If you're still contouring in a big three shape like this,

If you're still contouring in a big three shape like this, it's gonna end up looking like this. Muddy, overpowering, and definitely not sculpting your face. These influencer hacks just don't work on everyone. Let me teach you how to use contour like a pro. First, don't grab a bronzer. I know you know better. Bronzers are quite warm and designed to give you a tan. To actually contour, you need a neutral to cool colour. Like this? Yes. Something almost grey and just a little bit deeper than your skin tone. And you wanna go just slightly darker than your complexion. You don't wanna go too deep with your contour, as that can get really hard to work with. Also, you can use a cream like this or a powder. Powder is a little easier. I'm just gonna use a cream today to better show you my placements. Next, don't follow trendy placements/over-apply. I see a lot of people making this giant 3 around their face, and while it might seem convenient, this is not gonna work on most face shapes. Not to mention it's just too much product. Contour placement really is personal. I do a video diving into all the different placements, so I'll put that up if you wanna check it out. Less is really more here. I'm gonna start by focusing on the hollow of the cheekbone, starting from the back corner of the ear, following that shadow toward the corner of the mouth. But then stopping at the outer edge of my eye. Anything farther in than that, it's gonna look pretty unnatural. I also like to take some under the jawline to sharpen it. I have a larger forehead, so I'm gonna go all the way around my forehead, some from the outer corner of the eye, extending up to lift. And you can also do some down the nose if you like. This is the general placement I like to follow. And I am blending on a wet foundation, for anyone wondering. And don't over blend it. A convincing contour requires some precision, so I recommend blending with a slightly smaller brush like this. And you really wanna take your time with this, just dlipping the product in with careful pressing motions, not really dragging or swiping, as we don't wanna disturb the foundation. We also wanna keep the contour relatively in place. A little foundation on the brush also makes blending a lot easier. So, again, just focus again on blending it back into the natural shadows of the face. And just like that, that's how to get a natural and convincing contour. Now, can you add bronzer? Yes, of course. I would add bronzer slightly above the contour. In fact, I would recommend it. Give a little more warmth back into the collection. Also, I know it might look quite subtle on camera, but I really do believe contour should be more subdued. It's something you want to be almost undetectable. You don't really want your contour to stand out, like your blush, for instance. At least in my opinion, if you want the sculpt to look more convincing. Really hope this video helps. Again, you can do the exact same thing with your powder contours. For anyone wondering, I use the Haus Labs Contour Stick in Profile. I'll leave this one and some other favourites down in the caption below. What can I help you with next? Let me know any questions you have and what you'd like to learn about next.