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Britney Spears Magazine Cover: Photoshop Or Makeup?

Britney Spears looks different on the cover of US Women's Health. <i>Photo: Getty Images</i>
Britney Spears looks different on the cover of US Women's Health. Photo: Getty Images

Britney Spears' dramatic transformation on the cover of Women's Health has been put down to Photoshop - but makeup can achieve the same result.

Britney Spears’ cover of Women’s Health had many crying retouching. And sure, it was retouched—find a professional image that wasn’t—but the singer’s face was was also contoured and highlighted, according to a makeup artist. It’s at least part of what made her looks so strikingly different.

“Contouring is so popular because it creates an illusion,” Andrea Tiller, a makeup artist with the Wall Group, tells Yahoo Style. You’ve heard of contouring before—it’s one of the many things the Kardashians have turned mainstream. Contouring is pretty much what it sounds like, using different shades of makeup—lighter than your skin, darker—to make your eyes look bigger, lips larger, to minimize a double chin, or enhance (or create) cheekbones. “It’s a cheaper way to get things fixed if you don’t want to go under the knife,” Tiller says.

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Tiller, who works with A-listers like Allison Williams says contouring and highlighting is like an art. It can easily go wrong, but like most things, she insists that the skill can be mastered (and should be tackled) by everyone.

For those without a beauty budget like Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe’s, Tiller recommends doing an Internet search for images of the face’s anatomy or a face contour chart. They can help school you on where and how product should be applied.

PHOTOS: How to contour like Kim Kardashian

<b>How to contour like Kim Kardashian</b>
How to contour like Kim Kardashian

There are four main ingredients to getting the look. You’ll need basic foundation, a matte bronzer one or two shades darker than your skin tone, a highlighting powder that is one or two shades lighter, a smaller blending brush, and a larger, fluffy bronzer brush.

Then you have to address each feature differently. For example, in Spears’s case, her nose was most likely thinned using dark matte bronzer (contouring) and highlighting powder (highlighting). The darker shade surrounds the nose and is filled in the hollow areas, and then the lighter powder was applied on the bridge. It’s all blended together after.

Tiller says that most of her clients ask for sharper cheekbones. She suggests doing the fishy face and contouring underneath the cheekbones (feel for the bone to get the placement right). Blend with a fluffy brush from the cheekbone up to the temple in a circular motion. Lastly, take the highlight brush and powder right on top of the cheekbone (where it’s bumpy). “Some people like to highlight underneath their eyes one shade lighter with concealers to make the eyes brighter and more awake,” she adds. “That compliments the cheekbone contouring very nicely.”

It sounds like a lot of work, but Tiller says that she does it every day. You can, of course, tone it down for the office or bump it up for a night out. “Every girl should practice because it’s fun and affordable,” she says. “We all have our insecurities on our face that we want to hide and strong features we want to emphasise.”