How to create beautiful contour and highlight on a budget

Contour history

Contouring isn’t a modern phenomenon, though thankfully it has been improved and perfected over the years. The technique, which involves applying make-up to your face in such a way as to cast shadows and accentuate certain facial features (think high cheekbones and sculpted chins), has been around since the 1500s.

Related: Flormar’s new Invisible Cover HD Foundation is a game changer

Back then, Elizabethan stage actors used chalk to emphasise their features, in an effort to help people at the back of the audience distinguish their expressions. As the centuries passed, contouring continued to be used in performance art; on stage and later in TV and film; until a certain celebrity called Kim Kardashian introduced it to the masses.

Kim Kardashian via Twitter, 2012

Since debuting her ‘before and after’ contour look on social media in 2012, beauty-lovers have been eager to recreate it. No longer is it solely for the arts, but something we all can wear daily.

What’s more, the products we need to create the look don’t have to break the bank. As of summer 2019, there’s a range of easy-to-use, affordable contour and highlight products on the market: enter Flormar’s new Contour and Highlight Sticks.

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Contour Sticks

Flormar’s new Contour Sticks are available in two shades; 01 Light and 02 Medium. They have a creamy texture with a smooth, powdery-matte finish (no oily shine), and they’re suitable for all skin types.

What’s more, these Contour Sticks can create a softly sculpted look, or be built up for greater definition. For that reason, they suit all make-up wearers, whether you prefer medium or full coverage.

How to use: Apply the Contour Stick directly to your face to define your cheekbones and nose, as well as to sculpt your jawline. Simply trace lines on your forehead, cheeks and chin, before buffing the product out with a make-up brush.

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Highlight Sticks

Contouring always looks best when paired with a highlight, which leads us to Flormar’s new Highlight Sticks. Available in three shades; namely 01 Moonlight, 02 Medium Rose and 03 Deep Glow; these highlights have a creamy formula with highlighting pearls to boost your skin’s natural glow.

Not only that, but the stick’s soft texture allows for easy blending and adds targeted dimension to the face for the ultimate strobe effect.

How to use: To enhance your cheekbones, apply the highlight directly to the top of the cheekbones and softly blend with a make-up brush. It can also be applied to the bridge of your nose and cupid’s bow for an overall ‘glow’ effect.

Similarly, apply Flormar’s Highlight Stick to the inner corner of your eye and brow bone to make eyes appear brighter.