Contouring 101

What is 'contour'~

Defined as the edge or line that defines or bounds a shape or object.

Well, for makeup, contour does just that. But, it can be used to enhance a face's natural boundaries or to create new ones...

[original picture belongs to someone that's not me]

For example's sake, I lovingly drew the contour created with makeup on the model.

Not saying that's not all natural but if you look in a magazine ALL of the models and stock photos and ads use contouring a highlighting.. Because flash washes out most of it and contouring makes the

 model’s face pop and shapes it perfectly<3

[for note: the green is the highlights, and the blue is the contour]

As for me, I contour my face every time I apply makeup.

Though, not as heavily as above but enough to shape my face.

Above, is my contouring map for myself.

Let me start with the nose. What I'll be doing is drawing in a foux nose bridge and making my nose slimmer.You pretty much shape and create a fake shadow like if you had a thinner and more defined nose and trick the eye to thinking that that shadow is real and that your nose is smaller than it is~You contour with a shade 1-4 darker than your skin tone and it can be with a foundation, concealer or powder.. I like powder personally but foundation tends to look more natural and subtle~

The green means taking a highlight colour like 1-2 shades lighter than your skin colour and creating the illusion of height to the contour and making it more believable~

That’s a pretty good rough outline of it…. It really does take practice and there’s SOOO many ways to contour depending on the look you want~

For me lately, I find using my eyebrow pencil creates a good base that's easy to blend out. I apply my pencil after my foundation and concealer...

One side blended for comparison~
Then, after both are blended out how I want it, I set my makeup with powder.
After that's done, I can go more dramatic with powder contour which I use a taupe eye shadow, even a bronzer will work but I find shimmer/warm colours will make the contour look less believable. So, settling for a cool taupe is a good option.

As for noses with a bridge you can correct bumps, dents or even create more definition by playing around with how you contour and highlight your bridge and nostrils.
It's actually easier than contouring say my Asian nose because it's flat...

Really make sure to blend out, and start with a light application and build up. It's easier to just keep building than applying too much and having to lighten it up.

Do mind, you can choose to do one or the other, I just prefer to do both for more dimension.

Next I'll go over cheeks~
Cheeks are pretty simple and I prefer to do it in powder.
Using a brush, or pencil~ Something cylindrical, roll it horizontally down the side of your face and over your cheek bone, where it rolls under the cheek bone is where you will want to apply your contour.

You can envision it as a long triangle or more linear as long as you go along that line of your cheekbone and blend down and out well. Once again, building it up lightly.
Don't extend it too far, hitting just under the apples of your cheek and blending it out is perfect.

^^ example above~
Brown is contour, pink is blush and yellow is highlight.

On my face, my contour looks like this^^
You also have the option of applying it with a darker foundation and blending it well, then sealing it with a translucent powder and not having to deal with the brush and powder contour.
If you chose the liquid route, your contour will look much more natural and flawless~
I do choose to highlight slightly with a nice golden shimmer eye shadow to create more shape.
The goal is to create your own cylinder out of your cheek bone.
If you look closely to my cheek you can see the shading that creates the three dimensional shape~

You can also choose to contour your jaw line which is basically, shading right under your jaw and blending down to your neck to create a more defined or sharper face shape.

The big thing is once you see how contour and highlights are used and how they work, you need to practice practice practice.

Try different mediums if you must, and just play around with it!

I love contouring because it takes my face from flat, to 'BAM'~

[circle lenses: Geo Nudy Grey]

Bonus:
Highlighting for pouty lips~
If you throw a bit of highlight, be it a line of white pencil, or white shimmer/powder above you cupids bow [upper lip]

^^dotted green line is where you chould place the highlight. 

It will create a more pouted and voluptuous lip and I should clarify, make the line fairly thin, as thin as a well sharpened pencil and blend it out~

Then apply your lip colour as usual and voilla!

I hope I was able to explain all of that thoroughly enough to be applicable...

If there needs to be any more clarification please feel free to ask me!

I hope that you can use contour easily in your makeup routine and that it's not intimidating but something easy that can instantly boost your look~ OR even transform the whole shape of your face!

<3CarisseIris
[your resident certified makeup artist.... in case anyone's wondering what my actual job is, it's makeup]

Herstyler~ Curling Iron and Straightener Review

 This holiday season I came home with a Herstyler [site link] Colorful Season hair tool set which came with a hair straightener, travel size hair straightener and curling wand~

As all my previous hair tools were pretty standard devices from my local Target or Wal-mart, they were just basic items... Nothing like the set I allowed myself to splurge on which costs $355 [but does come with a decrease on the price]
[[ Note that it's PINK~ and it's not like a cheap pink, it's really high quality light pink]]

 Starting with the hair straightener, which is a 1.5 inch ceramic plate and adjustable heat temperature [240°C/460°F - 120°C/200°F] It also has a rotating cable so you won't get your cord all tangled up, also the cord is really long, like a bit over a meter~ 

 So far the plates haven't browned but I hear that ceramic plates do that because it's burned product like hairspray;; [so you just wipe that down with a damp cloth]
Unlike my last hair straightener I don't smell a burning smell when I straighten my hair but oddly after I straighten my hair, my hair feels slightly damp.. My hair didn't even feel dry at the tips like it usually does, it left no weird indentations where I straightened my hair mid shaft. On another happy note it takes under a minute for the device to be fully heated and the heat seems to be spread evenly across the plates.
The straightener is very light and the plates are kind of on a spring and have a bit of give so it won't pull your hair but it's very smooth going through mine, but my hair is just slightly wavy and pretty smooth already;;~

[On another note, it's even shaped in a way that you can use it to curl your hair, but I'm still struggling with doing it correctly]

I've also noticed that my hair didn't frizz up at all after I straightened it, and it stayed straight until I washed my hair.

