Some days it seems like you barely have enough time in your schedule to shower before class, let alone put together the perfect look. But amazingly, Northwestern is filled with students who manage to look flawless — even with five midterms a week and a thousand extracurriculars. Each week, I’ll talk to someone on campus and get her makeup tips and tricks. This week, I talked to Medill senior Lara Walsh, who gave me the rundown on how to contour your face.

When it comes to contouring your face, one celebrity who has mastered the trick is Kim Kardashian. Thanks to bronzer and highlighter, her face is sculpted to perfection and makes for one flattering profile picture. Mimicking this look to fit your own face can be relativity simple. Lara Walsh explains the basics behind this magical illusion.

Why contour in the first place?

Whether going all out or just using a little product, contouring your face highlights certain features. Walsh explains that common features to emphasize are cheekbones, eyes, nose and lips. However, the most important feature is cheekbones. Overall, with the tips below you can make your face look more elongated.

Walsh’s routine

Walsh starts off with a light BB (beauty balm) cream as a base layer before applying her highlighter and bronzer.

Highlighter: Bring light to your features

Walsh first applies highlighter on the top of her cheekbones. To accentuate her eyes, she blends highlighter underneath the eye sockets and below the brow bone. Then, to make her nose appear slimmer, she puts a little product on the sides of her nose.

Also, Walsh applies a small amount to the cleft of her chin and the bow of her lips to make them stand out.

Though this may seem like a lot of “shine” on your face, remember blending is key. Walsh recommends using your finger to tap and blend the highlighter, making it look more natural and less “cakey.”

Lara’s Tip: “(The highlighter) is going to be in kind of a little triangle from underneath your eyes down to the bottom of your nose. You then blend it in with your finger.”

Bronzer: The contour-tionist

This product is what really does the “contouring” to your face.

To apply the bronzer, Walsh sucks in her cheeks and brushes a line of bronzer in the crevice formed from her ear down to underneath her mouth.

Walsh doesn’t usually do this, but she points out that you can also apply bronzer down the bridge of your nose and under your lips.

Lara’s Tip: “Basically, you’re trying to make your face really stand out, so I put the darker contouring bronzer around the edges of my face and blend it into my neck so the center part of your face is really going to pop with that lighter color (the highlighter).”

Product to Try: “I use Bahama Mama. I follow some beauty bloggers, and they say that one is really good because a lot of bronzers look really orange. And that is bad if you are trying to contour your face.”

To find out more about how to contour your face, Walsh recommends watching the beauty blogger Maskcara.

Know someone with a great makeup look or have your own tips to share? Email me at [email protected].