src="http://www.makeupandbeautyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/tabs-face-is-a-grid.jpg" alt="Your face is a grid" title="Your face is a grid" width="540" height="360" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-66388" />

Think of your face as a grid.

Draw an imaginary line vertically down through the center of your nose, and a horizontal line going across the tip of said nose. The more something interacts with these lines, the more noticeable it is. Following this logic, a small pimple on the very center of the nose is going to attract more attention than a larger one near the jawline, and the same concept applies to makeup.

A grid can help us figure out where to focus our efforts. Should we spend more product and effort covering up that blemish near our cheekbone (bingo!), or that one near our hairline? Or should we aim that concealer brush at that red mark on the center of our chin, or the port-wine stain near our earlobe?

But maybe concealing isn’t your problem. Maybe you want to enhance your bone structure instead.

src="http://www.makeupandbeautyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/circle-face.gif" alt="" title="circle-face" width="50" height="50" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-66389" />If you have a rounder face (ain’t you a cutie?), apply a darker contour shade from the horizontal gridline halfway up to the vertical line, and about a third of the way from the lower end of the vertical line to a third of the way to the horizontal, keeping along the border of your face.

src="http://www.makeupandbeautyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/triangle-face.gif" alt="" title="triangle-face" width="50" height="50" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-66390" />If your face could be described as triangular (a description I hate, but, alas, the makeup world has yet to come up with a better term for it), do the same as you would for a rounder face, except swap in a highlight shade for the area below the horizontal gridline, or forego this step altogether.

src="http://www.makeupandbeautyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/square-face.gif" alt="" title="square-face" width="50" height="50" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-66391" />For those with a square or rectangular face (which just means your forehead may be a bit wider and your jaw is a bit more pronounced than someone with an oval face), buff a contour shade midway between the endpoints of the two lines (or the four corners of your face), rounding the edges.

src="http://www.makeupandbeautyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/oval-face.gif" alt="" title="oval-face" width="50" height="50" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-66393" />And if you have an oval face…well, lay down those brushes. An oval shape is generally considered the easiest to apply makeup to, which is why the steps above aim to shape the other types more towards this goal.

Cheek color should never fall below your imaginary horizontal line, no matter what (this was an old film and theatre technique used to age actors or make them appear ill).

Now, draw an imaginary vertical line through the center of your pupil; blush should never be applied further in than this line.

How about the eyes?

The space between your eyebrows should be approximately the width of one of your eyes. To help us find where our brows should end, take any straight object (pencil, brush, etc.; really, any old thing will do), and draw an imaginary line from the corner of the nostril on the same side through the outside corner of that eye. End your brow just inside this spot. /> (…)
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