I would say that this straighter would be good even for a beginner to hair straightening, everything is to the point and it's a very good quality straightener

 Left side, my normal hair~ Right side, straightened hair

Super straight hair~~

The mini straightener, is pretty cute too~ It is exactly like the big one but it's temperature isn't adjustable~ I like to use it on my fringe!

Next, comes the curling wand which does come with a heat protected glove but I don't use it.
The wand doesn't have an adjustable temperature, only an on and off switch~

 Like the straightener, it's cord is also on a rotating base so no tangled mess. Same as the other one, the cord is just over a meter in length.

I really love this wand, it's always been my intention to get a wand to curl my hair because there's no clamp to leave indentations in your curls and curls done by want are more springy and less pressed looking. Now, since you have to wrap your hair around the barrel, there is always a chance you can accidentally burn yourself and I've done so too many times to count now; But you can always use the glove to help protect your hand~
The wand gets really hot and sometimes the handle can get kind of warm too. Like the straightener the device heats up very quickly and the heat is evenly distributed along the rod.
Also I like how it tapers near the end of the barrel [it goes from 2.5"- 1.8"] so you can have different sized curls from ringlettes to beachy waves and you can avoid curling the tips of your hair to save more damage to your hair~ And the wand is long enough to wrap long hair completely around it, and my hair is roughly 23 inches in length...
Also since the wand is really hot it only takes 5-8 seconds for a section of hair to be completely curled..

Thank goodness it's really light too because since it's a wand and I'm using both of my hands my arms get pretty tired by the time I'm done with curling my whole head...

Uhm, if you are a beginner with curling your hair, please use the gloved provided and practice... A Hair wand does require some experimenting to get the technique down pat...

 Pretty curls~

So, is the high price worth it. Yes. If you are sure you want to invest in a good hair tool set, I will highly recommend it...

But it's not a 'must have' set, where I will tell you that it will change your world... I was fine with my basic hair tools but once I did start using the quality tools I can tell the difference and my hair has been staying less damaged too...

It's a good purchase though and I love it.. Even more so because it's pink.

[Did I mention they also come in different patterns like leopard, zebra, giraffe, 'tattoo' and other solid colours, so that's pretty fun]

 I'm really in love with the hair wand though~ the curls stay in my usually uncurlable asian hair for days until I wash them out. So impressed..

Yeah~

<3CarisseIris

New Nails~ Adventure Time with Fionna and Cake

 Finally had my nails re-done as the other set grew out.
This time around I went with an Adventure Time themed nail set done in cal-gel and acrylic 3D peices.

 Done by the amazing Meiko at Atlas Studio [link]
Overall the nails took 3 hours to complete but it is so worth it and the attention to detail is beautiful~

 Cake batter drip and ribbon flowing across multiple nails and hand painted sparkle~

 Crystal Sword with ribbon that also floats over multiple nails~

And of course, Fionna and Cake to top it off<3

I'm so proud to showcase my nails, I think they're the prettiest set I've ever had to date...

<3CarisseIris

New Years Haul~

 So, after a long hiatus and a fun and fatty holiday I'm back with a quick haul entry~

First item I came home with is Fairy Drops Scandal Queen mascara~ So far I really love it and it's pretty amazing stuff, water proof, lengthening fibers and hold a curl on my Asian lashes.

 [I'll do a more intensive review on it later this month]

 Next item is Urban Decay's 24/7 concealer... Uhm, Which after some trial, I'm not a fan of...
I have acne scars and break outs and I think it would be better on someone with a bit clearer skin.
I personally need something a bit heavier and less sheer.

 I also got another shade of UD mineral foundation in 'Illusion' [I got much paler this winter]

 I really love this foundation it looks so flawless and has great coverage and the best tone match for my skin which is very yellow based.

 I decided that I wanted to try UD's brushes while I was at it.

I invested in the Multi task brush, which I want to use for concealer.

Then I also bought the foundation brush that I am using with my Urban Decay Flawless foundation.
And I think it does a fine job with it BUT I by far prefer using it to apply the mineral powder foundation after playing with it today.

So, this is the effect on my skin using all of the products. [I had to use my Clinique concealer in place of the UD one for a better coverage]

circle lenses from Angelcontacts

I'm happy with the effect. It looks very flawless and natural.

I also went to Forever 21 where I bought a cute floral sweater and simple pleated skirt.

THEN, I took a trip to Lush to invest in some bubble bombs and bath bombs and bubbly stuffs....

I actually don't know the names of the bombs or bubbly stuff but it's all really pretty and smells nice...

Yepp~
This year I want to become better at updating and posting good content.
Yeah.

Thank you for sticking with me and watching me grow this year~~~

<3CarisseIris