Highlighting and contouring + me = fail.

Sep 14, 2014

Kyraa D.

I don't know.. from the photos you've posted, I think it looks great! I don't see any harsh lines or anything that looks unnatural (:

that's weird about your foundation :s maybe the undertones aren't working well together.

Sep 14, 2014

Claire P.

It looks like your foundation is a little too light for your skin! I've found that for contouring, using a flat brush I.e. Nars contour brush really help to finding your cheek bones and giving a nice look underneath. I have a round face too (which it looks like you have) and bringing the blush or bronzer in a "c" shape around your temples helps a lot to give some shape the face! Hope I helped and made sense lol

Sep 15, 2014

Naomi S.

I'm not a huge fan of contouring as my niche was always natural but Colorful.

however, this is what I see.

1. you have to use much darker shade as your shadow shade to offset the highlight shade.
meaning, when you blend them your foundation looks too light that's why you have the cast in the first pic (plus the lighting).
in the second pic I can see the shadow line and besides that needing to be blended out, the placement is not where I'd put it for your face shade. contouring is to thin out n lift. I'd bring that shadow up under your cheek to lift your cheek bone appearance.

but honestly, I think you look much prettier n youthful without contouring. no disrespect, you know I adore you. I feel like this contour ages you a bit..
some ppl young or not look great contoured but I like your profile pic. you look like a doll. ;-)

Sep 15, 2014

Erin M.

@Naomi - Oh trust me, I don't like to contour. But I'm working a fashion show and that was the one thing the lead stylist asked me if I knew how to do and I was like 'crap...'. I don't particularly care to because I don't like my face looking extremely light. Like it's already lighter then the outer portion of my face , and any lighter then that is just weird to me.

@Jacqueline - I really like the way that sounds. I'm going to give it a shot. Thank you!

Sep 15, 2014

Naomi S.

I agree with jaqueline.
that's how I do my makeup. (a bit lighter under my eyes thru the center of my forehead n some of ky cheeks. basically a center portion of my face. mainly because like you said the center is lighter than the outer part..

there are two ways to make up Brown skin girls. either you use a middle shade all over. or you use two colors n follow the way your face naturally highlights..
since my ph is off esp a lot lately, when I use a middle shade (which usually oxidizes and looks fine) it make the center of my face look to bronzy, although it matches, that makes me look oily, not dewy. so now I use the two colors, and ill prob go back to a middle shade as my summer tan starts to fade..

Sep 15, 2014

Naomi S.

And highlight contour shouldnt make your face look light. just give you a brightness where you put it.
when I get the right colors you won't have that vast you're experiencing now.

Sep 16, 2014

Erin M.

Thank you so much Naomi! You've been super helpful. <3 I'm going to try again when I have more light and time and see how it goes with all the advice I've been given.

Sep 16, 2014

Naomi S.

Let us know how it goes. :)