Ever since I was a child, I’ve had a really round face. It’s one of the few things even modern tweakments can’t really change. Sure, I know it’ll stand me in good stead as I get older, but there’s nothing more annoying than distant family members still poking my cheeks like I’m a kid – not to mention getting IDed every time I want to buy a drink.
When you have a face shape like mine, there are beauty lessons you learn along the way. With a few simple make-up changes, you can quickly make your face look longer and slimmer without the need for expensive sculpting tools or slightly scary injectables.Â
Below, you’ll find three make-up tips I swear by to make a round face look more defined, whether you’re looking for a full-glam upgrade or natural-looking killer cheekbones.
‘Upper quadrant’ blush
As a teenager, you’re usually taught to apply blush to the apple of your cheeks for optimum rosiness. While this helps slimmer faces look more youthful and lifted, if your face is already round, exaggerating your cheeks only serves to make it appear even broader.
Instead, use beauty influencer Anci’s ‘upper quadrant’ trick to lift your blush and sculpt your cheeks. Take any make-up blush and put the end against the side of your nose. Then, lift the other end to where the top part of your ear attaches to your head, so it creates a diagonal line across your cheek.
When applying your blush, you want to stick to the area above that line, or what Anci calls the ‘upper quadrant’ of your cheek. By doing so, your cheekbones appear lifted, making your face elongate and creating the ‘snatched’, Kardashian-esque look.
Vertical concealer
If your eyebags are anything like mine, you’ll be used to applying as much under eye concealer as possible. But for those with chubbier cheeks, this is doing nothing but making your face look broader, Anci explains.
Instead, you want to take your concealer and apply it in a straight line, downwards, from your inner eye to your outer nose. Then, apply a smudge of concealer just underneath your outer eye. Allow to dry, then blend both lines downwards. By doing so, you draw the light towards the centre of your face, making it look slimmer, rather than drawing it across and pulling your face outwards.
Bronzer above cheekbones
If you have a round face and are still applying bronzer under your cheekbones, keep reading! Bronzer is supposed to accentuate the highest parts of your face, and if you have a rounder face, that’s just above your cheekbones – so that’s where you should be adding shade.
As demonstrated by TikToker’s Miki Faerie, take a cool-toned contour stick and apply plenty of bronzer to the upper cheekbone just under your eye. This creates shadows at the highest point of your face, creating a lifted, bronzed effect and making your face seem longer and slimmer. Finish with a dusting of bronzer to your jaw, making sure to blend it upwards to maintain the lifted look. Et voilà : instant face lift!
