3 Contouring Techniques You Need to Learn How to Do

When it comes to makeup, who doesn’t love looking flawlessly contoured? And while the end result may rival any A-lister’s contour, the process of getting there might not be quite so effortless. With celebrities and makeup artists worldwide claiming to know the number one secret—all of which seem to be different—to contouring, it can be pretty tough to figure out which technique is actually going to bring your chiseled-looking cheekbones to life.

Seriously, when it comes to contouring, there are so many different methods out there of doing it, it can be difficult to determine which one is the right technique for you. To help save you from wasting your precious creamy matte bronzer and glow-y highlighter, we’ve rounded up our three favorite foolproof techniques to make the sculpted face of your dreams a reality.

All you need are the L'Oréal Paris Infallible Total Cover Concealing and Contour Kit L'Oréal Paris Infallible Blend Artist Contour Blender, and L'Oréal Paris Infallible Blend Artist Foundation Blender to get started.

Contouring Technique #1: E + C

Whoa, whoa, whoa—what are these letters all about? We wondered the same thing when we first caught wind of this alphabetically inspired contouring hack, but as soon as we tested it out for ourselves, we realized just how flawlessly it works. Seriously, the secret to contouring-made-easy is all in the way you practice your letters.

Get the look by following these simple steps:

Step 1: Start with “E.” Using your contour blender and a darker color of choice from your contouring kit, draw the letter “E” on both sides of your face, starting with your forehead, curving around towards the hollow of your cheeks, and then back out towards your jawline.

Step 2: Follow it up with “C.” Next, dab your foundation blender into one of the lighter colors of your contouring kit to draw the letter “C” on both sides of your face, hugging your temples.

Step 3: Blend it all together. Lastly, use your foundation blender to blend your contour and highlight together for a sculpted, dewy look. Told you it was easy!

Contouring Technique #2: Heart Contouring

We started out by teaching you an alphabet-themed technique and now we’re honing in on shapes! While you might feel like these techniques are elementary, the results are anything but. To get a gorgeously glowing, chiseled-looking face, just draw a few hearts in the right places and fall in love with your new look.

Get the look by following these simple steps:

Step 1: Draw light-colored hearts under your eyes. To begin your look, use the lightest shade in your contour kit to draw tiny hearts under each eye. The light color will help to both conceal and add brightness to your overall look.

Step 2: Contour your cheekbones. Using one of the shades from your contouring kit that’s roughly two shades darker than your natural skin tone, draw miniature hearts in the hollow of your cheeks to contour your cheekbones.

Step 3: Blend it all together. Using one of your blenders, start by blending the lighter hearts in first before following it up with the dark hearts. You want to make sure to start with the light hearts first because if you blend the dark hearts first, there’s a chance the darker shade will transfer to under your eyes. Now that you’ve seen the end look, we bet you’re feeling seriously heart-eyed!

Contouring Technique #3: The Figure 8 Trick

Don’t have time for an array of steps? Then this is the contouring technique for you! Instead of implementing both bronzer and highlighter to create a contoured look, this one-step, super-quick trick relies solely on highlighting all the right places to help bring more definition to your face.

Get the look by following this simple step:

Step 1: Get glow-y. After applying your foundation, use a light shade from your contouring kit to make a figure 8 around your eyes for a subtle, illuminated look that can brighten your whole face. All you have to do is blend and you’re done. Gorgeous!