The Ancient Greeks call it the ‘golden ratio’; Leonardo da Vinci dubbed it the ‘divine proportion’ – the mathematical mean that is considered the most pleasing to the eye.
Da Vinci’s famous Mona Lisa’s face is measured to the golden proportion, and for Tom Ford, a balanced and symmetrical face sees a flawless complexion as the essential first step.
“As human beings, we all respond subconsciously to symmetry,” he says. “It is a universal beauty standard. A symmetrical and balanced face is considered beautiful in our society.”
Whether buildable coverage is your thing, or you opt for off-duty beauty, the first step to a flawless complexion is to understand your face.
Determine Your Facial Architecture:
Understanding your bone structure is key in creating your most symmetrical, and flawless complexion.
To really get to really know your face, Tom Ford suggests, “closing your eyes, and feeling your face. Which side of your forehead sticks up higher? Which cheekbone is higher? What about the shape of your chin?”
Achieve Symmetry:
You can make your face appear to be more symmetrical through the use of cosmetics whether you’re just using highlighter, a little eyebrow pencil and mascara, or whether you’re applying a full face.
It’s essential the face, when made up, is combined of both matte and illuminated zones. A matte, powdered face has no dimension – you won’t see cheekbones.
Unifying:
Tom Ford also talks about the importance of unifying the skin.
This means after you do your concealer, foundation, and contouring, but before your do your highlighting and colour, “You need to unify these products by taking a big brush with nothing on it, and you lightly brush back and forth all over your face, to unify all the things you’ve done. So you don’t see a streak of this and a streak of that. “
Highlighting:
Following this, apply your highlighter just to the top of the cheekbones, top of the lips and maybe the nose.
When applying highlighter and you know that one cheek is higher than the other cheek, apply it in line with the better cheek, so that you’re creating an artificial high in the same spot, which gives the illusion of symmetry.
Achieve a Flawless Complexion with Tom Ford: