Contouring à la Moi!

It's not something that I really bother to do on the daily, but for evenings out and special occasions I can never turn away from a good contour! Generally I don't do the whole Kimmy K triangle highlight under the eyes shebang but a structured cheekbone on the other hand, I am quite a fan of. I have a few products and tools that I like to use to achieve this depending on the way I've done the rest of my face.

Day to day I do bronze the outer portions of my face- hairline, temples and cheekbones, the usual, using the MAC Matte Bronzer but I don't sculpt out my face at all. It's more to warm up my complexion and make things a shade less ghostly! However when contouring using this same bronzer, I'll use a smaller, more defining brush which creates more shadow. Often people say not to use bronzer for contouring as it's less natural looking, especially those with shimmer but I find this one works fine for me.

My go-to powder product for contouring is definitely MAC Harmony blush which I think I heard about from the Pixiwoo sisters, who most definitely know their stuff. As it's a blush it's very pigmented so a light hand is best but the shade of this looks really natural on the skin because of it's slight ashy/grey undertone. Paired with any of the brushes pictured it works a chiseled cheek dream!

Now that the weather's warming up, the cream products emerge. Cream blushes, eye products and as well- bronzers. The Bourjois Bronzing Primer, which is said to be an affordable alternative to Chanel's Soleil Tan de Chanel, is a cream product that can be used underneath or on top of makeup. I like to use this with a stippling brush (not pictured) but also works well with both the Real Techniques Duo Fibre Contour brush and original Contour brush. A little goes a long way with this product but it's easily buildable and provides a subtle bronze and can be more defined for a contoured look. This product is quite heavily scented just as an FYI.

Last but not least we have the gorgeous Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette which contains three powders all for different purposes but this post's focus will be on Radiant light (right hand shade). The high-tech and soft focus nature of these powders make them one of my absolute favourites! As a gal with uneven and far from perfect skin, anything that's going to mask this without looking or feeling cakey gets a thumbs up in my books. I prefer to use this powder in combination with a matte bronzer to add extra dimension and an all over bronze rather than a bold contour.

NARS Ita Brush, Real Techniques LE Duo Fibre Contour Brush, Real Techniques Contour Brush, Sigma F05 Small Contour Brush

In terms of tools, I have four current favourites however some newbies have been added to the mix but I will report on those with some more use. The NARS Ita brush appears all over the interwebs and beautysphere with many people bragging about how amazing it is so of course I succumbed to the hype and finally found one online. The narrow shape of the brush provides a very bold, sharp contour which you can then blend out to look slightly more soft. This is probably my number 1 tool because you just can't go wrong.

Two contour brushes from Real Techniques have been in my stash for quite a while now and work very well. As with the entire range of Real Techniques these brushes which are both synthetic work really well with both powder and cream products. The Duo Fibre Contour brush is slightly less dense so can work well for a softer look. Then we have an addition from Sigma, the F05 Small Contour brush; this is slightly rounded so fits well into the hollows of the cheeks and blends product out well.