As of late, my TikTok feed has been bathed in content about applying makeup based on whether you have high, medium, or low “facial contrast,” thanks to an increasingly popular AI filter that helps people determine which camp they fall into. Hundreds of videos under the contrast filter’s tag have been posted online, plenty of which have accumulated millions of views. It’s deeply rooted in the practice of color analysis, so it begs many of the same questions: What does it really mean to be high contrast versus low contrast? Does it really matter whether or not you’re wearing the most “flattering” makeup for your contrast level? Does this technique actually help people apply makeup better, or are we just following yet another unnecessary rule?
For those uninitiated into chronically online beauty culture, facial contrast is based on how much contrast there is between your hair color, skin tone, and the color of other facial features like your eyes and lips. The concept itself is nothing new—in fact, it was researched as a metric cue to perceived age years ago. But applying makeup based on one’s facial contrast, however, has garnered popularity over the past couple of months thanks to the developer of this filter, French makeup artist Aliénor Dervanian, who has popularized the idea that each contrast level is flattered best by a particular style of makeup.
The filter works as such: Users look at themselves through the front-facing camera and hit one of three buttons (light, medium, or deep) that best describes their skin tone. From there, they can “try on” high, medium, and low contrast looks based on that skin tone and compare them to their own faces. Whichever one is the closest match is their determined contrast level, according to the filter.
Maria Santa Poggi
Maria Santa Poggi
Maria Santa Poggi
The whole goal of understanding your contrast level and doing your makeup accordingly, Dervanian tells Allure, is all “about balancing your face.”
For example, having high contrast means there’s a great degree of difference in color among your features—such as having light skin with dark hair and eyes or vice versa. Higher contrast faces, Dervanian’s rule claims, are complemented by bolder makeup and brighter colors (think bright red lipstick or an intense smoky eye). According to Dervanian’s TikTok videos, higher contrast faces need the added intensity of bolder makeup, otherwise, “you will look a bit washed out.”