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I know people think my taste in makeup leans more towards 'natural' and I hate a strong highlight, or a strong eye paired with a strong lip. None of which is actually true. I love all of this together but I like to think about makeup logically, through 'rules' and go about the application following the 'rules'.
So I have a very interesting logical explanation behind why the streaky cheek highlight looks super unnatural, unflattering and is not my cup of tea and God willing, never will be.
The below mentioned technique may sound very theoretical but I think it works.
You all know our cheeks are not a flat surface and to amplify their dimensions, we use contour and highlight and colour to bring the cheek area out. And the best way to demonstrate how a 'flat' cheek area can be made to look more 3D, more spherical is to use the image of a circle (like Jordan Liberty did too in one of his videos). But to change that circle into a sphere you have to add shade and light.
Now, have you guys ever observed a sphere shining under light? The highlight is never uniform all over. It has a center of intensity that blends out and bleeds into the shade. And that shade too has a center of intensity farthest from that of highlight's and it's intensity also blends out and merges into the light somewhere in the middle of the sphere giving it that perfect spherical shape.
Now, how can you achieve that look on your cheeks?
By layering your highlight.
Instead of putting one streak of intense highlight all across your cheekbones, put one thin layer and blend it out, put another layer on top but do not blend out the top layer as much as you did the one under it. At the end either use that blinding highlight you love or the same you layered, and put the last layer on the very highest point of the cheekbones and diffuse it out with the smallest of the brushes you have or your finger.
Alternatively, if you have ever done shading while sketching you'll know how you can achieve the same effect by moving your brush/ hands further away from the point of intensity bit by bit and lifting pressure as you go.
Your cheekbones will catch light on all the places that have the blended highlight but will catch it the most on that highest point giving the impression of perfectly plumped, highlighted cheeks.
Sounds like a lot of work in theory but again it's all about the attention to detail and those little rules that actually make all the difference in your makeup.
P.S. The same technique and logic can be applied to your contour. The only difference being highlight is blended down, the contour is blended up.
Love,
Fizzah
Disclaimer: This is a personal blog edited by its owners and the opinions expressed here belong solely to its owner's. For questions and queries please email at thepoutpainter@gmail.com
