How to contour round face: the complete makeup guide
Well, well, you may have noticed that contouring is still definitely not going out of style just yet. Actually, if possible, it is becoming more and more appreciated and used by many!
You probably have looked at many tutorials already and have also tried to reproduce the strokes to contour your own face, but the results were not quite the same. One of the reasons why this may happen is that you are not contouring your face according to its shape. While there are a few basic tips that work for everybody, contouring is not a one-size-fits-all practice.
To make the most of your makeup application, you want to enhance your own unique features, understand what you want to accentuate and which part you want to minimise or even hide. Contouring allows you to highlight your bone structure, but, for the perfect result, you have to understand what type of shape you have.
There are four main categories of face shape: round, oval, heart, and square. To understand which shape is your face, you can take a selfie of yourself with your hair pulled back to focus on forehead, cheekbone and jawline.
But what is the whole point of contouring? The aim is to enhance features you like and minimise others by creating a natural look, that is, following your natural bone structure and blending well to avoid harsh edges.
In this guide we want to focus on just one shape, the round one. Let us find out together how to contour round faces!
Round face: how to recognize it
A round face is usually shorter in length and quite symmetrical, with the cheekbones being the widest and prominent feature.
Usually, since a round face’s features are often round and gentle, after applying foundation they tend to lose definition and become a bit flat. The main purpose of your contouring, therefore, is to create shadows and light effects to accentuates the edges and angles.
Contouring for round faces: a step-by-step guide
Here we are with our list of tips and little secrets for a perfect contouring result.
1. Prime your face
Always prime your face before you start. Our face primer’s size will not allow you to find excuses for carrying too many products!
2. Always use a brush
Start contouring using a brush: it is the best way to pick just about the right amount of product you want on your face, and it makes it way easier to blend it afterwards. KIKO Milano’s contouring brush does what you need to sculp your face in a structured and precise manner!
3. Start with cream formulas
We suggest starting your contouring journey with a cream product rather than powder, as it tends to be easier to apply and blend and leaves a more natural finish with minimal effort. You can use a creamy compact foundation for moisturising your skin.
4. Foundation and concealer
Before contouring, apply foundation and let it set. Shortly after, apply concealer to hide the spots on your face you want to keep hidden. Then it is finally time to grab your contouring product. It can be a concealer or some cream powder that is normally two shades darker than your skin tone.
5. Start with your cheekbones
As we said, cheekbones are the widest features for round faces, therefore you will want to contour just below them, to gently accentuate them.
You can help yourself draw the line by looking at yourself in the mirror while doing that (iconic!) duck face.
6. The jawline
The next step is applying a darker shade of product on your jawline too, starting just below your ear and following the bone structure up until your chin, almost. This will make your face look super slim but be careful not to put too much product on your face or it would make the blending part harder.
7. The forehead
When contouring a round face, the forehead is the place where you want to apply the least amount of product. What we suggest is to pull it down the temple as you were drawing a letter “c” on each side of your face.
8. The nose
Also during this step, it is important to be gentle and use minimal product (tip: tap excess product a few extra times before going in with your brush during this step). For a natural-looking contoured nose, just dust lightly on both sides of the bridge in vertical, sweeping motions, as well as under the "button" of your nose (where highlight should go instead).
9. Blend, blend!
Now with a fluffier brush, like the blending brush or a sponge, it is time to blend! Make sure you buff and bounce your tool on your face until all the face contour lines are expertly blended.
10. Highlight
When it comes to round faces too, highlighting is very important. A little bit of luminous powder can help emphasise the high points of your face. Dot the powder highlighter onto your cheekbones, the tip of your nose, and underneath the arch of your brows.
11. Final tips
And there you go! Your contouring journey is almost over! Now just make sure that sculpt your eyebrows to make them stand out on your face by using an eyebrow pencil. This would help optically elongate your face shape which is ideal for round faces!
Finally, use a setting spray or a setting powder like the Invisible Touch Face Fixing Powder, which helps creating a sheer veil with matte finish, leaving a “second-skin” effect upon the face and extremely soft to the touch.
Okay, this is where our list of tips and step-by-step guide to contour round faces ends. Now it is up to you to find the best ways to makeup the shape of your face and give it more angular edges. Follow our guidelines and you will not be disappointed by the results!