I’m not ashamed to admit that I kind of love Kim Kardashian. Sure, she’s provocative and a bit too in-your-face sexy for most people, but you never hear about her doing drugs or drunk driving. You never hear anything but glowing reviews from people who’ve actually worked with her on projects, and I highly doubt she could have gotten to this level of success without being extremely professional and generally good-natured. And for whatever reason, that darn reality show is addicting. I don’t have cable anymore (the reasons for which I explained here), but I do miss keeping up with the Kardashians.
Besides breaking the internet and naming her daughter after a direction, Kim’s also famous for contouring. If you haven’t heard, it’s essentially a beauty method that uses highlighting and contrasting shades of makeup to attract light to certain areas of the face and detract from others. It’s meant to be a bit of an illusion to change the shape of your face to be the most flattering. Personally, I think some of the before and after shots on Pinterest look a bit too good to be true, but if contouring can make my cheekbones look that good, I’m all about it.
I recently invested in an Anastasia contouring kit, so I’ve been doing my research and picking up tips and tricks from the (astonishingly vast) world of YouTube beauty tutorials. I asked a few of my makeup artist friends for their recommendations, and compiled those with my personal favorites below. If you don’t feel comfortable contouring your face after watching these 10 videos, I just don’t know what to say.
1. Basic overview of contouring.
This girl does a pretty extensive job on her model, and it’s not something you could do every day. But she’s excellent at explaining why you’re doing what you’re doing. BONUS: The song during the fast forward sections is super catchy. Seriously, I’ve had it on repeat just for that alone.
2. How to contour for round, heart, and square faces.
While it’s good to have a general understanding of contouring, where you want to highlight or contour also depends on your face shape. This quick video flies through the three most common shapes, but you can always pause to catch up while you’re doing it yourself.
3. What products to use.
Watch this one if only for his adorable British accent. He also explains what brands he’s using in each step, and goes through how to finish the look once you’re done contouring.
4. Nars Ita brush.
I picked up this brush while at the Makeup Show in Dallas, and I have to agree with her that it’s revolutionary. I use it right now in a very similar way that she does, but her tutorial goes into deeper detail that I’m excited to try. And it’s not EXTREME contouring that would be ridiculous to do every day.
5. Anastasia specific tutorial
If you have the kit like me, this girl does a good job of explaining how to use it. She’s also fair-skinned like me, so it was helpful to see which colors she used. Warning though, her voice and general disposition are a bit blah.
6. High end and drugstore options.
This girl’s personality is the EXACT opposite of the previous one, but I like that she includes a high-end and drugstore version of contouring. Just be prepared for the obnoxious jokes and boisterous energy.
7. Highlighters and Illuminators.
I like that she explains the difference, and she again does a really quick version that would be easier to do every morning. My friend Kelly (you all remember her from back in the day as K!) recommended this and the following video.
8. Powder tutorial
Powders feel simpler to ease in to for me, and not as extreme as creams. She also does a great job explaining what type of brushes to use for contouring.
9. Beauty Sponge
My friend Angie (who did my hair/makeup for this outfit post, remember?) recommended this video, and I like how she blends the cream with a damp beauty sponge. SO much easier than trying to do it with a brush from a get go.
10. Actual Kim Kardashian
This video doesn’t really go into contouring, but it features Kim herself, and her makeup artist Mario. It’s over 5 years old, so it’s kind of hilarious to hear them describe products that are cutting edge then but can be found everywhere now.
So what do you think? Will you be giving contouring a try? Send me pics if you do!
XO,
A
