Contouring and Highlighting Makeup Effects

Since my last makeup class, I've been inspired by the concept of contouring and highlighting the face.  Its amazing how makeup can be used to bring out or tone down certain features just by playing around with the effects of light and dark.  My instructor used the following photo to help guide us through the process of contouring and highlighting - its taken from Kevyn Aucoin's book 'Making Faces':

I want to get as much practice as possible with contouring and highlighting, so I tried using this photo as a guide when I did my makeup this morning.  I started with my basic face of primer, foundation, concealer and powder - I then used a bronzer (MAC's Refined Golden) to contour and Bobbi Brown's Navajo shadow to highlight - Navajo was the closest thing I could think of to a natural highlighter - I want to find a shade that is slightly less frosted for future use and perhaps something with a little added warmth (I'm thinking a light peach highlight would look amazing):

The one thing that I love about highlighting right now is how I can make my eyes appear bigger and brighter - I made sure to highlight under my brow-bone and in the inner tear-ducts and it just creates a 'pop' effect for my eyes.  After contouring and highlighting, I simply added woodwinked eyeshadow to my lid and used a smaller eyeshadow brush to use the same shade on my lower lashline (MAC), blended Bengali by NARS in the crease to intensify the effect of the contour.  I used clinique's black brown eyeliner on the top and smudged it with an angled brush and then used Bengali on the lower lashline.  I then applied Stila's self adjust blush in coral and applied in-between the highlight and contour shades (another awesome tip I learned in class) and blended really well.  I finished off the look by applying Laura Mercier's Chestnut lipliner with MAC's Fanfare lipstick!

I can't wait to play around some more with the effects of contouring and highlighting and I can't wait to practice on as many people who will allow me - essentially, its about helping to create the perfect oval face shape - using highlighting to bring forth certain features and areas, while using the technique of contouring to create depth and minimize certain features.  I've recently read that Make Up For Ever has a contouring facial sculpting kit - I'm going to check it out the next time I'm at Sephora!!!