DrapingBackstage
Credit: Getty Images 

After Kim Kardashian said she was done with contouring, it was only a matter of time before a replacement make-up technique would gain traction. Sure other make-up methods have had ample airtime since Kim posted that original contouring Instagram post, essentially kick-starting the craze. Many worked (think: strobing, nontouring, baking.) Others, not so much (clown contouring, nope.)

And now, right on schedule there’s a new beauty buzzword lighting up the internet – draping. According to make-up artist, Wayne Goss, draping is really just a new word for an old technique of sculpting the face with blush, and ‘draping’ your angles in colour rather than cutting them with dark contour. Might blush-buff Kylie Jenner have something to do with the sudden rouge appreciation?  

DrapingCelebrities
Credit: Getty Images

“We need two a deeper shade and lighter shade to create this effect and a highlighter as well,” Goss says in his draping tutorial. A make-up throwback to the 80’s, draping calls upon the techniques created by original celebrity make-up artists and godfather of contouring, Way Bandy, who sculpted the cheeks of Madonna, Cher, Brooke Shields and Diana Ross using colour.

The three-part technique starts in the hallows of your cheeks, where you apply a darker blush shade. Using a fan blush brush for even distribution, Goss says to: “Start back at the ear, blending using a back and forth motion, blending up on the cheekbone.” Next, take a lighter blush shade and apply it directly above the darker shade. Finally apply a highlighter just above the middle shade and then  blend it out and across the whole cheek to defuse blend out any harsh lines and leave you with a luminous flush.

With the latest line-up of blush palettes housing two or more rosy shades, consider warming up your winter make-up look with the draping technique. 

Esteelauder
Estee Lauder, Pure Color Envy Blush Gradation Powder, $55. SHOP NOW

LOREALBLUSH
L’Oreal Paris, Infallible Blush Sculpt Trio in Soft Rosy, $26.95. 
SHOP NOW

NarsBlush
NARS, Under Cover Collection Dual-Intensity Blush, $67. SHOP NOW
Zoeva
ZOEVA, Pink Spectrum Blush Palette, $36. SHOP NOW
RevlonBlush
REVLON, Blush Highlight Palette, $26.95. SHOP NOW
Clarins
Clarins, Blush Prodige – Illuminating Cheek Colour, $55. SHOP NOW
TooFacedBlush
Too Faced, Sweethearts Perfect Flush Blush, $44. SHOP NOW