A face should be full of life! One way to do that is to play with the face’s dimension—carving out shadows and light, enhancing finishes and colors. To do so, the very first step starts before you pick up any makeup product: “It’s important to approach your best self visually. I notice people don’t necessarily look at themselves in a good light,” she says. “I challenge you to find good, natural light.”

From there, it’s as simple as utilizing contour, highlighter, tones, and finishes. “The face doesn’t all have the same tone on it,” she says, noting that when you create a blank, “flawless” canvas with foundation, “it takes the whole face away.”

Instead, Otis notes that she plays with where light hits the face and does so “in lots of light layers with the makeup. It looks more like skin. Plus your face is going to move, and this moves with it,” she says. “It brings back the dimension by shadowing different parts but then highlighting others with a creamy lightness.” 

If you’re new to contouring, it doesn’t need to be as challenging as TikTok tutorials can make it out to be—in fact, cream-based sticks are a great place to start, such as 19/99’s Cream Contour Stick and Highlight Stick.