Contour & Highlighting: Let's Explain What it Means
Ok, this concept has had a spike in popularity as meteoric as the Kardashians', but it's been used in makeup artistry for many decades. I'm not on Instagram, so I don't know how badly this concept is being abused as an attempt to take 10 pounds off the face or try to essentially redesign it.
It has inevitably spurred a backlash, as with any idea that's taken too far. You can blame the Youtubers that are looking like they're about to enter battle or go to a sports event where the team colors or brown and white.
The problem is the oversimplification of the concept: Some argue that it's revisionist, deceptive and even harmful to the psyche. The problem started when it was explained as simply as "put a dark color here, and put a light color here." Recede and highlight. If your mindset to doing it is to try to change your face, this is a harmful concept. Here's another take on it: Contour and highlighting simply enhances the bone structure that's already there. All of makeup is based on the concept of enhancing and tricking the eye. Makeup itself is challenged by some as a lack of self-acceptance.
So take it or leave it: You can view it as deceptive, or you can view it as a way to pull out the bones that already exist in the face. Personally, I love the architecture of bone structure.
When I first decided to design a contour and highlight product, it was before the commercial explosion. It was before Youtubers were posting tribal warrior tutorials. I was frankly frustrated that there wasn't a product out there designed for contour and highlighting. By that I mean it isn't as simple as applying a foundation two or three shades darker to areas you want to recede and two or three shades lighter to areas you want to highlight. The artistry behind it is more complex than that, and it takes a product that addresses and simplifies the process.
It has inevitably spurred a backlash, as with any idea that's taken too far. You can blame the Youtubers that are looking like they're about to enter battle or go to a sports event where the team colors or brown and white.
The problem is the oversimplification of the concept: Some argue that it's revisionist, deceptive and even harmful to the psyche. The problem started when it was explained as simply as "put a dark color here, and put a light color here." Recede and highlight. If your mindset to doing it is to try to change your face, this is a harmful concept. Here's another take on it: Contour and highlighting simply enhances the bone structure that's already there. All of makeup is based on the concept of enhancing and tricking the eye. Makeup itself is challenged by some as a lack of self-acceptance.
So take it or leave it: You can view it as deceptive, or you can view it as a way to pull out the bones that already exist in the face. Personally, I love the architecture of bone structure.
When I first decided to design a contour and highlight product, it was before the commercial explosion. It was before Youtubers were posting tribal warrior tutorials. I was frankly frustrated that there wasn't a product out there designed for contour and highlighting. By that I mean it isn't as simple as applying a foundation two or three shades darker to areas you want to recede and two or three shades lighter to areas you want to highlight. The artistry behind it is more complex than that, and it takes a product that addresses and simplifies the process.
Comments
Post a Comment