Re: Contour and Hilight
Is blush necessary? I would think that it is more for really white skinned women.
Re: Contour and Hilight
Yes! Find a blush that compliments your skintone, lots and lots of brick reds, dusky pink, warm peaches to choose from.
Re: Contour and Hilight
I almost chocked on my chai when I read this! Of course blush is necessary! Haven’t you ever seen gorgeous brown/black models wearing blush? You’d need to find colors that suit your skin tone but yea…blush can make a BIG difference even on black women.
Re: Contour and Hilight
Okay okay just askin’ 
newbie makeup person here people. I’m going to ask crazy questions. So yes to blush. Oh, I can’t wait to be a makeup pro!!!
Is this girl doing it right? She’s a really good teacher. sidenote, doesn’t the makeup look a bit loud or over dramatic? or is it just me. i think she’s beautiful though. I don’t think my face can take that much makeup. It will look seriously cakey and over the top for me.
Re: Contour and Hilight
^ Yes, this make-up is over the top/dramatic. This is only suitable for clubbing, weddings, or photoshoots lol. IMHO it looks ridiculous when I see girls walk around with a mask like this for daily stuff. She is very pretty but unfortunately, when I look at her, I think how good she is at applying make-up or how much she applied versus simply thinking that she’s beautiful. Her choice of lip color, applying silver on the browbone, thickness of the liner etc. all make the look dramatic. Once you learn the techniques of applying the products, you can very easily change eye/lip colors to tone down a look or make it stand out.
Maybe it’s b/c I’m getting old but these days, I really prefer a more toned down look that enhances a woman’s beauty. As you yourself wrote, heavy/dramatic looks like this comes across as cakey/mask-ish in real life.
Here are 2 videos I found by a quick search where I really loved the end look. I have not watched the entire video…but I love the colors they chose to enhance their natural beauty. Their finished look doesn’t have the “WOW” effect like the other over-the-top looks…but you definitely notice their talent when compared to how they look w/o the MU. And these natural looks are what’s more realistic for daily activities like school, work, going out w/ friends etc.
Re: Contour and Hilight
^Oh yea that's more my style of it looking totally natural. Thanks for the videos. I like how she does her makeup in the second natural holiday video she looks like a professional.
Re: Contour and Hilight
Best highlter for that "J Lo glow" is MAC MSF Soft and Gentle. But be careful to not apply too much of it. or else you'll ending up looking lying a frying pan:p
For contouring, I find it easier to apply and blend using a stick foundation of a dark shade ( such as Maybelline FitMe in 355). I can really just draw a line below my cheekboes and then just beld in using a beauty blender or a stippling brush
Re: Contour and Hilight
She's gorgeous! Looks a bit like Aishwarya Rai in parts of the video..
She presents a show on Dubai one channel :)
Re: Contour and Hilight
This seems like a good reference on how to do
^this is not happening.The white and dark will look so heavy on my face especially if it was all blended with foundation. I tried it and it looks so ashy and barfy.
Contour and Hilight
Okay a few questions!!
(1) So girls what do you use to set all that base color?
I think using a dark and light foundation for my contouring and highlighting may just be the way to minimize all those cakey layers! But I need something to set my foundation so should I be using banana powder for all over or is it just for setting my under eye concealer? I find that my MAC powder just adds a cakey layer and takes away all the color from my face so I need something just as sturdy but sheer to set my foundation?? Product suggestions?? I love love that video of the black girl, her skin looks just like mine with the dark circles!
(2) Do you guys always do your eyemakeup first? Because of my dark circles, my eyeliner and all just starts to blend into my concealer so I always do my eye makeup last. Is this wrong? What's more effective?
I loove highlighting and contouring but I have not been able to find the right products. Because of my base foundation I find I need more product on my face but then it begins to look so cakey because its just wayyyy to much makeup especially for everyday!
Contour and Hilight
Ps. The mac prep*prime stick - my personal review- hated it. Totally a waste and there's only three colors to chose from. Really made me really cakey.
Re: Contour and Hilight
I’ve been noticing a trillion YouTube makeup guru’s are making videos on highlighting and contouring using creams and I just want to say… that for normal, everyday highlighting/contouring you do not need to use creams. Infact, I think it should only be done for special occasions because it’s actually more complicated than contouring using powders. It’s very easy to miss a spot and not blend properly and you’ll end up looking patchy. Yes, it looks cool to start off with white and brown lines all over your face before applying foundation but it really isn’t necessary. Foundation, concealer, contour cream color, highlight cream color, THEN powder…it’s just too much product on the face. I wear foundation and do light highlighting/contouring every day and I have found that using powders is much simpler and the end result is just as good as using creams. Not to mention, using powders is MUCH quicker.
