Its Only 365 Days
198/365: HIGHLIGHT AND CONTOUR MAKE-UP
17 JULY 13
So if you're looking at the image above and scratching your head, most likely you have a penis. Yes, welcome to a girl world entry where nothing makes sense to the male species. Today's submission: highlighting and contouring the face. This is definitely not instructional in any way shape or form as this was my first attempt and I am no make-up artist, so if you some how ended up here for that reason, sorry to disappoint. I'm just speaking to my own experience.
So what the heck is this? Well highlighting and contouring the face in the make-up world is used to bring forth areas of the face you want to highlight (using a foundation lighter than your skin tone), whilst hiding or diminishing other sections of the face with your contour (using a foundation darker than your skin tone). The face is 3-D. It's not flat, so H/C helps allow you to use your make-up to give your face more dimension. Most African American women including myself have 2-3 tones to the face whereas a lot of Caucasian women have 1-2. What that means is typically when we apply foundation in just one color, our face tends to look flat or ashy in certain areas because some areas of our natural skin are lighter or darker then others.
This is my first attempt at H/C, and I know I made a couple errors, but whatevers, you live, you learn. First error: I needed a much darker contour color. The color I used was probably only one shade off, but not enough to get a significant contour. Second, I used liquid foundation which, I mean, hey I think it turned out jussssst fine in the end, but I think a creme foundation is what most use and what I will switch too. Third, I do believe I actually did need a foundation in my own skin tone for the mid colors, so I'll be picking that up soon as well. Fourth, I had to use a brand of foundation not "of our people," because the product I usually use or buy only had one color in the stick creme foundation and was sold out of the rest. Fifth, I forgot to apply concealer first which I believe I should have before the foundation. Sixith, yes, should have done the eyes before the h/c foundation.
I used an elf foundation brush to paint on the foundation and a big fluffy no name brand brush to blend the colors together. As all the YT videos indicated, when you blend, that is not the time to rush. You need to make sure you take your time to evenly blend the colors together or else you end up with visible lines which is not what you want at all. I finished the look using a blend of a light silver, a dark silver, and a black on the eyelid. A brown mixed with a deep purple above the crease and a white mixed with a tan as the highlight and a really smudged black eyeliner around the eyes and some fake lashes. Again, should have started with the eyes, because I was forgetting stuff left and right...I did manage to put concealer above the eyes to blend the skin tones but I forgot the primer.
My review of the process: well, it IS a process. I am not a fan of this level of make-up because I'm a 5-10 minute face gal, and I'm done. This was nearly 6 layers of stuff built upon one another...moisturizer, foundation(s), concealer, eye make-up, setting powder, blush...I felt like a very pretty clown! Ha. Taking this stuff off was a beast. I mean, you set the make-up so it will stay on your face and then of course it doesn't want to come off, so lots of Dove soap and re-moisturizing the face aftewards. The look DOES give you a very beautiful photo ready glow. I was amazed when I saw the official blend, though again, would have been much better had I had a darker contour color. The reason I'm doing all this is of course for the upcoming wedding. I'm really not trying to be funny or mean here, but I am going to a state with NO black people. There are no black salons, no black make-up artists, no black products at CVS, I am truly going to be on my own, so I'm trying to nail it all down here, so I'm not stressed on the day of. The dear bride is trying to be so nice about my hair and my make-up, but I'm like, girrrrrllllllllll let's get real...no one there is going to have a clue what to do with me! Oh gosh, the other day she asked me if I wanted to go swimming when we get up there. Swimming!!! I'll file that question under, "can I touch your hair?" "you're not going to be offended if we order fried chicken are you," "and you voted for Obama...right?"
If you want to know how to do highlight/contouring, I've left you with a gift:
If you're African American/black:
If you want to see it used on another skin tone: youtu.be/hmEWb_ZdLlY
198/365: HIGHLIGHT AND CONTOUR MAKE-UP
17 JULY 13
So if you're looking at the image above and scratching your head, most likely you have a penis. Yes, welcome to a girl world entry where nothing makes sense to the male species. Today's submission: highlighting and contouring the face. This is definitely not instructional in any way shape or form as this was my first attempt and I am no make-up artist, so if you some how ended up here for that reason, sorry to disappoint. I'm just speaking to my own experience.
So what the heck is this? Well highlighting and contouring the face in the make-up world is used to bring forth areas of the face you want to highlight (using a foundation lighter than your skin tone), whilst hiding or diminishing other sections of the face with your contour (using a foundation darker than your skin tone). The face is 3-D. It's not flat, so H/C helps allow you to use your make-up to give your face more dimension. Most African American women including myself have 2-3 tones to the face whereas a lot of Caucasian women have 1-2. What that means is typically when we apply foundation in just one color, our face tends to look flat or ashy in certain areas because some areas of our natural skin are lighter or darker then others.
This is my first attempt at H/C, and I know I made a couple errors, but whatevers, you live, you learn. First error: I needed a much darker contour color. The color I used was probably only one shade off, but not enough to get a significant contour. Second, I used liquid foundation which, I mean, hey I think it turned out jussssst fine in the end, but I think a creme foundation is what most use and what I will switch too. Third, I do believe I actually did need a foundation in my own skin tone for the mid colors, so I'll be picking that up soon as well. Fourth, I had to use a brand of foundation not "of our people," because the product I usually use or buy only had one color in the stick creme foundation and was sold out of the rest. Fifth, I forgot to apply concealer first which I believe I should have before the foundation. Sixith, yes, should have done the eyes before the h/c foundation.
I used an elf foundation brush to paint on the foundation and a big fluffy no name brand brush to blend the colors together. As all the YT videos indicated, when you blend, that is not the time to rush. You need to make sure you take your time to evenly blend the colors together or else you end up with visible lines which is not what you want at all. I finished the look using a blend of a light silver, a dark silver, and a black on the eyelid. A brown mixed with a deep purple above the crease and a white mixed with a tan as the highlight and a really smudged black eyeliner around the eyes and some fake lashes. Again, should have started with the eyes, because I was forgetting stuff left and right...I did manage to put concealer above the eyes to blend the skin tones but I forgot the primer.
My review of the process: well, it IS a process. I am not a fan of this level of make-up because I'm a 5-10 minute face gal, and I'm done. This was nearly 6 layers of stuff built upon one another...moisturizer, foundation(s), concealer, eye make-up, setting powder, blush...I felt like a very pretty clown! Ha. Taking this stuff off was a beast. I mean, you set the make-up so it will stay on your face and then of course it doesn't want to come off, so lots of Dove soap and re-moisturizing the face aftewards. The look DOES give you a very beautiful photo ready glow. I was amazed when I saw the official blend, though again, would have been much better had I had a darker contour color. The reason I'm doing all this is of course for the upcoming wedding. I'm really not trying to be funny or mean here, but I am going to a state with NO black people. There are no black salons, no black make-up artists, no black products at CVS, I am truly going to be on my own, so I'm trying to nail it all down here, so I'm not stressed on the day of. The dear bride is trying to be so nice about my hair and my make-up, but I'm like, girrrrrllllllllll let's get real...no one there is going to have a clue what to do with me! Oh gosh, the other day she asked me if I wanted to go swimming when we get up there. Swimming!!! I'll file that question under, "can I touch your hair?" "you're not going to be offended if we order fried chicken are you," "and you voted for Obama...right?"
If you want to know how to do highlight/contouring, I've left you with a gift:
If you're African American/black:
If you want to see it used on another skin tone: youtu.be/hmEWb_ZdLlY