The Healthiest Way To Look Your Slimmest Ever

Article by BR Tabatha

Summer is on its way and if you’re anything like me you’re dreading slipping into tanks and t’s and shorts and skirts. Winter’s great for hiding lumps and bumps, and all those winter stews and brews are great for adding a little extra padding too. The way I see it there are three options available. 

One. You can drive yourself crazy with crash diets and juicing and smoothies. 

Two. You can put on The 30 Day Shred and hope not to die in agony on the lounge room floor.

Three. You can contour your body to look slimmer without having to work up a sweat or deprive yourself, all the while giving yourself time to lose that winter weight in a more moderate and enjoyable manner.

Yup, contouring isn’t just for the cheekbones, noses and jawlines, it can be done on your body to create the illusion of slimmer more toned limbs, and it’s actually pretty easy to do!

If you’re heading out for the day and want to look more toned reach for a matte bronzer or even a slightly darker shade of foundation, and a blending brush for a quick and easy contour. If you’re after a contour that lasts, say you’re off on a body-baring tropical holiday, a fake tan just a touch darker than your natural skin tone or one that’s a touch darker than your all-over body fake tan, is your best contouring friend. And if you are going down the fake tan route stick to a cream or gel tan while you’re learning, as it’s easier to work with than a spray.

So what can you contour, and how?

Before you start, prep your canvas the day before you plan on getting your contour on. In other words shave or wax, exfoliate and moisturise, just as you would before putting on any fake tanning product. Once that’s all sorted and a day has past, you’re ready to get to work.

If you’re after leaner looking legs you’ll want to contour down the outside edges of your thighs along the line of your quads and also in the side-hollows of your calves (if you’re anything like me you’ll have to stand in tippy toes or go into a deep squat for these to appear…) While you’re at it, grab a highlighter and run it down the front and back of your legs – yes, just like how you run highlighter down the length of your nose – to create modelesque-like pins, and blend.

If you want to transform your bingo wings into gorgeous guns, it’s time to flex your muscles. First of all take your tan or bronzer and apply it lightly over your triceps (that’s the bingo wing jiggly bit) and on the back of your arm. Then strike a pose, find the line between the triceps and bicep, take some more tan and draw it in there, before blending out. Next thing you know you’ll look like you’ve dipped and pumped your way to Madonna-worthy arms.

Could your tummy do with some extra toning? This too can be achieved with a little bit of contouring art, although to be fair, you might want to practice this with bronzer before going to the fake tan as it’s a little tougher. Start off by taking a smaller makeup brush, like a crease brush, and popping on some product. Draw a line from the top of your abs down to your belly button. Next, flex your muscles. See those two lines that run vertically on either side? Draw down there as well. For an extra pop of pow you can also shade in your lat lines. If you want to go from toned tum to amazing abs, suck in your tummy to find those abdominal muscles and sweep your bronzer or apply your fake tan along those lines as well as underneath the ribcage where your diaphragm is. Finally, buff it out with a fluffy brush.

It’s not just your legs, arms and abs that can be contoured, your boobs can too! If you want to create a fuller look just contour along the upper boob line and in the crevasse between and blend it out. You can also make your collarbones pop by applying tan or bronzer into the area above and below the bone, then add a highlighter onto the collarbone and blend it out.

You may have notice a whole lot of ‘and blend it out’ in this article and that’s because it can’t be emphasized enough that if you’re going to give body contouring a go you want it to look natural, you don’t want to hit the pool or beach or dance floor looking like a pasty brown striped tiger. 

So have you given body contouring a go? Will you? Or do you think it’s taking things a step too far? Chat away!