ROSIE GREEN: How to give yourself a 60-second facelift It’s the make-up trick that will refresh your looks in an instant: Rosie Green throws some light on the art of contouring By Rosie Green For You Magazine Published: 07:01 EDT, 13 July 2024 | Updated: 07:01 EDT, 13 July 2024 e-mail View comments Fancy giving your face a lift, getting a more defined jawline and opening up your eyes without spending too much time, money or effort? Thought so. Well, it turns out you just need bronzer and a buffing brush. Welcome to age-appropriate contouring.
Rewind to the 1990s and the first time I encountered contouring in real life was on Boy George . To create a more defined jawline he’d shaded underneath it with a mud-brown colour. It worked, sort of, but looked pantomime-esque.
The basic principle of contouring is that a dark colour makes things recede and light brings them forward. This make-up trick can be used to reshape the face into a more ‘idealised’ version of beauty. Popularised by the likes of the Kardashians a decade or so ago, it’s a technique generally deployed to emphasise cheekbones, widen eyes and create dainty little chins.
More recently, Victoria Beckham has been raving about its transformative powers, saying, ‘I’ve never had a nose job’ but adding that she ‘refines’ hers with contouring. For me, and I suspect you, it’s less about achieving Barbie looks and more about giving our faces a subtle lift. So I asked two make-up artists, Jamie Genevieve a.