Contouring the Forehead and Highlighting the Jawline for Different Face Shapes

Okay, let’s be honest: contouring the forehead and highlighting the jawline sounds super glam, right? But once you try it on your own face, you’re like, “Wait… why does this bronzer make me look like I’ve been working construction outside all day?” Or “Why is my jawline looking puffier instead of snatched?” Don’t worry, babe ;  we’ve all been there. Even seasoned makeup artists have had those OH-NO moments.

So today, we’re getting into how to get sleek, sculpted forehead and jawline looks that actually suit your face shape. Because copying what everyone’s doing on TikTok won’t always work unless you really know your shape and how to tweak the technique a little. Yup, it totally matters.

Makeup isn’t one-size-fits-all. Your face shape is your secret weapon ;  use it!

Let’s break it all down, face shape by face shape. And no, you don’t need crazy graphic makeup skills or a degree in geometry. Just your brushes, a mirror, and some good lighting.

Quick Cheat Sheet: Face Shapes & Their Features

Before any blending happens, you gotta know what shape you’re working with. Here’s a super quick breakdown to help you figure it out if you’re still not 100 percent sure:

Once you’ve matched your shape, let’s go step-by-step into sculpting that forehead and shimmering that jaw so you look like you came from a Vogue shoot but without the crew and lighting team.

Forehead Contour: Let’s Shade with Intention

Okay first, forget those scary muddy forehead contours from old YouTube tutorials. That’s not what we’re doing. No chunky dark patches. We’re going for balance and shape.

Round Face – Soften and Add Vertical Length

If you have a round face, your goal with your forehead contour is to make the face look a little longer and sleeker.

Apply your contour shade slightly on the temples and top corners of your forehead, blending upward into the hairline. Avoid dragging it too low or it starts looking helmet-y.

Temples are your sneaky best friends; contouring them adds cheeky dimension to a round face.

Adding a tiny dab of highlighter just above the arch of your brow can help lift things subtly too.

Square Face – Soften the Edges

Okay gorgeous square faces, you’ve got those iconic strong jawlines and foreheads. It’s giving supermodel, but sometimes you want a bit more softness, right?

Contour more heavily on the corners of the forehead and just a bit into the temples. Skip any hard contour across the center top.

I sometimes blend it a touch into the upper sides of the brows. It sort of helps round out the effect.

Oval Face – Keep It Balanced

Oval face club, you’ve got it pretty easy here. Your shape is already really balanced, so just go light on contouring.

A little on the sides of the upper forehead is enough. Don’t go across the top unless you have a high forehead.

Pro tip from me: Use a contour shade that’s barely deeper than your skin. Anything too dark, and you’re just creating unnecessary angles. The goal is to enhance, not over-correct.

Heart-Shaped Face – Shrink That Widest Point

If you’ve got a heart-shaped face, it means your forehead is usually the widest part. So we contour to make it look a little more narrow.

Do this: Apply contour shade at the sides of your forehead and upper temples, and extend it slightly downward toward your ears where the forehead starts tapering. Think half-moons around the top.

Avoid putting any shimmer or highlight on the top of the forehead ;  you don’t want attention up there if you’re trying to minimize height.

Long Face – Break Up the Length

Long faces usually means a taller forehead, and contouring can help you fake a shorter look.

Swipe your contour shade across the top of the forehead near the hairline. Like a horizontal bar right above your brows. Smudge it well so it’s natural, not a stripe. You can also put some on the sides, but the top-off blending is the main thing here.

Horizontal contour on long foreheads = chef’s kiss for reducing vertical length.

Diamond Face – Balance Width & Angles

Diamond faces have high cheekbones and more narrow foreheads. The goal here is to give a little more width up top so the face doesn’t feel bottom-heavy.

Skip forehead contour altogether or go suuuper soft, just at the absolute top corners. Use more highlight in the center of the forehead instead to make it pop a bit.

Now that your forehead is sculpted and blended like the dream it is, let’s shift to that jawline ;  because oof when it’s snatched? Whole mood!

Highlighting The Jawline: Lift, Define, Serve

Jawline highlight doesn’t get as much love as cheek highlight, which is honestly kind of rude. Because when done right, it completely frames the face.

This isn’t about adding sparkle or shimmer to your jawline (please don’t). This is more about adding brightness and clean definition to enhance contrast with your contour.

Round Face – Create Definition

To sharpen things up, contour just below the jawbone and blend it down the neck a little.

Then take a matte, light-reflecting concealer and apply a thin line just above that contour. Tap it in with a beauty sponge. It should look like a crisp edge, but not like a neon line.

If this sounds like a lot, trust me, it doesn’t look like a lot when it’s done. It just fakes that bone structure like crazy.

Square Face – Soften the Edges Slightly

Your jawline’s already defined, so contour light, just to enhance and smooth out any heaviness under the chin.

Highlight right above the jawbone toward the ear, but skip the matte concealer line if you don’t want it overly chiseled. You want it smooth, not sharp-sharp.

I’ll sometimes use a highlighter that has zero shimmer like the Fenty Match Stix in Linen. It gives brightness without making it glitter. Kind of perfect for natural-effect jawlines.

Oval Face – Keep It Minimal

You’re lucky here ;  your jawline doesn’t need drastic edits.

Use a touch of highlight above the jawbone and blend it right into your foundation. That’s it. You can skip the contour under unless you’re going for full-glam.

Heart-Shaped Face – Shorten the Chin

Heart-shaped faces usually have that pointy chin, so you wanna balance it.

Contour just under the chin, soft and short. Blend up behind the jaw but keep it concentrated under.

Then go ahead and use highlight along the edges of the jawline near the ears to draw the eye upward. It sneaks balance into the whole shape.

If you highlight just the ends of your jaw, it draws focus upward and balances a longer chin.

Long Face – Shorten and Lift

Contour thicker under the chin and jaw, like more width than a regular contour. Blend lower down the neck.

Highlight slightly above the jaw toward the ears. Avoid highlighting the tip of the chin though; that just makes it look longer.

Side note: I tried this on a friend last week and forgot to blend the chin part. Looked like a weird goatee shadow. Don’t do that.

Diamond Face – Soften & Blend

For diamond faces, the jaw is narrow already so you probably don’t need strong contour.

Use a very light contour under the jaw just by the ears. Then highlight the front part of the jaw near the chin. This draws a little more symmetry into the lower half.

Use something creamy and blendable. I love the Rare Beauty Positive Light Under Eye Brightener ;  it spreads like yogurt and doesn’t crease, and yeah it’s meant for under eyes but who listens to products anyway?

Lil Extras That Make a Big Difference

Alright, so once the contour and highlight are placed, it’s honestly less about where it is and more about how it’s blended.

Here’s a few afterthoughts that deserve their own spotlight:

• Use cream products under powder when you want it to last longer but still look like skin.
• Use a slightly damp sponge to make sure highlight doesn’t sit on top of the skin.
• Brush away setting powder with a powder puff instead of a brush to keep lines clean.
• If it looks too harsh, go over the whole face lightly with your foundation brush ;  no extra product, just the leftovers ;  and it tones everything down magically.

And most importantly:

You don’t need to erase your natural shape; just tweak it to highlight what you love most.

Makeup should always feel like a play-date, not a performance. You don’t have to sculpt your face every single day. But when you do, now you’ve got the got the technique to slay any jaw drop (literally) or forehead flick.

So go grab your contour stick, hit that mirror, and flex your face-architecture skills.

You got this. 💄