skinDEEP

LOOK LIKE A CELEB, CONTOUR YOUR FACE

It’s the trick used by every girl walking the red carpet to make their nose look thinner/longer or their jaw line/cheek bones more defined. Rhinoplasty isn’t necessary to make that bump on your nose go away. You’d be surprised at how many plastic surgery rumors circle around (granted in Hollywood, most are true) when in reality it was a fab makeup artist who knew how to restructure a celebs face simply with the use of cosmetics. You don’t have to be famous or pay someone a crazy amount of money to get the same effect. Learning the tricks are simpler than you think. By using specific products in distinct parts of your face, you too can make your round face more prominent. 

Having a round face myself, I learned these tricks to help certain features of my face stand out. Instead of looking through your favorite magazine and wishing you had certain features of your favorite celeb (we are all guilty of it!), make note of these simple techniques to help define your face using bronzer, blush, and highlighter: 

BRUSH: Before you can think of contouring, having the right tools will give you the best results. An angled brush is your best bet. I recommend MAC’s 168 Large Angled Contour Brush. What I love is that this brush is that it is great for blush and bronzer, so you’re really getting your moneys worth.

BRONZER: Bronzer is great for contouring because it is usually a shade or two darker than your actual skin tone. My favorite bronzer is bare minerals warmth, but you can use whichever you feel works best with your skin! A substitute to this is buying a foundation or powder that is two shades darker than your skin, but I feel like that is a waste of money when most people already own a bronzer. Here are different places to apply the bronzer: 

• Under the apple of your cheek bone diagonally or parallel to your jaw line to make your cheekbones pop.
• On the sides of your nose from the bridge coming straight down. This will make it look longer and thinner. BLENDING IS KEY HERE!
• On your jaw line and under your chin will make your round face look more elongated and who doesn’t want that?!

BLUSH: Blush contrasts well with the bronzer or any shade you chose to you that is two shades darker. By applying the bronzer under the cheekbone and putting the blush directly on the cheekbone, you really make the apple stand out. Applying this has the same guidelines as the bronzer except it should go one level above where you applied the bronzer going parallel to the jaw line. 

HIGHLIGHTER: If you want more details about highlighter, read my post on how highlighter can make you glow like the stars do. In the post, I mention the power of highlighter and how versatile it is. It can be used to: 

• Line the bottom and top middle portion of your lips to make their shape more prominent.
• Cover a small bump on top of your nose (used by so many stars like Kim Kardashian and Jessica Simpson)
• Line the top of your brows, acting almost as an eye shadow
• Make your cheekbones stand out even more. This is the last touch in making those apples pop. After applying the bronzer and blush, the line above that is where highlighter should go, and once again parallel to your jaw. I added just a little dab right on the apple on top of the blush just to add a little more pop. 

After reading this, you will start to look at pictures of celebrities differently. You’ll notice the line of bronzer, blush, than highlighter as you move higher up and to the inner portion of their faces. The first person I really noticed it on was Tyra Banks but virtually every celeb does it. I think the reason people love going to get their makeup done is really because of how good the makeup artist is at contouring. It’s a trick that takes practice and perfecting to fit your specific face shape, but once you do, you won’t feel the need to go to MAC and buy $50 dollars worth of makeup just to get your makeup done for free anymore! Hope the diagram (although rough) helps you better understand contouring: 

What are YOUR thoughts on contouring? Do you contour on the same parts of your face as I do?

5 MINUTE MAKEUP

There are so many days when I am already 10 minutes late for class, 30 minutes late for an appointment, or hours late to meet up friends for dinner. I’m out of the shower, my hair is still soaking wet, and I have NO idea what I’m going to wear. It’s times like these that my 5 minute makeup routine comes into use. I think it’s great for women to develop a quick and efficient way to apply their makeup for those days where every minute counts. You don’t want to neglect putting on any makeup, but at the same time you don’t want to feel SO rushed that you mess up (which sometimes leads to more time wasted!).

