Here’s the thing about contouring: it’s less about the product you use and more about where you put it. Kind of like painting—placement determines whether your masterpiece looks like the Mona Lisa or something your cat walked across. Makeup artists (and, let’s be honest, people who are unnervingly good at TikTok tutorials) seem to have a sixth sense for where shadows should fall, sculpting faces with ease. But what about the rest of us—the ones who want cheekbones but also need to be out the door in three minutes flat?
That was me last week, staring at my very unsculpted reflection and realizing I had approximately no time to do a full face. My usual “bronzer somewhere vaguely under the cheekbone” move wasn’t cutting it. I didn’t need a dramatic, red-carpet snatch. I just wanted a little something to look more put together at dinner. And I wanted it fast.
So I did what anyone does in a moment of mild beauty crisis: I turned to TikTok.
And bless the algorithm, because it handed me a hack from makeup theorist Megan Lavallie that made me want to shout from rooftops. In just thirteen seconds, she completely reframed contouring for me. Her advice? Forget the intimidating maps, the harsh “3” shape, the endless blending. Instead, find one spot on your cheek—the one where, if you poked a hole, you’d hit your teeth. That’s it. Place your contour there, blend softly, and suddenly you’ve got natural-looking cheekbones that pop from the front and the side.
Reader, I had two and a half minutes left. I grabbed Glossier’s Cloud Paint in Dusk (technically blush, but rules are made to be bent) and dotted it right where I felt my teeth through my cheek. A few gentle swipes of my brush, and boom—my face looked subtly sculpted, like I’d somehow gone on vacation and only my cheek hollows got a tan. Dinner-worthy in seconds.
The genius of Lavallie’s hack is its simplicity. One dot. That’s it. Not an entire face chart of cream stripes. Not an overly complicated “drag queen starter pack” routine. Just a single, strategically placed mark that does all the heavy lifting. For anyone who’s ever felt contouring was too advanced, too time-consuming, or too “Instagram makeup,” this trick proves otherwise.
And the numbers don’t lie—her video has over 7.5 million views. Clearly, I’m not the only one thrilled to learn that contour doesn’t have to be a full-scale operation.
Here’s why it works: contouring is essentially the art of creating believable shadows. Instead of painting on sharp, graphic lines, this hack takes advantage of natural bone structure and soft placement. By putting color where your cheekbone dips inward, you create depth without it looking, well, painted. The result is that coveted “no makeup makeup” look, but elevated—like you woke up with sculpted cheekbones, rather than spent half an hour faking them.
Of course, I can already hear the hesitation: But what if I mess it up? Totally valid. Contour has earned its reputation as the trickiest step in a makeup routine. Too low, and your face looks muddy. Too high, and suddenly you’re auditioning for a role as Maleficent. But that’s the beauty of this technique—it’s almost foolproof. You’re only working with one placement point per cheek. Less room for error, less blending required, less stress overall.
And it doesn’t matter if you’re a powder devotee, a cream contour loyalist, or—like me—a “repurposed blush counts as contour” person. The method adapts to whatever product you’ve got on hand.
The best part? This tip doesn’t demand a specific face shape. Round, square, oval—everyone’s got that spot on their cheek where tooth meets bone. And once you find it, the hack does the rest.
So, here’s my new rule: if I’ve got time for only one step after sunscreen, this is it. A single dot, a soft blend, and I walk out the door feeling polished. Will I still attempt the full Kim Kardashian “3” contour one day, just for fun? Probably. But will I also keep this one-dot wonder in my back pocket for everyday glam? Absolutely.
If contouring has ever felt too intimidating, consider this your sign to try again. Because with one dot and about thirty seconds, you’ll realize what I did: it really is that easy. And once you see your reflection—with cheekbones you didn’t know you had—it might just be the little boost that carries you through the night.
