Is contouring making a comeback? Here's how to master it in 2025
Low-key at Giambattista Valli, softly snatched at Zuhair Murad and lit-from-within at Schiaparelli, the spring/summer 2025 couture catwalks are showcasing artfully sculpted complexions as well as spectacular collections. Sublime skin is make-up artist Pat McGrath’s particular forte (see last year’s viral porcelain skin look at the Maison Margiela couture spring/summer 2024 runway show), and the industry legend once again made a feature of glowing, radiant complexions at Schiaparelli earlier this week.
Rather than statement glass skin, models’ cheekbones were subtly sculpted using her own Pat Mc Grath Labs Skin Fetish: Highlighter + Balm Duo in bronze, ushering in a new era of hyper-natural modern contouring.
Skin Fetish Highlighter and Balm Duo - Bronze
With Google searches for contouring techniques and products seeing a dramatic uplift at the beginning of 2025, the face-shaping make-up technique is seeing a revival, but with a softer edge and less ‘paint-by-numbers’ feel than many of us may remember. “Contouring has evolved to complement ‘your-skin-but-better' trends,” says the award-winning make-up artist Lan Nguyen-Grealis. “It’s about blending seamlessly to enhance rather than mask”.
Where to apply contour
“Contouring involves balancing the face shape before anything else, so knowing where to place product in order to enhance your unique facial structure. It’s not about the amount of make-up that you use, but where you apply it,” Nguyen-Grealis adds. “Wherever natural light hits the face – it's different for all of us – that's where the shadow needs to go”.
Which formulas are best for contouring?
Contouring 2.0 (or is it 5.0 at this point?) encompasses soft, blurred definition, and part of the reason for its resurgence is the proliferation of sophisticated shading products that make the technique simple, customisable and less intimidating. Nguyen-Grealis cites “new user-friendly cream-based or stick products that cater to a variety of skin tones and textures” as key to contouring’s rising popularity. “These products work because the pigment is balanced with a ‘skin-like’ formula that looks ultra-natural but is still long-lasting; it won’t melt away as you wear it or become patchy."
How to master modern contouring
1.Prep the skin
"The key to creating a subtle glow starts with prepping the skin using a light-boosting moisturiser or serum to ensure that the contour you create melts into the complexion," says Nguyen-Grealis. "Spritzing skin with a mist first helps to fuse product textures together to deliver highlight and contour that gleams but in a natural way. I also like to use my fingers to pat and blend make-up in where needed."
2. Build your contour up slowly
“Following your bone structure, work a cream contouring product into skin in very thin layers, building up shadow gradually where it would naturally appear, such as under the cheekbones. Apply it in natural light wherever possible; artificial lighting can exaggerate lines and shadows,” Nguyen-Grealis advises. “Blend in colour using small circular motions with your sponge or brush, or ‘bounce’ your chosen tool over skin for a subtle finish with no harsh lines."
3. Add a highlight
“Finish with a luminous, non-glittery, cream textured highlighter applied to the top of cheekbones and blended for a seamless effect.”
Voilà, undetectably defined features and a natural glow. Look out for more smooth-operating contouring sticks to come in 2025, but for now shop the Bazaar beauty team’s modern contouring essentials below.
The best contouring products
Cream Contour Stick
Nguyen-Grealis’ pick for “easy, no brainer” contouring that’s barely-there yet still impactful.
Face Trace Contour Stick
Beloved by Bazaar’s beauty editors, this neat stick offers buildable colour that always looks natural, whether blended with your fingers or buffed on with a brush or sponge.
Contour Stylus
The four colourways suit a wide array of skintones and the slim wand creates a beautifully subtle contour. It moonlights as eyeshadow too should the need arise.
£35.00 at victoriabeckhambeauty.com
Hollywood Contour Wand
In seven shades, this blurring formula is a cinch to apply and has just the right level of luminosity (think candlelit glow, not glitter).
£30.00 at charlottetilbury.com
The Minimalist
Technically a foundation stick but choose a shade two shades deeper than your complexion for understated contouring.
Forever Contour Stick
Doubling as a dewy bronzer, this buttery contouring stick has a waterproof formula to ensure that your sculpting handiwork stays in place.
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