Oct 25th, 2015, 06:09 PM

Contour Makeup: From Drag to “Wags”

By Devon D
(Image credit: Composure Magazine)
The contour makeup trend, now a mainstream beauty movement thanks to the Kardashians, was invented by drag queens.

Nathalie Halcro (girlfriend of Shaun Phillips) and her cousin/best friend Olivia Pierson -- currently known for their new reality TV series “Wags” (Wives and Girlfriends of Sports) on E! -- are excellent examples of American pop culture’s current beauty standard -- especially for their contour makeup. 

Leading the contour makeup movement is the Kardashian family. From the first time Kim Kardashian lifted the veil on her backstage makeup routine to reveal Kylie Jenner’s 17-year-old over-lined lips and complimentary injections, face-shape manipulation has become a beauty trend. The Kardashian association with contour makeup -- and their product endorsements -- has reshaped the makeup industry and perpetuated a norm where you can literally morph into another person. Some even calling the practice “makeup sorcery.”

Natalie Halcro Tutorial | UNDER EYE HIGHLIGHT

The fashion industry is taking notice. Hood by Air, designed by Shayne Oliver, is known for provocative runway shows. At Oliver's recent SP16 NYFW show, he pulled it off once again by sending his models down the runway with unblended contour makeup. Though it’s been noted that “Oliver and his beauty team aren’t mocking or condemning the idea of radically changing your looks through make up” and that this look was not inspired by the Kardashians, M.A.C. makeup artist Inge Grognard completed Oliver’s vision and “overall theme of surgery and self-alteration”. Oliver believes that “like plastic surgery, our culture tends to discuss contouring with a mixture of shock and shame”. And we need to question this.

(Image Credit: Bossip.com)

The history of contouring in mainstream makeup has been widely credited to Kevyn Aucoin, known as the Hollywood make-up maestro and legend who invented contouring having worked with everyone from Naomi Campbell to Gwyneth Paltrow, before dying from a drug overdose in 2002. However, I would argue that this makeup practice goes much deeper than one man, more like generations. The fact is that drag queens invented this practice.

(Image Credit: Cosmopolitan.co.uk)

In the Globe and Mail, Marilisa Racco interviewed M.A.C. cosmetics trainer Ricky Boudreau, also known for his alter ago Ultra Violet, to discuss the history of female impersonations and ultimately drag makeup in Chinese theatre and Roman literature as the first stepping stones to drag makeup and contour techniques.  “Queens have been using these tricks from the very beginning,” he said. “Contouring allows you to remove the man and reveal the woman by changing the shape of your face, removing the male jawline and even toning down the Adam’s apple.” He uses M.A.C’s Studio Sculpt Powders and Studio Finish Concealers to achieve his transformation.

Drag contour makeup has come into the mainstream of pop culture wearing its own face with the success of television shows such as Rue Paul’s Drag Race and other platforms such as YouTube used for drag contour makeup tutorials. 

Beat Your Face! Highlight & Contour Makeup Tutorial

The new and less drastic trend featured in a Cosmopolitan article, “Strobing is the new contouring,” features the strobing makeup technique where you apply cream highlighter in the areas where you would like to naturally reflect light. Basically a more toned-down version to the “cake face” technique, strobing seems more like an attainable everyday look for the average woman and direct reaction to the impractical nature of contour makeup. Unfortunately, unrealistic standards of “inventing cheekbones” and manipulating the shape of your face doesn’t seem like a trend that will be leaving any time soon.

The disturbing leap from drag queen to everyday beauty standard is one that’s not only shocking, but should be seen as very rude awakening -- not in the sense that one is better than the other because drag queens are everthing, but in the sense that everyday women feel the need to manipulate themselves as well. It's almost as if we're letting the queens down you guys. If everyday women don't feel confident in themselves, then who will? Asking when this trend will end is a pointless because we all know it won't. Solution unidentified.