Angelina Jolie looks pretty stunning as she makes her way around the world for her latest movie Salt. Her make up is clean and classic opting for black eyeliner, and either nude or red on her most famous feature-lips. My favourite look so far is the glossy highlight on the cheeks, and the sheen on her legs. You can’t go wrong with strategically placed highlights.

Images from justjared.com

Bright highlight under the under the eyes is a great disguise for tired eyes. It blurs shadows and gives an eye opening radiant look. Apply a liquid highlighter like Dior Skinflash Radiance Booster Pen starting in the inner part of the under eye closest  to the nose, and sweep all the way along towards the outer corner of the eye. Finish with a little Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder.

Affectionately known as CCB, Cream Colour Base is a multi purpose product that should be in every girls make up bag, and every make up artists kit. This product comes in lots of colours from light to dark, but Pearl is definitely one of my favourites. It’s my go to product for fashion shows, photo shoots, brides, and for the everyday person who just wants to look perfectly highlighted, and dewy. The lightweight cream texture makes it really easy to use with a brush or fingers. It’s the best highlight colour on almost every skin tone. Apply on tops of cheek bones, under the brow, cupids bow, and collar bone. Use it underneath frost eyeshadows to intensify the shine and depth of colour. It is whatever you want it to be: lipstick, blush, or eyeshadow.

The most common misconception when it comes to contouring the face is where on the face to shade and highlight.  Most people think that you need to draw a diagonal line from your ear to the corner of your lip. The reason people think this way is because when we look at ourselves straight on, the cheekbone appears to be on a diagonal. We get the illusion of a diagonal line because we’re 3 dimensional. The best way to figure out placement is to feel for your cheekbone with your fingers. You will see that it actually runs across the face, and then turn to the side to see yourself in profile.

Before you get started you will need the following things:

1. A dark colour for shading in either a cream or powder, and it should be two to three shades darker than your skin tone but in the same undertone. If you choose to use powder it should be matte.

2. A light colour for highlighting in either a cream or powder. The colour can be considerably  lighter than your skin depending on how much you want it to show. The highlighter can be matte or shimmer depending on the effect you want to achieve.

3. An angled or medium sized blush brush. Using a angled blush brush makes shading much easier as the angle of the brush will fit perfectly under the cheekbone.

Here’s our simple step by step guide to create prominent cheekbones:

1. Using the angled part of the brush and your darkest colour, sweep under the cheekbone starting close to the ear and finishing with the brush leaving your face.(#1 in above image) Repeat until you get desired intensity.

2. Dust off the dark colour on a tissue before picking up the highlight colour.

3. Apply the highlight colour to the top of the cheekbone by gently tapping or brushing. (#2 in above image)

Anywhere you shade with a darker colour will recede and what you highlight will be brought forward. Remember to do both to beautifully contour your cheeks.

Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about blush…

1. For an everyday make up, colours like pink, peach, plum, or red look the best when applied to the apple (the fullest part) of the cheek.

2. Bronze, caramel, and taupe shades are perfect for sculpting cheekbones and can be applied under the bone.

3. Add dimension to the face by lightly dusting beige, pale pink, gold or silver to the tops of the cheekbone.

4. Use the right tool!  Round soft brushes are best for the apple of the cheeks where as a flat or angled  brush is best for sculpting cheekbones.

5. Cream vs powder? The majority of women use powder blush under the assumption that the application is easier. Cream blush can be just as simple, use a small amount on a brush and then buff into the skin.   The result is actually more natural than a powder since cream mimics the natural sheen of skin.

Image from models.com