What's the difference between bronzer vs. contour? Although both methods are applied to similar areas of the face (cheeks, forehead, jawline), the results are very different! Bronzer is applied with sweeping motions to warm up areas of the face where the sun would naturally hit. Contour has a more precise application that creates shadows on the face for a more chiseled look. Niara demonstrates both applications in this tutorial!
Products used:
Cocoa Bronzer
Espresso Bronzer
Stack Brush BFF
020C Concealer
Contouring and Bronzing based on your face shape:
- bronzer vs contour: for different face shapes
- bronzer vs contour: how to use bronzer for different face shapes
- bronzer vs contour: how to contour for different face shapes
Video Transcription:
Understanding the Distinction: Bronzer vs. Contour Makeup
Hey all! My name is Niara and today I'm gonna be telling you all about the difference between contour and bronzer. These two products are very similar but they are different. I want to explain how you can use each product to achieve the look that you are want. If you are interested then just keep watching.
Mastering Bronzer Application for a Sun-Kissed Glow
I'll start off with what I feel like is the most beginner friendly and the easiest for the two. That is bronzer. Bronzer usually comes in a powder form, but the sole purpose of the bronzer is to add warmth to your face. I have two shades here from subtl stak.I have cocoa and I actually like to mix these two together for myself and I'm going to be using the subtl stak retractable BFF brush. These are actually very handy. Now, I have some bronzer picked up here on my brush.
The places where I like to apply, are similar to where you apply contour but just a little bit higher. Normally for contour, we apply it along the hollows of our cheeks. You see a lot of times people making that kissy face to find the hollows of their cheeks. I like to do it a little bit higher. So right up in here and then I'm gonna pull this back to blend it out. As you can see, I'm not being like super precise. I just wanted to get the product onto my face. Now, I'm also gonna apply it to my forehead. Similar to how we do our contour, I am just going to put it around the perimeter. We have warmed up this side of our face, so this side of our face looks a little bit more sunkissed. looks a little bit more bronze, hence the name bronzer.
Perfecting the Contour Technique: Enhance Your Facial Structure
Contouring requires a little bit more technique and skill. It's not super difficult to do, but it does require a little bit of practice. For contour, you can really use just about anything as long as it's about two to three shades darker. I'm gonna use a concealer shade. This is the shade Ellsworth (shade 020C now) and I'm gonna use this to contour my face. If you have a foundation powder that's two to three shades darker, a concealer, or anything like that as a complexion product, you can basically use those to contour. The one difference that you'll sort of notice between contour and a bronzer is that contours tend to be more cool tones. Whereas bronzers are a bit warmer. I'm actually gonna be using two different brushes for this. If you remember earlier we made the little kissy face to find the hulls of our cheeks. You can do that. So right or wrong, that line like is where I would wanna apply a contour. Also a good rule of thumb that I like to use is I like to apply my contour right, push my hair out the way, right where the top of my ear starts coming down is where I like to apply my contour as well.
If I make that kissy face, it sort of falls right online. So whichever way is easier for you to remember and I'm just gonna start to stamp it. I have a brush that is a little bit fluffier to blend it out.
Understanding the Distinction: Bronzer vs. Contour Makeup Techniques
And unlike the bronzer where we kind of brought it up and we're just like sweeping it all over this, you kind of wanna keep it in one place. What you want to do is create depth and dimension with your face. That's really what contour is doing is adding shadows and depth to your face where you don't naturally have them. If you look at a straight on, we've added like a little dimension here, like there's a little bit more of a shadow here on this side of our face, whereas on this side it's like a little, just a bit more like warmth. That's just like pushing up on our on our face. The other place that you're gonna wanna contour is down the sides of your nose.
I'm just gonna take this concealer and sweep it down the side of my nose. Now I'm gonna take a smaller brush and just sort of blend that out. And for my under eye concealer, I would apply that along the side of this to have that contrast. So to have a lighter shade here and then a darker shade here will really make that contour pop a lot more. As you can see on this side of my notes, I have a little bit more of a shadow forming on this side, whereas on this side I do not. The last place that we are going to apply contour is along our jawline and that is to create a more chiseled, sharp jawline or right before your face ends is where I like to apply it. It's like my face actually ends like right here and I like to bring it up a little bit higher like that.
Blend it out a bit to make it pop even more. What you can do is put a little concealer in between where you applied your contour here and your contour on your jawline that will make these shadows pop out and stand out even more. So you can do that with like a lighter color concealer or a lighter setting powder, whatever you have. But it's really just about kind of coloring your face in a way to make it appear different. So that is all from me today. My name again is Niara Alexis. You can also find me on Instagram and TikTok and hopefully I will see you guys next time.