One of the easiest ways to make your nose look smaller and shorter is with contouring makeup. It’s not a difficult makeup routine and once you master it, you can easily shorten your nose without surgery, pain or risks.

In this post, you will learn the “tricks of the trades” from a few talented beauty experts on how to contour a long nose to make it look smaller and shorter.  I have included different methods from different beauty experts to give you more options to do your makeup.

If you’ve got a bump on your nose bridge, also check out my step-by-step guide on how to contour nose with bump on bridge.

Here’s How to Contour Your Nose to Make it Look Smaller and Shorter

Method 1

Try the following makeup routine to make your nose look shorter:

What You Will Need:

• Specific highlighter product or luminous concealer a couple of shades lighter than your natural skin tone – avoid a shimmer product as you don’t want your nose to look shiny
• Contouring cream or powder a couple of shades darker than your natural skin tone. You can buy kits which contain various shades of cream and powder highlighter and contour
• Beauty sponge/blender or foundation brush. If you don’t have a beauty sponge / blender, check out my guide on how to blend makeup without using one.
• 2 small fluffy powder or eyeshadow brushes
• Mirror

What You Need to Do:

Step 1 – Prep your skin before applying contour products. Use a mattifying primer, and follow this with foundation, ideally applied with a beauty sponge/blender or foundation brush. Then set it all with powder.

Step 2 – Starting where your eyebrows and nose meet use the contour shade to draw a soft line down each side of your nose with a small fluffy brush, buffing the product into the skin to blur any harsh lines. The closer to the center of your nose that you draw these lines the thinner your nose will appear. It’s important that the shadow continues down from your eyebrows rather than starting at the bridge of your nose to create a natural contour.

Step 3 – Using the highlighter / concealer shade and a different small fluffy brush, fill the gap down the center of your nose, stopping just before you reach the tip of your nose. Use your contour brush to blur any harsh lines between the dark and light shades to create a seamless finish.

Step 4 – Using your contour brush again, take the contour shade over the tip of your nose, taking it around the sides of the tip to meet the vertical lines you drew earlier. Blend this in with the brush to soften any harsh lines. The darker tip will create the illusion of a shorter nose. To add to this effect you can use a contouring powder one shade lighter than your skin tone to contour your septum and nostrils – blending it into the join of your nose to your top lip. Go subtly here to avoid the underside of your nose looking a bit dirty!

Step 5 – Ensure the look is seamless and that there are no harsh lines – if the contour feels too obvious use the makeup sponge or foundation brush that you used to prepare your base to buff these out and lighten the product. Don’t add extra foundation to the brush or sponge, the remaining product on there will be enough to soften the lines.

Step 6 – Take a step back from your mirror and look at the whole face, double checking that the contour looks natural. Adding contour to your forehead and cheekbones can make the whole face look more seamless.

Check out the video below to see how to do all the steps above in action:

Method 2

Stephanie Young, Makeup Artist at Enlightened Styles, suggests you try the following:

What You Will Need:

• Your regular primer, foundation and concealer
• Highlight that is 1-2 shades lighter than your foundation
• Thin contour brush
• Beauty sponge or chubby brush
• Contour that is 1-2 times darker than your foundation
• Translucent powder
• Makeup setting Spray

What You Need To Do:

Prep – Before contouring, be sure to apply your primer, standard foundation and concealer all over your face.

Highlight – Apply a shade that is 1-2 shades lighter than your original foundation in a line directly down the bridge of your nose with a thin contour brush (be sure to not extended all the way down) and blend out with a beauty sponge blender or chubby brush.

Contour – Using a shade that is 1-2 times darker than your foundation, apply a small amount on the tip of your nose, working around the curves of your nostrils. To slim your nose, you can apply a fine line along both sides (the closer the lines, the thinner your nose will appear). Blend with the sponge or brush to soften.

Set –  Sweep over a setting powder to keep the makeup in place. You can use a translucent powder all over or a lighter one over the highlighted section and a darker powder over the contoured areas. Spray with a makeup setting mist.

This does take practice, and it helps if you take a few selfies before walking out to be sure everything blends well.