Four Ways To Contour Like A Pro

When it comes to makeup, the craze for contouring doesn't look to be going anywhere fast and each season a new take on the trend is born backstage at the shows, from tantouring to strobing. Ways To Contour

So whether you want to define your cheekbones, add luminosity or achieve a 'just been to St Tropez' finish, there's something for everyone.

Here's how to recreate four of the key contouring trends on yourself...

Strobing is the art of using light-reflective products to enhance the high points of the face, in turn creating skin that looks radiant, healthy and bright. All you need is a white-hued liquid illuminator like MAC Strobe Cream, £24.50. Dab it onto the skin, along the lines marked in the face chart above and then gently blend it in with your fingertip or a beauty blender. Finish with a light dusting off light-reflecting powder - we love NARS Light Reflecting Setting Pressed Powder, £25.

Catapulting into our lives from the spring/summer 2016 shows, sun stripping possibly the easiest of all to achieve and one we're a particular fan of this time of year. As scary as it may sound, sun stripping is a flattering and natural way to make yourself look like you've just been sunning it on the islands. Think about where the sun tends to hit your face, and that's where you apply it. Dab a blunt makeup brush like Bold Metals Collection by Real Techniques 301 Flat Contour, £16.50 into a bronzer - ideally one without much shimmer. Tab the end of the brush to remove any excess pigment and then brush a strip of bronzer across your face from your temple, across your nose and cheek and finishing up at your other temple. Finally, gently buff the edges in to your skin to blend it outwards and create a natural sun-kissed finish. We used Bare Minerals Ready Bronzer in Deep End, £24.

THE CLASSIC CONTOUR

Used by pros far and wide, contouring allows you to give shape to an area of your face using bronzer and highlighter - and the introduction of contouring crayons have made our lives even easier. Essentially, they enable you to draw on the cheekbones of your dreams. Yep, really. Use a sculpting contour stick or bronzer and apply along the darker lines demonstrated on the face chart above. Then taking the highlighting crayon (or a highlighter), apply it to your face in the areas marked in peach above. Finally, used a makeup brush blend the darker and lighter lines together for a perfectly sculpted finish. We used Collection Speedy Highlighter, £2.99, Clinique Chubby Stick Sculpting Contour, £19 and Luxie Brush to buff.

Like the name suggests, tantouring is contouring with tan for a longer-lasting finish. Tanning pro James Read has made this super easier for us with the launch of his Tantour palette, £30. Use the highlighting section to illuminate areas of the face and body that the light would naturally hit (marked in the lighter shade above), then use the mineral bronzer to deepen and sculpt your tan (following the darker lines above).