Makeup has the power to transform faces – highlighting your best features and disguising your worst. It can even give the illusion of more prominent cheekbones, a narrower nose and flawless complexion.
First, we need the right base, and where would we all be without a good primer? It minimises the look of pores, evens out skin colour and just feels so ridiculously smooth on your skin. A good BB cream has also become a staple daily beauty ritual; it mimics the texture of perfect skin and creates a great base for your foundation to glide right on.
Now for the magic: contouring your face. Generally, the idea is to use an illuminator or lighter shade of foundation to highlight the areas of your face where light naturally hits – cheekbones, bridge of your nose, temple, brow bone and along your jaw line. Conversely, to add definition use a darker colour under your cheekbones (to really make your cheekbones pop) and under your jawline to add more definition to this oft-neglected area.
Finish with a dusting of powder, some extra concealer under your eyes, a little shimmer or bronzer on your cheekbones and a dab of blush on the apples of your cheeks.
Primers
As Napoleon Perdis famously said: Not to prime is a crime! While we’re not suggesting a jail sentence for those who skip this essential step, primers do make a big difference to your finished product. It smoothes the look of pores away right before your very eyes, evens out the complexion and primes your face for foundation or finishing powder. You can also
multitask with it if it’s a fancy hybrid one and use it as an illuminator.
Effective primers contain unique polymers that create a film-like barrier on the skin. Primers are different to moisturisers because they stay on top of the skin, unlike moisturisers which are designed to penetrate the skin, providing a smoother surface for the application of both water and emollient-based foundations. For those with oily skin, primers form a protective barrier between makeup and oils that can accelerate the breakdown of foundation. On dry skin, they prevent the moisture in cosmetics from being absorbed into the skin, which can result in an uneven distribution of makeup on the face.
These days most primers have additional anti-ageing benefits. Most primers have been formulated with the most advanced skin technology – anti-ageing, anti-radical and anti-oxidant properties – that works in synergy to re-activate the skin’s vital functions against the external environment. All these complexes help free your skin of flakiness, soften fine lines and make pores seem smaller, less obvious for a smooth makeup application later. The collagen-enhanced formula helps the plumping effect, thus minimising the look of fine lines.
Illuminators
The big sister to the primer is the illuminator. Skin illuminators are a huge breakthrough in makeup technology; by reflecting light and lightening the skin with an iridescent glow, they make skin look smoother and younger and hide skin imperfections and dark circles. And, of course, they are big news when it comes to contouring.
Contouring gives the illusion of more defined contours, smaller nose and chin, higher cheekbones. We’ve all seen the “in between” makeup shots of Kim Kardashian with light and dark stripes strategically placed all over her face and neck. This clever makeup trick works wonders to create a more chiseled, defined face that reflects light beautifully and gives an air brushed effect.
It’s all about creating optical illusions so that it looks like you are constantly under the best lighting ever – and, to do this, light and shade will be your BFFs, highlighting and contouring to create a glamour-girl look.
