How to Contour and Highlight Your Face

Kimmy K made this concept huge the moment she tweeted how makeup artist, Scott Barnes gets her camera ready back in May 2012. Unless you were blessed with the chiseled cheekbones of Angelina, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley or Cara Delevingne there's no harm in faking what yo mumma didn't give you with a highlighter, contour and blusher.
If you want to go extreme with your contouring like Kim, I have taken the liberty (and shameless selfies) to map out where to contour (the darker colour) and highlight (the lighter colour). This has been exaggerated in the images below as the amount of product I used for the photo would be a nightmare to blend, but you get the general idea.

To be honest, I wouldn't normally get this crazy with contouring. I mainly stick with my cheeks and occasionally the temple. I'll always highlight my brow bone and generally conceal my undereye with at least a shade lighter than my foundation. During a short course at Napoleon Perdis' Academy of Makeup I learned a great guide for achieving the perfect cheekbone contour. 

It's all about getting the right angle and knowing how far to take it.

1. THE ANGLE: Your contour should be from the top corner of your ear in line with the corner of your mouth.

2. THE LENGTH: Finish your contour in line with the contour angle and the bottom of where your nose finishes.

Your contour should not drag down any further than the end of your nose.

Exhibit A 

The contour needs to be the highlighted green section on Megan, most importantly you need to blend.
(Megan Gale for Loréal, featured in WHO magazine Sept 23, 2013, drawn on by yours truly)

I also drew on Ms Kardashian and Minka Kelly's perfect profiles (who were featured in last month's Cosmo magazine) to reiterate the idea:

The contour should be on the bold line of these images.

You can achieve a contour with either liquid, créme or powder. I usually find a powder easier to blend and it is important to ensure your blending is as seamless as possible; a subtle contour is more believable and flattering. My all time favourite, can't-live-without product to achieve the perfect contour and highlight is Napoleon Perdis' Ultimate contour palette.

It has literally everything you need to create model worthy cheekbones and even comes with it's own cute little guide to contouring. Retailing for $39 in Australia it has definitely taken a place as one of my top 3 favourite Napoleon Perdis products after having had the fortune to trial all of Napoleon's cosmetics at the academy.

As a guide go up to 4 shades darker than your foundation for any contouring colour and up to 2 shades lighter for highighting.

Contoured like a pro. Perfect.