They say that the holiday season is about friends and family, but in reality we all know that it’s about the food. But, unfortunately the large feasts and dessert platters can cause us to look a little more bloated than we’d like. If you’re like me and gain weight super quickly in the face, then I have some tricks for you that can help sculpt your face in a matter of minutes.

Disclaimer: This article is not meant to pressure anyone into losing weight or looking a certain way. This article presents safe options for people who want to look slimmer in the face, but does not in any way promote that having one is more desirable/beautiful.

1. Contour and Highlight

Contouring is a popular technique that has increased in popularity since Kim Kardashian revealed that it’s her makeup secret. Contouring the face is when you use darker colors to sculpt out your face and create shadows, giving you face the appearance of looking more defined. This is complemented with highlighting, where you can apply lighter shades to bring more attention to the flatter areas of your face.

Below are some diagrams that show popular areas to contour/highlight, and how you can modify that based on your face shape.

It’s said that you should contour with products that are 1 – 2 shades darker than your foundation shade, and highlight with products that are 1 – 2 shades lighter than that. Contour shades are should generally be more gray/ashy toned instead of orange, since you want to create a shadow on the face. A bronzer will give your face that orangey/tan glow to the face, while a contour sculpts.

There are two ways to contour: cream and powder. Cream contouring is when you use cream products, like contour sticks, concealers, or foundation sticks to blend on top of your foundation before setting with powder to sculpt the face. Likewise, cream highlighting follows the same technique, except you apply them to areas of the face that you want to accentuate.

Powder contouring is when you apply darker powders to the skin on top of your setting powder. Some examples are bronzing powders, darker foundation/setting powders, and powder contour kits. Again, powder highlighting is similar, but oftentimes people use metallic, glowy, or sparkly highlighters especially on their cheek bones to draw even more attention to their features. This is NOT the same for cream highlighting, which is usually done with matte products.

2. Wear long earrings

These will help give the illusion that your face is more elongated than it is.

3. Change your hair-do

Try a mid-pony tail with a few strands falling out the front, or a long side braid. Like the earrings, this will give the illusion that your face is longer than it is, therefore making it look slimmer.