A killer contour used to be the kind of thing only professional makeup artists could achieve. These days (thanks to Kim Kardashian and YouTube) anyone can do it. It's one of the many steps in trying to achieve the ultimate "beat face." But while browsing through some contouring videos, I couldn't help but notice the overwhelming amount of tutorials specifically dedicated to contouring "ethnic," "wide," or "big noses." Seriously, what's up with that?
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All you have to do is type in: "How to contour a big nose" or "How to contour an ethnic nose," and an insane amount of tutorials hosted by ethnic women with ethnic noses comes up. In fact, the first one that popped up for me was Simply Shanalee's "Best Nose Contour Video: For Ethnic noses!"
Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g2jN-SXv8U
"What I like to do, since I have more of an ethnic nose, it's more bulb-y, I like the look of a really nice, pointy type of nose, which I don't have," she says. "I realized that a lot of bone structures are different for people's noses … I'm not trying to say I'm trying to make my nose more Caucasian whatsoever, you guys. This is just how I learned to contour. But a lot of more Caucasian or white people do have more defined noses. That's just their features."
I understand that this is how she learned to contour, but let's think for a second about what she said. "I like the look of a really nice, pointy type of nose," followed by "A lot of more Caucasian or white people do have more defined noses." The whole idea behind nose contouring in the first place, is to give the illusion of a thinner, narrower nose by adding definition to the bridge. The technique requires applying a shade slightly darker than your skin tone on both sides and a lighter shade down the center to again, make the nose appear thinner and more narrow.
I'm not hating on the technique, I just want to highlight the danger behind it. By promoting nose contouring, we're basically telling women that their ethnic noses are not beautiful enough. That in order to look their best, they need to emphasize the bridge of their nose and make the wider parts of their nose appear slimmer. We are telling them that slimmer, more European noses are better when in reality a "better nose" doesn't exist. It isn't real. It's just something society has conditioned us to all believe.
Take this other tutorial that I stumbled upon called, "How I contour my huge black nose," by Beauty Vlogger, Adozie. Whether she realizes it or not, the title of the video alone suggests that there's something wrong with her nose and that it needs to be contoured in order to appear more beautiful. This is the problem here.
Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_Ne532ZqwI
Listen, if nose contouring makes you feel like you look your best, then go right ahead. But just remember that you don't need it, the same way no one needs rhinoplasty because all noses regardless of shape or size are beautiful in their own way. Period.
Image via YouTube
