VIDEO: Life HAC'ing 101

Highlighting and contouring is something I’ll spend my entire career trying to perfect. It’s fair to say that what contouring does to your face is what Spanx do for your butt.

A little lift never hurt. Highlighting and contouring (or HAC’ing) is a way to create light and shadows in places on the face or body in order to minimize or enhance the appearance of a certain feature. Basically, it’s an instant face-lift. What are the areas you want to make more symmetrical? Understanding the shape of your face is the most important part of this. Stand in a mirror and trace the outline of your face up to your hairline with a dry-erase marker. It’s easier to judge the shape this way.

There are a thousand different tools and techniques used to HAC. This is just one example of an easy one I do on myself. I personally have a square-shaped face with a six head. Six head not shown here, maybe later. 

After applying moisturizer and primer, I apply my Jonny Foundation in Porcelain with the 302 brush all over.

With a flat concealer brush, I applied a concealer shade about 5 shades darker than my natural skin tone to minimize certain areas, including the sides of my nose (to slim), my cheekbones, and my forehead.

With a damp sponge, lightly pat the concealer to blend. Then, using a chisel brush, I applied MAC blush in Blunt to set the concealer. Always set any cream or liquid with a powder.

I then use a concealer about two shades lighter than my skin, creating triangles underneath my eyes, a line down the center of my nose, in the middle of my forehead, and on my brow arch, along with my chin and cupid’s bow. Using a damp sponge blend it out, just like the darker concealer. Set with a translucent powder.

*If I were doing this with a smoky eye or some form of shadow, I would do it after my eye makeup to prevent fall out from the shadow. 

I decided to pair this with my go-to vampy lipstick and a simple cat eye.

And now my, five head is a regular forehead. Like I said, a little lift never hurt! Learn your face shape and what products work best for you. HAC’ing is one of the most common challenges people face with makeup. A swipe of bronzer makes a huge difference.  Xoxo, Spencer