oval-shaped face, contour the sides of your forehead to make your hairline look narrower, as well as contour along the place under your cheekbones from your ears to the middle of your cheeks.

To brighten your eyes, highlight underneath and along your brow bone, as well as the middle of your forehead and the middle of your chin.

5. Rectangle-shaped face

For a rectangle-shaped face, to make your hairline appear narrower and to create the illusion of a lower hairline, contour along the sides of your forehead and along your hairline. Make your jaw appear narrower by contouring under your jawbone, and the place under your cheekbones from your ears to the middle of your cheeks.

To brighten your eyes, highlight underneath and on your brow bone. Also highlight the middle of your forehead.

6. Round face

For a round-shaped face, make the sides of your forehead and your temples appear narrower by contouring on those areas. Contour underneath your cheekbones from your ears to the middle of your cheeks, down to your jawline to make your face look longer.