3 beauty tricks to shape your face

Winding back the clock can be as simple as rethinking the way your hair, brows and makeup create definition for your face. “Depending on someone’s face and bone structure, we can use highlight, shade and colour to shape and define,” says makeup artist Napoleon Perdis. Results can reduce, warm and create depth to frame your face. Here’s how… 

#1 / Create balance with brows

“Brows are crucial for creating balance,” says celebrity eyebrow artist Sharon Lee Hamilton-Clarke. Framing depends on how your face moves. Do you raise one brow more than the other? Where do your hairline and eyes sit? These are four tips to keep in mind:

Avoid thin, over-plucked brows
Use a magnifying mirror. Pluck three hairs, then look in a regular mirror before removing more.

Look at your skin tone
Whether you tint your brows at home or use makeup, consider your hair and eye colour, and choose a shade lighter than you think you need.

Choose the correct product
“Pencils give great control, while powders add colour and texture, but require a bit more technique,” says Hannah Terrett, Benefit Australia’s National Brow Artist.

Try brow feathering
Similar to tattooing, a row of needles are used to create the brow shape, then a dye is applied. This can last up to a year and is great for those with over-plucked or very sparse brows.

Brows tool kit: Designer Brands Pro Brow Kit; Rimmel London Brow Shake Filling Powder; Benefit Goof Proof Eyebrow Pencil

#2 / Refresh your hair

Just as makeup can slim and define your face, so too can your hair. “Standard block colour or foil highlights are becoming 
a thing of the past,” says Jack Morton, National Technical Director at Toni&Guy. Bespoke contouring and cuts are now 
the way to accentuate areas of your face. Here’s how your hair can help enhance your features:

To widen your face
Lighter shades will widen and open areas up. “For a wide, square jaw, try lighter shades around this area to help soften it,” Morton suggests.

To slim your face
Use darker shades to add depth and streamline. With a round face, add darker shades near the cheeks.

Trim tactics
To soften a round or heart-shaped face, try a side part and a sweeping fringe. Also, face-framing layers can open up a long, rectangular face.

Technique to try: Toni&Guy Colour Contouring

#3 / Contour with makeup

Perdis reveals your overall face shape will dictate the style of contouring you use.

Diamond face shape
Add dark shade to the area below your cheekbones, from your ears
 to the middle of your cheeks. A dab below your chin will soften the point, then highlight the middle of your forehead and chin.

Oval face shape
When the width of your hairline and jawline are about even and your face 
is longer than it is wide, contour either side of your forehead and along your hairline.


Rectangle face shape
Contour on the sides of
your forehead and under your jawbone,
 and highlight the middle of your chin.


Heart face shape
Drag your contour colour around your hairline and apply a little under your chin to reduce the point. Highlight under your eyes in an upside-down triangle shape and along your brow bone to brighten your eyes.

Makeup tool kit: Napoleon Perdis Total Bae Tone It! Preach to Peach; Estée Lauder New Dimension Shape + Sculpt Face Kit; Nude By Nature Touch Of Glow Highlight Stick

If you're intrigued to know more about hair contouring - find out what happened when we put hair contouring to the test.

For more beauty tips from New Idea, visit newidea.com.au

Have you tried any of these tricks? Which ones do you want to test out for yourself?

Main image credit: Getty