Is This The End Of The Kardashian Contour?

Forget harsh contouring, next season it's all about subtlety.

marco de vincenzo

Forget harsh contouring, next season it's all about subtlety.

The truth is, you head to Milan Fashion Week for the biggies: Marni, Giorgio Armani, Moschino et al, but boy is it nice when on the off-chance you discover something new and exciting.

That's how it went with Marco de Vincenzo, a small detour in between shows to see Marie Claire favourite Terry Barber in action. 'You can forget your Guccis, your Pradas, it's all about de Vincenzo,' he told me when I popped into the rather opulent show space right next door to the historical Duomo. Bold words.

The look at de Vincenzo was instantly covetable and something we would expect to see in London - not the glamour capital of the world - and we saw the debut of the antithesis of the past-its-prime Kardashian Contour.

We all know it: the harsh sculpting, the bronzer buffed to within an inch of its life into the hollows of the cheeks and along the jawline, the almost-white concealer painted under eyes. We've known for a while now that it's simply too much. It looks completely fake - almost clown-like - and here's the thing: if you don't cake your skin in foundation you won't need to 'add dimension' with contouring because, believe it or not, the face is naturally 3D. Shocking, we know.

Barber's 'Reverse Contouring' at de Vincenzo is much more our kind of thing. Barber allowed the contrast between shiny and matte skin do all the contouring for him. No taupe shadows, no sparkly bronzer, just MAC Studio Sculpt Defining Powder, £22, patted lightly between the brows, under the eyes, the sides of the nose and the chin to mattify, the rest of the face remained naturally shiny. 'This is a modern, invisible contour,' explained Barber. 'It looks like well-conditioned and healthy. It;s the uber-skin that everyone wants.'

Try it, you'll never reach for the bronzer contour ever again.

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