Illamasqua Skin Sculpting course review

Contouring is THE hot topic in the beauty world right now, but while a more sculpted look to the face is in high demand, it can be tricky to know where to start.

A little while back, I attended an Illamasqua short course in Skin Sculpting, which was a two hour course covering everything you'd ever want to know about contouring and highlighting. It took place at their Beak Street shop in London’s Soho, tucked away from the main shop floor in their custom built training room.

Getting to grips with the right base

Highlight, highlight, highlight

The finished looks

My completed sculpted look

Contouring is something I’ve always struggled with; being so pale means that finding the right shades to do it can be a nightmare. I’ve often ended up looking less Kim K and more OTT tangoed, so was hoping that this would be the perfect solution to spruce up my makeup skills.

The courses are all run by Illamasqua professional makeup artists, and on the day there were six of us learning how to create a sculpted, but not heavy look.

The session went step by step through the process – our fab instructor showed us a step (using one of us as a model each time), and then we practised on ourselves, before moving on to the next step.

We were shown the best place to start applying a contour shade (around level with the tragus part of your ear) and also advised on where to stop (around a three finger width away from the nose). We were also shown how to blend out the contour shade for a more natural look, brushing slightly upwards with a powder brush to blend away any harsh lines.

The next step was highlighting and we talked about the best places to apply in order to catch the light (brow bones, tops of cheekbones, and just above the cupid’s bow on your top lip). I prefer to use a creamy highlighter usually, but also found that a powder can be just as good, so long as it’s not too glittery!

The two hours absolutely rushed by and by the time we were done, I was full of lots of tips and tricks to try out at home. I think these courses are a great place to start if you’re looking for tips on specific techniques or looks – it’s nice to know there are shorter options out there. We don’t all have time (or the inclination!) to do a full day/week course.

Illamasqua run a range of short 2 hour courses covering everything from Skin Sculpting to Pin Up makeup and each session costs £60. Everything you need for the course is provided (brushes, products etc.) and after the course there’s a 20% discount for any products you’d like to buy in the shop. You can see the whole range of courses here: – I’m already planning my next one!

Do you like the look of these courses from Illamasqua?

*My course was kindly provided by Illamsaqua for review