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TikTok reveals that contouring is back from the dead.
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It is back after
a backlash against the sculpted, drawn-on look often associated with the early
2000s (remember strobing? baking?). It is back after a pandemic in which many
people swore off makeup altogether. But the look is not what you may remember.
Makeup mavens are
now sweeping bronzer, blush and highlighter underneath their foundation for a
look that is called underpainting. It is an approach makeup artists have used
for years to create a “natural” look: All of the color goes on first, and the
foundation acts as a veil to diffuse it. Sometimes the look is referred to as
soft sculpting. The idea is to choose lighter formulas, apply less and blend
more.
With a new
contouring in mind, companies like
Glossier and
Undone Beauty have released
water-light, creamy formulas. For example, Glossier’s Solar Paint, described as
an “almost whipped gel crème,” is a textured bronzer meant for applying with
the fingertips. Undone’s Water Bronzer is a water-based stick designed to
create a soft contour that blends seamlessly.
Many young women
who may have witnessed the heavy contouring of earlier days are trying it for
the first time.
“I’m 26 years
old, and just three months ago I started contouring,” said Madison Baber, a
brand activation manager in San Antonio. She was inspired by TikTok influencers
like Kylie Larson and Kensy Tillo, who came across her For You page and who
made contouring look “so easy and natural.”
“I saw how it can
transform your face but not make you look cakey,” Baber said.
Fabiana Meléndez
Ruiz, 26, is also a newbie. “I literally started contouring in September,” said
Ruiz, who works in marketing. “I had never done it previously, even though I
lived through the 2015, 2016 YouTube chaos of extreme contouring.”
Madison Beer’s
Vogue Beauty Secrets video was the turning point for Savannah Scott, editor of
the beauty review app Supergreat. “She talks about how Charlotte Tilbury’s
contour wand changed her life,” Scott, 28, said of the video. “When I watched
how she used it, I thought, ‘I can do this.’”
“I was looking to
contour because I know how transformative it can be for someone’s face,” Scott
added.
Kim Kardashian’s longtime makeup artist,
Mario Dedivanovic, who popularized the once-obscure photo shoot technique, is all in.
“I’ve definitely
seen contour shift to a softer look,” Dedivanovic said. “People who are trying
it for the first time are looking for a softer, more effortless way to wear it,
and there’s less pressure to follow all the rules.”
The harder
contour looks of the past were really intended for social media, YouTube and
heavy lighting, he said.
The new wave of
contouring has a lot to do with the current style obsession with the 1990s. The
supermodels of that era had defined cheekbones and strong jawlines, but the
look was more natural and less obvious than that of the early aughts.
“Now that all
things ’90s have made a big comeback,” Dedivanovic said. “The contour aesthetic
from that era is no exception, except we’re seeing it more scaled back for
everyday.”
Makeup artist
Charlotte Tilbury is so enamored by the contour look of the ’90s that she
created an entire contour palette devoted to it, called the Nudegasm Face
Palette.
“I started my
career in the ’90s, surrounded by the goddess supers who truly understood the
power of tone-on-tone color layering to play up their features,” Tilbury said.
“From Cindy and Naomi to Kate and Linda, it was all about magic matte formulas
to create a soft, diffused contour.” The beauty philosophy of the ’90s, she
added, was to enhance one’s own features by playing with light and shade.
Some makeup
professionals suggest that the new wave of contouring came about because of
boredom with the highly filtered, altered look associated with social media.
“We’re moving
away from using bronzers and highlighters to sculpt the angles of the face,”
said Terri Bryant, a makeup artist and the founder of Guide Beauty, a line of
makeup products created with accessibility in mind. “I’m a huge fan of
returning to makeup focused on celebrating and enhancing our features versus
altering them.”
For anyone
thinking of tapping into the trend, the new, lighter products are a great way
to start, but the application is important, too. Bryant prefers using different
shades of cream blushes rather than bronzers for contouring.
“Start with the
cheeks,” she said. “It’s a larger area to work with and a good place to hone
your blending skills. You highlight the cheekbone by adding a lighter,
multidimensional shade to attract light. It is like putting a spotlight
directly on the feature. To contour, apply a matte shade, no more than one or
two shades deeper than your natural skin tone, in the hollow area just under
the cheekbone.”
The darker
shading makes that area appear to recede, ultimately lifting and defining the
cheekbone above it.
Tilbury advises thinking
simply as well. “Just think of contouring as choosing the features you most
want to showcase through the use of light and shade,” she said.
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