The art of contouring has to be one of the oldest techniques in the (beauty) book. With the use of cream or powder, one can add a sculpted finish to different areas of the face – especially the cheekbones. When contouring, one must keep the shape of their face in mind; their points of placement all depend on this exact characteristic.
The beautiful part about any contour technique is that it all comes down to what works individually for you. I, personally, always began by placing cream bronzer at the highest point of my cheekbones — that was until I came across a TikTok hack that gave all of my future contour sessions a whole new meaning.
Makeup artist Ali Martin started what’s now called the “Kate Moss contour” hack with her simple-yet-effective contour placement, inspired by the supermodel’s cheekbones. In her TikTok video, she begins by sweeping powder bronzer on the hollows of her cheekbone. This point of application lies right next to the smile lines. Once she places her bronzer on the area demonstrated below, she uses the tip of her finger to blend the product with an upward motion, creating the illusion of a lifted cheekbone.
TikTok content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Martin mentions to Allure that her face is asymmetrical, a trait I share. To some degree, asymmetry is something we all share as humans — which is totally OK. But I’ve always found mine annoying because my contour just never sat evenly on either side of my face. I never quite knew what the actual solution to this contour dilemma of mine truly was, but through this new and peculiar point of contour application, I was finally able to accentuate both sides symmetrically.
“All my clients and photoshoots have had an element of the Kate Moss hack over the years. I thought it was a good time to share it,” Martin mentions. She’s been a makeup artist for 25 years. Her viral TikTok video, which amounted to nearly a million views by the time I wrote this post, welcomed other creators to give the hack a go.
When TikTok user @Rawmakeup first attempted the trick, the first words out of her mouth in the clip were, “This is a really scary placement.” After a few minutes of trying to pinpoint the area myself the first time, I understood what she meant. But once I did, the rest was history.