The beauty about the human race is that we’re all unique and beautiful in our own special way. It’s such a shame though that not everyone can see it. I’m a big believer in finding the beauty in every one and every thing, including ourselves and to feel confident and comfortable in who we are. Our confidence is a journey with an ever changing landscape as we age and while it is important to love and accept who we, it’s also okay to want to accentuate the things we especially love about ourselves and perhaps gloss over the areas we aren’t so confident about, while we’re working on complete self love. That’s where things like makeup and beauty products come in.
There may be a plethora of apps dedicated to making it easy to subtly enhance and change the way we appear in our selfies and the version of ourselves that’s shown in our social media feeds, I really would advise against using these to change your appearence; you’re beautiful as you are and certainly don’t need photoshop to enhance anything about yourself. Instead, beauty products can help you to indulge in a little self care which can make you feel great on the inside as well as on the out.
I personally love using false tan because I like the way it evens out my skin tone, gives me a sun kissed golden glow and glosses over imperfection. I also love applying highlight and contour to really bring out my features and create shape.
Image by Adina Voicu via Pixabay
CONTOURING
Contouring has the ability to subtly enhance your face and give it some extra shape and definition. The idea with highlight and contour is that you’re creating shadow and light, the former draws features away whereas the latter brings them to the forefront. There is a bit of an art and a skill to effecting contouring but remember theres no right or wrong with makeup, as long as you get the result that you’re happy with. Here are some helpful tips on how to contour your face to guide you.
EYEWEAR
If you love to accessorise to change up your look, then eyewear such as glasses and sunglasses can be a great option and they can really enhance the shape of your face too… as well as hiding the signs of a late night too! For those with a square shaped face, oval shaped lenses or round sunglasses can soften the features and make them appear a little more gentle. Alternatively, for those with a rounder face , you might want to opt for rectangular lenses that push slightly outside the lines of your face.
USE YOUR HAIR TO FRAME YOUR FACE
There are all kinds of ways in which you can use your hair to subtly enhance your face shape. You can do this with most hair lengths, but those with longer hair (or good extensions) have more options.
You can elongate your face by adding contour at your hair’s roots and using the “hidden volume” styling technique to give your hair more lift. Likewise flattening at the top and feathering at the sides can give extra dimension to long or rectangular shaped faces. For heart shaped faces, using feathering around the lower half of the face can soften the jaw line.
FACIAL EXERCISES
If you want to aid the tone and elasticity of your face as you age, there are a variety of facial exercises you can try. This video by Marie Claire has some good “face yoga” exercises for you to try.