Highlighting & Contouring 101
Ever wonder how to maximize your best features while minimizing others?
Chiaroscuro, is an art technique from the Renaissance period which brings dimension, definition and contrast to your canvas, or in this case, your face, by illuminating certain areas and shading others.
Used regularly by makeup artists and master Italian artists alike, this age-old technique can be applied by anyone, with a little background info and practice!
Artists may know it as “chiaroscuro” but professional makeup artists know it as “highlight and contour”, a beauty trick that can transform your face with a single swipe (and some blending).
The goal in both art and makeup is to re-create a realistic depiction of where the light would hit the face, thus creating natural highlights and shadows. In makeup, we use products to enhance and transform the appearance of the face, both in-person and in many other mediums. In photography and television this is especially relevant, as strong lighting can sometimes “flatten” the features. Highlight and shadow helps to maintain the three dimensional qualities.
Painting by Leonardo da Vinci c. 1503-1519
First visualize your facial bone structure as a series of “highs” and “lows”
The high points of the face consist of the forehead, the top of the cheekbones, brow bone, eyelid, top of the nose, cupid’s bow (top lip), and chin. These areas are most pronounced, while the low points are more recessed, or concave. Think of the hollow under the cheekbone, crease of the eye, sides of the nose and the jawline. One of the master makeup artists, Kevin Aucoin shows us in the photo below exactly where to place dark and light shades for sculpting the face.
Photo and makeup by Kevyn Aucoin
Highlighting is definitely the easiest and most wearable technique of the two techniques.
It requires a cream or powder product that is 1 to 3 shades lighter than your skin tone. It may have a slight shimmer if you want a reflective effect, which is best used sparingly during the day and more liberally for evening. Use a small brush or clean fingertips and lightly tap the highlighter of your choice over your foundation.
My favorite places to apply highlighter are the inner corners of the eyes, browbone, and tops of the cheekbone and nose.
Recommended Highlighting Products:
Alima Pure Luminous Shimmer Powder
Vapour Organic Beauty Trick Stick
Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Vegan Brushes in #003 and #004
Contouring (shadowing) can take a bit more practice but the effects are more dramatic!
For this, you will need a cream or powder product 1 to 3 shades deeper than your skin tone. When contouring on the eyes, you may use a shimmer product, however, on any other area of the face, stick with non-shimmer creams or powders. Apply contour directly on the area you would like to “sculpt”, such as the side of the nose, jawline or cheekbones. Be sure to use a size-appropriate brush, in other words, a small brush for the sides of the nose or eye crease and a larger brush for the jawline and cheekbones. The trick to making contour look natural is precise placement and blending. If you need to, touch the area of your face with your fingers to guide you and blend enough that there are no hard lines, yet the shadow is still visible. This should also be applied over your foundation.
Recommended Contouring Products:
RMS Beauty Cream Eyeshadow in Seduce
Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Vegan Brushes in #005 and #006
You now know the basics of a very important artistic technique used on everything from the Mona Lisa to Beyonce's latest album cover! If you have additional questions about highlighting and contouring or my product recommendations, please feel free to ask them below. I would love to hear your comments and feedback!
Now go create your masterpiece!
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Top Photo by Tracy Toler, Makeup by Rebecca Casciano
Copy Editor: Jennifer Smith
