Seems, equally to portray, contouring is all about location—the place you place coloration is equally as vital as which coloration you’re truly working with. When you’re a gifted sufficient painter (or make-up artist) you recognize precisely the place to put sure shades to intensify shadows, angles, or sure options of an object, that are vital abilities for successfully shaping the face. However what if you happen to don’t dabble in a type of two careers and nonetheless need to discover ways to contour?
This was the dilemma I confronted final week as I sat in entrance of my mirror, un-contoured and three minutes away from being late for a pleasant dinner. Whereas I’d usually use a swipe or two of bronzer the place I assumed it ought to go, I had by no means tried to totally snatch my face… And now wasn’t the time to begin. I needed to stage up my make-up for the evening, however I clearly didn’t have time to do a lot. I didn’t want my cheekbones to appear to be they may minimize glass— I simply needed one thing foolproof and fast.
My salvation got here, because it usually does, within the type of a Tiktok. I seemed up ‘contour hack’ and in 13 seconds flat, make-up theorist Megan Lavallie bestowed upon me such nice contouring information that I needed to scream it from the rooftops. “There’s this one spot in your cheek that if you happen to poked a gap by way of it, it might contact your tooth. When you softly mix it out [after adding contour], it is going to create essentially the most soft-looking, excessive cheekbones for many who need to look good from the aspect and the entrance.” And so, with my remaining two and a half minutes, all I needed to do was discover the spot on my cheek the place I may really feel my tooth, add a single dot of contour, and mix calmly. That was it!
I grabbed a contour brush and my contour-that-isn’t-contour, Glossier’s Cloud Paint in Nightfall, and started working. I utilized one dot on every cheek, and as Lavallie instructed, softly blended out. Straight away, my face gained extra dimension whereas nonetheless trying extremely pure. The outcome was seamless, type of like I in some way managed to tan simply the hollows of my cheeks. Fancy dinner or not, I knew this trick had me in a chokehold from the second I noticed my newly sculpted face.
Lavallie’s tip—which has 7.5 million views, by the best way—modified the best way I take into consideration contouring. I noticed that for magnificence freshmen and lovers of No Make-up Make-up, contour doesn’t should be an intimidating occasion stuffed with a number of lotions, powders, and brushes. I used to assume it was Kim Kardashian-style or bust, resulting in extra nightmares about making an attempt the ‘3’ form on my spherical face than I’d care to confess. Seems, you possibly can nonetheless get a improbable look from a simplified technique. As an alternative of doing traces or dots of product everywhere in the face à la Instagram tutorials, the naked necessity of contouring is only a single dot! Not so intimidating now, is it?
However Hannah, I can hear you saying, I’m nonetheless scared I’m going to screw it up. Truthful! Contour is simple to screw up whenever you don’t know what you’re doing. However I’ve religion that you just do know what you’re doing since you’ve gotten this far within the article, and when (not if) you get contouring proper, you’ll completely elevate your look in just some minutes. In addition to, this tip makes it virtually foolproof, no matter whether or not you’re utilizing a cream or powder contour. May as nicely attempt it! It’s not going to get any simpler than this.
All photographs taken by Elliot Duprey