For highlighting, use a concealer a couple of shades lighter than your skintone and apply it under the eye and other areas you want to highlight (down the bridge of the nose, middle of forehead etc.) I use Maybelline’s Fit me concealer, it’s affordable and works really well.
For contouring I use Loreal’s true match foundation powder in cocoa. It’s several shades darker than my skintone and not too orange. I find it works great for most desi skin tones.
Re: Contour and Hilight
Okay a few questions!! (1) So girls what do you use to set all that base color?
I think using a dark and light foundation for my contouring and highlighting may just be the way to minimize all those cakey layers! But I need something to set my foundation so should I be using banana powder for all over or is it just for setting my under eye concealer? I find that my MAC powder just adds a cakey layer and takes away all the color from my face so I need something just as sturdy but sheer to set my foundation?? Product suggestions?? I love love that video of the black girl, her skin looks just like mine with the dark circles!
(2) Do you guys always do your eyemakeup first? Because of my dark circles, my eyeliner and all just starts to blend into my concealer so I always do my eye makeup last. Is this wrong? What's more effective?
I loove highlighting and contouring but I have not been able to find the right products. Because of my base foundation I find I need more product on my face but then it begins to look so cakey because its just wayyyy to much makeup especially for everyday!
Lately i've been using a translucent powder, it makes everything look lighter and less cakey. However, i'm not satisfied until I dust a little of MAC's studio fix powder on certain areas (My holy grail, doesn't matter what foundation i'm wearing. I'm not satisfied until i've used that powder). If that powder takes away all the color from your face, powder strategically, only where you need to. Or just stick to a translucent powder.
I actually mix two foundation colors for my face. I use the slightly darker one on the outer areas of my face and lighter color on the inner areas. It's good for very subtle highlighting/contouring. I wouldn't use banana powder anywhere other than the undereye area, i've used it all over my face before and it has a very strange finish, it doesn't look smooth at ALL. I actually find that powder very overrated. I like the yellow tinge it has, but the finish is not nice IMO.
For everyday makeup, I like to do my foundation first, just because. For weddings/parties when I actually do more dramatic eyemakeup, I like to do the eyes first because there is always fallout.
Re: Contour and Hilight
^what shade of mac studio fix do you use?
My problem is when I do highlighting, my pores show and are made to become more apparent. Any solution for that? EDIT: Toner is like magic. My pores were minimized a lot after I used the one I had gathering dust and I never used for months until I looked for what it does. It was a duh moment.
for NC35 skin color what's the best shade of blush that won't look too made up?
Re: Contour and Hilight
^I use NC35. I don't highlight using anything shimmery, I just highlight with a light colored concealer but you have to make sure you really work it into the skin. Also, apply a primer before to help with the pores.
MAC's blush in Mocha is sooo perfect. It's just the right shade of dusky pink that looks super natural. I just bought it recently and have been wearing it almost everyday. That and Melba is really nice. Melba's a little brighter and peachier but looks natural also.
Contour and Hilight
^ this is helpful! So I use NC40 for foundation and NW30 for concealer, so in that case would I go a shade lighter then my concealer or use the same color as my concealer for the highlighting?
Also, to get the dewey look there seems to be highlighting products that are different from the kind of highlighting and contouring we are taking about... Any product suggestions for the Dewey look?
Re: Contour and Hilight
^Somehow I find that the NW range runs a little darker than the NC. NW30 and NC40 are almost the same in terms of darkness, def go for NW20 instead. My foundation is NC30/35 and my concealer is NW15. I know that seems super light, but once I put it under my eye and set it with powder, it doesn't look too light at all.
I'm not a dewy face kinda girl, I've been cursed with a round face, so it looks rounder when it's dewy so I stay away from that lol. I don't know too much about it, but I think if you want an overall dewy finish, go for a dewy foundation. If you want to look dewy just on the cheeks then try illuminators or a dewy finish setting spray on those areas. Also, do not powder where you want to look dewy! just powder in the center of the face.
I mix a highlighter with the foundation and apply it to places where I want to look dewy.when im ready to do the highlight.The foundation actually covers the pores and it looks luminous.
Re: Contour and Hilight
I mix a highlighter with the foundation and apply it to places where I want to look dewy.when im ready to do the highlight.The foundation actually covers the pores and it looks luminous.
I wonder if the same effect can be achieved with powder highlighter. I have mary lou luminizer. Which foundation are you using?
Re: Contour and Hilight
I wonder if the same effect can be achieved with powder highlighter. I have mary lou luminizer. Which foundation are you using?
i use makeup forever for parties and nars tinted moisturizer for anything that isnt a dawat but i set that with baremineral compact foundation which is soooooooooooo good.