Everyday Contour 101

Hi Cuties, 
I've missed you and blogging, i've finally settled in to my new apartment in NYC and ready to get my vanity set up and back to chit chattin' about beauty on here! 
Get your fish faces ready because today I'm breaking down a simple, everyday contour and my favorite products and brushes to use. This was requested by the lovely Cindy and I really hope it helps! 
Below is my beautiful roommate, I've labeled the areas that I contour. A light contour can really define your face and add the extra 'umph' to your already beautiful features! 

 A Few Helpful Tips on Contouring:
1. Always start with a light hand and small amount of product, you can always add more!
2. When contouring your cheeks: Make your fishy face, start at your hairline and lightly swipe your brush down and back up until you've reached your desired color. Try to use the end of your eyebrows/eyes as a guide on how far to bring the contour into your face. You're just trying to create a shadow so that the area recedes back (highlight features you want to stand out, and contour features you want to recede or define), giving the allusion of more defined cheek bones.
3. You don't have to contour your nose but it's another great secret to give the allusion of a defined/straight sniffer! Very lightly take your brush and glide it down the sides of your nose where the words 'contour' are shown in the above picture. You can even shadow a bit underneath to define the tip of your nose. 
4. Try to choose a bronzing/contour product that is more on the matte side with less shimmer so that it appears more natural. 
5. Choose a brush that is made for contouring in mind, these brushes are small and fit easily in the areas you need to contour. Making the whole process much easier! 
6. Lastly, less is more. You want it to look natural and effortless! 


Now for some of my Favorite Products & Brushes... 

Favorite Products:
1. MAC Shaping Powder in Taupe - it's a cool toned brown and great for light skin tones, MAC has other great sculpting powders without the orange tint that you often find.
2. NARS Laguna - sounds cliche because everyone loves it but i've been using it a lot lately, it's great for light to medium skin tones. I got mine at Sephora.
3. Sonia Kashuk Cream Bronzer in Warm Tan - this has a great cream to powder finish and works well on medium to darker skin tones. It can tend to look a bit orange on my light skin but in the summer works well. I found mine at Target.

Favorite Brushes:
1. Sigma Small Contour F05 - this brush is the perfect size and makes contouring fool proof! 
2. Sigma Tapered Blending E40 - this is what I like to use for contouring the sides of my nose, again a great size so that you don't end up contouring an entire half of your nose. HaHa
3. Real Techniques Contour Brush - this is also great for all over contouring cheeks, forehead, etc. The bristles are synthetic so you can use your cream and liquid products with it. I also love this brush for my under eye concealer! 

Voila! Isn't she Purrty?
Thanks liz for being my model, oh the joys of being the roommate of a beauty junkie! Oy! 
Have a wonderful weekend Y'all! 
What are your tips on contouring? Was this helpful?
Hugs and fishy faces, 

September Favorites!

Happy October!

I love fall weather and the smell of fall candles, my favorite is leaves from Bath and Body Works! The name gets me every time, because I think of crunchy fall leaves and then the scent and they just don't go together. I think my roomates and I are planning on carving pumpkins, eating tons of carmel apples and maybe some haunted houses? :O

Anyways here are some of my favorite products from the month of September! 

1. Revlon PhotoReady Airbrush Mousse Foundation

Right out of the bottle

After swiping my finger over it 

At first mousse foundation sounded kind of weird to me so when this first came out I didn't not want to try it. However, after my friend let me try some of her mousse makeup from a different brand I thought I would give this a go. It's light to medium coverage and because it's Revlon's PhotoReady collection it does have very fine light diffusing shimmers in it, it doesn't seem noticeable or bother me. The only this about this is that you have to be careful to push the button down carefully or else you will get enough foundation for five faces! A little goes a long way. I like this for when I want more coverage on the weekends or i'm going out!

2. Bare Minerals Original foundation 

I used to use bare minerals when I was in high school but then ventured out to try different brands. I just recently picked this up at Ulta because my face has been breaking out and I wanted something that covered and would be gentle on my skin. They have added a variety of shades since I use to use it and i'm really glad I picked this up because it covers AMAZING and perfect for everyday  when you're in a hurry to dust some on.

3. Anastasia Brow Wiz Eyebrow Pencil

Retractable Pencil on left and spool on right  

 Brow Wiz in Medium Ash

Filling in your brows can make a HUGE difference!!! You don't have to draw them on like tiny lines, but just coloring in parts that the hair is sparse and defining them can really frame your face and complete a look. I love this pencil because it goes on very natural and with just a light touch you get the  perfect amount of color. The picture makes this look a lot more red than it really is, in person it's more ash. I did find that this might be a little too dark for parts of my brow so I might look into picking up on shade lighter. Oh, and don't forget the spooly on the end is awesome to blend everything out at the end!

4. Benefit Boiing Industrial Strength Concealer 

Like I said i've been breaking out and this has been my go to concealer to cover up blemishes this past month. It really covers and stays put! 

5. MAC Eyeshadow (Tempting) and NARS Eyeshadow (Cyprus)

Right: MAC Tempting Left: NARS Cyprus

Tempting is a gorgeous red bronze color with a lustre finish. I've been using this all over the lid for the start to a pretty bronze smoky eye. Cyprus is a light beige/gold color with shimmer, it's really pretty all over the lid and in the inner corner of the eye.

6. Vaseline Lip Therapy and Maybelline Baby Lips Balm

I've been using the Vaseline Lip Therapy more at night before bed because it's a lot thicker and you have to apply it with your finger out of the cute little tub. I actually JUST got the Baby Lips the other day at CVS because all my roommates have it and love it, but I thought I would add it in here because i'm already obsessed with it and carry it everywhere. (I think it smells like fruit pebbles!?)

7. Make Up Forever Smoky Lash Mascara 

This is my second tube of this mascara. I originally bought it with a gift card to Sephora from my amazing girlfriends for my birthday! I always wanted to try it but couldn't see spending that much on mascara. Well I ran out and went ahead and splurged this summer, it's just perfect because it does everything it says it does VOLUME, LENGTH, and CURL!!! I've found mascara that volumizes  and lengthens but never holds curl as well as this! 

Hope you Enjoyed seeing some of my favorite things from September! 

Have you tried any of these products? What did you think about them or do you want to try them?

Thanks for Reading! 

Jess 

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