Your grandma’s crinkle-when-she-laughs nose; your dad’s big, tell-all eyes; your mom’s contagious, toothy grin: they’re all layers of what makes you uniquely you. Here at Team MDC, we believe that the things that make you different, are the things that make you beautiful. No matter what face shape and features you’re working with, we’re all for celebrating what you’ve got, and using makeup to accentuate them. To give us some tips on how to flatter different bone structures, we caught up with professional makeup artist Virginia Linzee, for her guide to showing off your face in 60 seconds flat.

 

Round Face

No matter what your face shape, the best way to show off the bone structure is “blush, contouring, and highlighting,” Linzee says. “For a round face contour with a matte bronzer that is more on the taupe than orange to create natural shadows in the places you want your face to recede,” Linzee says. “With a soft angled blush brush, sweep some bronzer in the hollow of the cheekbones, around the jawline, and on the sides of the forehead just above the temples blending into the hairline. This adds a little edge to the face breaking up that perfect circle and creating more structure,” she explains.

“Blush is an option with round faces. You can opt out or in. If you love blush, apply it where you naturally flush on the apples of your cheeks. Blending it down will also elongate the face.” Linzee says. Finally, “highlight the high planes of the cheekbones, down the bridge of the nose, in the bow of the lip and in the middle of the chin as well.”

 

Square Face

“For a square face, too much contouring can make it look severe. You can forgo contouring altogether or, if you like, contour a bit around the temples fading into the hairline to round out the forehead a bit. If you'd like to soften a square jaw, you can brush a little bronzer on top of the jaw, but not under. Blend until all lines disappear with a soft clean powder puff,” Linzee says.

“Blush definitely softens a square face. Blend a little cream blush onto the apples of the cheeks keeping it concentrated a little high on the apple to lift the face. Highlight as usual on the cheekbones, bridge of the nose, bow of the lip, and chin.”

 

Heart-Shaped Face

“For a heart shape face, try contouring with a little bronzer on the tip of the chin and the sides of the forehead. This will help balance the top half of the face with the bottom. Apply cream blush on the cheekbones to really show them off,” and “highlight in the bow of the lip,” Linzee says.

 

Product Picks

Now that you’re ready for your 1-minute makeover, here are some of our favorite products to help you get started.

Contour: bareMinerals READY Bronzer; Giorgio Armani Bronze All-Over Palette

Highlight: Dermablend Quick Fix Illuminator; Yves Saint Laurent Touche Éclat

Blush: Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush; Lancôme Blush Subtil

 

Will you be trying this 1-minute makeover? Tweet us a picture of your results @makeupdotcom!

Photo: Thinkstock