Soft Sculpting 101: How to Shape Light, Not Shadows

Step 1: Lift With Light

If traditional contour sculpts with shadows, soft sculpt sculpts with brightness. Use concealer strategically: place a small amount at the inner and outer corners of your eyes, then blend upward toward the temples. This creates an instant lifting effect, no hard lines required. Choose a lightweight, skincare-infused concealer (like LAURA MERCIER Real Flawless Weightless Perfecting Serum Concealer) for smooth, crease-free blending.

Step 2: Warm, Don’t Carve

Instead of drawing sharp contour lines, switch to soft-focus powders or bronzers and apply them where the sun naturally hits: tops of cheeks, bridge of nose, forehead, and jawline. This gives warmth and subtle shape without dramatically altering your features. This technique is sometimes called sun-struck sculpting, and it’s radiant, diffused, and movement-friendly. Get the look with MAKEUP BY MARIO SoftSculpt Transforming Skin Perfector, a 3-in-1 powder that bronzes, highlights, and perfects your complexion, giving skin that radiant, airbrushed glow Mario is famous for.

Step 3: Catch the Glow

Blush + highlighter = a soft sculpting power duo. Apply blush high on the cheekbones to create lift, then tap a touch of highlighter just above it to catch the light. The two textures melt together to create shape, color, and radiance all without the heaviness of other methods. Pro tip: Blend upward and outward toward your temples for a seamless, fresh-skin lift. 

CHARLOTTE TILBURY Beauty Light Wand Duo in Pillow Talk & Pinkgasm has everything you need to catch that glow, and IPSY Ultimate subscribers could snag the duo of the Internet’s favorite blush in their February Ultimate.

Step 4: Build Depth, Not Drama

A softly sculpted look isn’t complete without gentle eye definition. Use midtone matte shadows in your crease to create shape, then deepen your lash lines with a slightly darker shade. Add shimmer only where you want lift, like the center of the lid or inner corners. Think “quiet depth,” not smoky eye.

Try it with NARS Quad Eyeshadow Palette in Kuala Lumpur, a quad of buttery, blendable pigments that deliver major color payoff with a silky-smooth finish that lasts all day (and night).

Step 5: Blur the Edges

A blurred lip is the final soft sculpt signature. Instead of outlining sharply with a pencil, tap a lipstick (like the bold, buttery, and unapologetically luxe NARS Explicit Lipstick) onto the center of your lips and diffuse the edges with your finger or a fluffy eyeshadow brush. It creates fullness without the definition looking drawn-on. Just be sure to concentrate the majority of color at the center of your lips for a plush, pillowy effect.

Finishing Touches

Soft sculpting is about highlighting what’s already there, nothing too precise, nothing too dramatic. Once your makeup is applied, take a step back and check your balance: Do your features look lifted? Does the dimension feel soft and believable? That’s the beauty of this technique: the more natural it looks, the better.

For the full fresh-skin effect, pair your soft sculpt with natural brows, clean skin, and a bit of mascara (brown mascara would be stunning here!).