"A good contour is like a great pair of Spanx," says makeup artist Vincent Oquendo. "You want to shape and define different areas, without anyone noticing you've had assistance." In other words, you don't need to "kontour" using multiple creams, powders, and Mapquest-like instructions to carve out striking cheekbones or soften a broad forehead. In this arena, less really is more. All that's required: L'Oréal Paris' new foolproof Infallible Pro Contour Palette and this easy-to-follow guide. (No GPS required.) Determine your face shape—oval, round, heart, or diamond—and get started.
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1
The Contour Key
"A lot of people think contouring is all about darkness and shading, but highlighting carries equal weight," says Oquendo. L'Oréal Paris' new Infallible Pro Contour Palette combines both powders in one place with a tool specially designed for sculpting. The dual-sided brush boasts a Pac-Man-like shape that glides over cheekbones, allowing you to contour and highlight in one fell swoop or use each half individually along spots that require more precision (such as the sides of your nose, along your hairline, and chin). The skin-fusing pigments in this formula (available in light, medium, and deep shades) add just the right amount of light and shadow without major amounts of blending. To spotlight your bone structure like a pro, make one of the following slides your beauty blueprint and connect the dots—applying highlighter where gold dots appear and contour powder where you see brown dots. Easy!
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2
Oval
Jeff Allen
Face facts: Women with an oval-shaped face have it fairly easy because of their naturally prominent cheekbones and elegant proportions that resemble an upside-down egg. (Think: wider forehead and tapering jawline.) "You don't have to put as much work into [shading] because you have existing contours," says Oquendo. "Focus more on highlighting to offset your bone structure," he explains.
Your bespoke beauty plan: Using the brush in L'Oréal Paris' Infallible Pro Contour Palette, load the top half of the applicator with highlighter and the bottom portion with contour powder. Align the indentation of the brush with your cheekbone (highlighter positioned on top) and create a backwards Nike swoosh by running the bristles from temple to just below your apple—flicking the bristles up at the end. Then, use the highlighter side of the brush to highlight the bridge of your nose, inner corners of eyes, and brow bones. The finishing (and entirely optional!) touch: blush. Dust a rosy hue over the roundest part of your cheeks to add volume and prevent your face from looking "too hollow," says Oquendo. "Stay away from anything with shimmer so that it doesn't compete with your highlight."
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3
Diamond
Face facts: Widest at the temples and slightly pointed towards the chin, the goal for women with diamond-shaped faces is to "draw the eye and light down the center," says Oquendo, this helps balance a broader forehead and slender jawline.
Your bespoke beauty plan: Shade along your entire hairline with the contouring powder in the Infallible Pro Contour Palette first—this creates the illusion of a narrower forehead, explains the pro. Next, use a windshield-wiper motion to apply more contour powder to the crease of your eyes and fill in the hollows of your cheeks. Finish by dipping the clean half of the brush in the highlighter and running it along the inner half of your lid and from temple to just below the center of your eye. Done!
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4
Round
Face facts: If you're face is broadest from cheek to cheek and nearly as long as it is wide, you likely want to build structure and definition along the jawline and cheekbones to "elongate" your silhouette, explains Oquendo.
Your bespoke beauty plan: Create the illusion of length by contouring the entire perimeter of your face with the dark shade of powder in the Infallible Pro Contour Palette: blending it along the hairline, under the jawline and chin. Then, carve out hidden cheekbones by applying the same pigment to the bottom half of the brush and sweeping it from the middle of your ear down towards the corner of your mouth—stopping just below the apple of your cheek. Intensify eyes by running the contour powder through the crease of your lid. Oquendo often suggests skipping contour powder on the nose altogether, as it tends to look "artificial," but women with rounder faces can benefit from a bit of strategic shading in this area. Lightly apply contour powder along either side of your nose—leaving the bridge bare. After dipping the clean half of your brush in the highlighting side of the palette, dust the powder down the center of your nose and along the tops of cheekbones from temple to outer corner of the eye to finish.
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5
Heart
Face facts: A broad forehead and jaw that tapers into a narrow and more prominent chin characterizes the majority of heart-shaped faces, explains Oquendo.
Your bespoke beauty plan: Though our model has bangs (which saves you time!), for those without, it's best to start contouring at the center of the forehead near your hairline and wrap the deeper shade of pigment from the Infallible Pro Contour Palette down toward your temples to slim your silhouette. Next, soften the lower half of your face by using the same powder from earlobe to chin—buffing a bit below the jawline. Oquendo likes to blend a bit of contour up into the center of the chin to finish. Find your cheekbones with your fingertip and shade in the soft area right below them. Last step: highlight from temple to outer corner of the eye. "Highlighter is going to make the face appear broader and flatter, so be sure not to bring it all the way in towards your nose," he says.