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Work all the angles of your beautiful face perfectly.
By Caithlin Pena — Last updated on May 04, 2023
One of the greatest mysteries of makeup is how to contour and highlight based on your face shape. If you're anything like me, these two beauty aspects have confused and haunted me since my early teens.
But finally, there's a solid answer for makeup lovers to contour their face shape and accentuate all their natural beauty. First things first, though: you have to distinguish the two.
Contouring vs. Highlighting
Contouring and highlighting are two techniques used to enhance and define facial features.
While contouring involves using makeup that is darker than your natural skin tone in order to create a shadow effect that gives the appearance of a more sculpted face, highlighting involves applying makeup products that are lighter than your natural skin tone to create a luminous effect intended to draw attention to a specific area of the face.
Contouring is achieved by applying the product along the natural shadows of the face, such as the hollows of the cheeks, the temples, and the jawline. Highlighting, on the other hand, is achieved by applying the product to the high points of the face where the light naturally hits, like the tops of the cheekbones, the bridge of the nose, and the brow bone.
Essentially, contouring creates shadows to define and sculpt the face, while highlighting uses light to accentuate and enhance specific features. The two techniques can be used together to create a more complete and polished makeup look.
And depending on your skin tone, there are certain shades of makeup to use:
- Fair skin: Use champagne tones
- Light-medium skin: Use pink champagne tones
- Olive skin: Use golden tones
- Dark skin: Use terracotta tones
Now that you know the difference, you're ready to contour and highlight! The next step is to determine the shape of your face, and then figure out which parts of it to accentuate.
How To Contour & Highlight For Your Face Shape
1. How To Contour & Highlight A Diamond-Shaped Face
Diamond face shapes are often longer than they are wide. You should see that your cheekbones are the widest part of your face, with your hairline narrower. Your chin will also be slightly pointed.
Contour
If you have a diamond-shaped face, you should contour the area below your cheekbones, from your ears to the middle of your cheek.
Highlight
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.
Photo: Ga Fullner / Shutterstock
2. How To Contour & Highlight A Heart-Shaped Face
If you have a widow's peak, you almost certainly have a heart-shaped face. Other ways to tell include if you have a wide forehead and your chin is narrow and pointed.
Contour
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.
Highlight
In an upside-down triangle, highlight under your eyes, and also the middle of your forehead and chin.
Photo: lev radin / Shutterstock
3. How To Contour & Highlight A Oblong-Shaped Face
If you have no major points along your chin, jawline, or hairline, you may have an oblong face shape. It should also be twice as long as it is wide.
Contour
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
Highlight the middle of your forehead and your chin. To bring out your eyes, highlight under your eyes and along your brow bone.
Photo: DFree / Shutterstock
4. How To Contour & Highlight A Oval-Shaped Face
Oval face shapes are roughly 1.5 times the length of their width, so a bit smaller than oblong faces. Oval face shapes also don't have any major points and will look like an upside-down egg.
Contour
With an oval-shaped face, contour the sides of your forehead to make your hairline look narrower, as well as along the place under your cheekbones from your ears to the middle of your cheeks.
Highlight
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.
Photo: DFree / Shutterstock
5. How To Contour & Highlight A Rectangle-Shaped Face
If your hairline and jawline are about even with each other, you could have a rectangular face shape. It will also be longer than it is wide.
Contour
For a rectangle-shaped face, to make your hairline appear narrower and 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.
Highlight
To brighten your eyes, highlight underneath and on your brow bone. Also highlight the middle of your forehead.
Photo: Tinseltown / Shutterstock
6. How To Contour & Highlight A Round Face
A round face is about as long as it is wide. You will also not have any major points along your face.
Contour
For a round-shaped face, make the sides of your forehead and your temples appear narrower by contouring those areas. Contour underneath your cheekbones from your ears to the middle of your cheeks and down to your jawline to make your face look longer.
Highlight
Highlight along the middle of your forehead and the middle of your chin. Brighten your eyes by highlighting an upside-down triangle under your eyes.
Photo: Andrea Raffin / Shutterstock
7. How To Contour & Highlight A Square Face
A square face is the same length as it is wide. The hairline and jawline are also about even with each other. Think rectangle, but squished.
Contour
For a square-shaped face, make your hairline and jawline appear narrower by contouring the sides of your forehead and under your jawbone. Contour below your cheeks from your ears to the middle of your cheekbones.
Highlight
To brighten your eyes, highlight underneath the eye and along your brow bone. Also highlight the middle of your forehead and chin.
Photo: Tinseltown / Shutterstock
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Caithlin Pena is an editor and former contributor for YourTango. Her work has been featured on Thought Catalog, Huffington Post, Yahoo, Psych Central, and BRIDES.