A few months ago, my friends were annoyed of how long I was taking to get ready. I told them that I would be ready in 5 minutes (obviously thinking 5 min in girl code means 15..or maybe 30?). Being the impatient friends that they are, I was put to the test. They told me they didn’t believe that I could do my makeup in 5 minutes so they actually timed me! This is when my makeup in under 5 minutes routine developed. I ended up finishing right over four minutes. This made me realize how convenient and necessary it is to have a quick makeup regimen that still still gives the results as if you spent hours doing it. Here is MY 5 minute makeup routine: 

   CONCEALER-00:35 (35 seconds)

• Place under your eyes to cover up dark circles. I use my finger.

   POWDER-01:20 (45 seconds)

• Use a big brush to apply over the entire face. 

  BRONZER-01:45 (25 seconds)

• Focus on the cheekbones.

   EYE LINER- 03:00 (1 minute and 15 seconds)

• It’s okay if this part takes you the longest. Mainly because if you mess up top liner, you have to remove it and it ends up taking more time. I usually make my liner thicker when doing makeup in five. Since I am not adding as many products to my face, I try to highlight the products I am using drastically. 

    MASCARA-04:00 (1 minute)

• I don’t compromise time here either. If it takes me 15 extra seconds to make sure my lashes don’t clump together, then so be it! 

    LIP GLOSS- 04:11 (10 seconds)

• I normally put lipstick with a bit of gloss over it, but in my quick routine, I changed it up and ended up discovering that I like the way gloss looks against my lips without applying lipstick first. It gives a more natural look.

Everyones routine should be different. With five minutes, it’s important to focus more time on the features you want to highlight.  The key isn’t putting everything on quicker, but putting on the items that matter the most. So on a day where you have an hour to spend getting ready, you may put on some primer, lip stick, lip liner, blush,  eye shadow, a highlighter, etc..but when you’re in a rush, focus on the core items that really make a difference on your face. I challenge you guys to do your makeup in under 5 minutes without compromising the quality of the routine. You may discover a new look that you previously didn’t know you could create. It’s amazing what being on a time crunch can do to your skills!

COMING SOON: Travel friendly makeup 

What’s apart of your 5 min makeup regimen? 

WANT HIGH CHEEKBONES? USE BRONZER!

You know how everyone has that one product they have to put on their face no matter where they are going? My product is bronzer! Even if I don’t wear foundation, blush, concealer, or powder, I always put on bronzer. There is something about the way it makes my cheeks look that I love. A light brush of bronzer allows me to have the natural look without looking caked on for day to day activities. 

Not everyone is a fan of bronzer. A lot of people don’t understand what’s the purpose of it if you have a dark complexion. Everyone always asks me “don’t you want to look lighter and doesn’t that stuff just make you look darker?” I don’t necessarily agree with that. I think bronzer has a way of making your cheeks glow and highlighting cheekbones. **BEAUTY TIP**It can also make those who don’t have very high cheek bones look as if they do. Just because you weren’t born with them doesn’t mean you can’t look like you have them! #justsaying

I have 3 favorite bronzers. I ranked them below in order of most to least favorite (but keep in mind all three are great and work differently for different people/occasions).

1. Bare Minerals Warmth: This is my absolute FAV. It’s my every day bronzer. Because I already have tan skin, it provides just the right tone of red to my skin to help my cheekbones stand out.                                                          
2. MAC Bronzing Powder Matte Bronze: This is the bronzer I use more for when I go out. I purposely by the Matte one without shimmer because I like to add shimmer with a good blush and highlighter rather than just trying to use one product to do all three (gives a better finish).                                                              
3. LORAC Tantalizer: For those of you who are looking for a product that DOES bronze, blush, and highlight all in one, this is it! It is highly pigmented and gives the same effect as the three in one product.

I wanted to show the difference between a celeb who actually has high cheek bones and one that just looks like they do with the help of their glam squad. What’s the Point? Well, I really want people to understand that you have the ability to look like these celebs do whether you believe it or not! 

Jessica Biel (on the left) DOES have naturally high cheekbones while Christina Aguilera (on the right) does NOT. Christina Aguilera has a rounder face but look how much her cheeks are radiating! You too can make your cheekbones appear higher than they actually are with the proper tools. 

SIDE NOTE: I always link the products I suggest to a website where you can buy them. If you want to try these products out, hit on the link and it will direct you to a retailer that sells it. I do recommend going into the store and trying it on first, but this will allow you to see the price of the product and a store that for sure carries it. 

What bronzer gives YOU the highest cheekbones?