It's official: We've reached peak contour. Just a few days ago, a beauty blogger behind the Instagram account MakeupWearable Hairstyles uploaded a tutorial for contouring the back of your neck. The reasoning? For "slimmer, graceful-looking updos." The video, which was already gaining some traction, went viral once popular beauty blogger Huda Beauty reposted it to her 11.4 million fans.
That's when the comments started rolling in — and, unsurprisingly, the general reaction was fairly negative. "This is so pointless," one person wrote. A few were a little more colorful. "It looks ridiculous...WE DO NOT NEED TO CONTOUR OUR FRIGGING NECKS," wrote another. We have to agree with that last one. We don't really need this...do we?
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While we're all for a good contouring how-to (and appreciate the transformative power of makeup), there is a dark side to these tutorials, as well. As Demi Lovato put it perfectly in a recent interview with Refinery29: "What makes me sad is to see so many girls on Instagram with their faces painted, literally, and the contouring tutorials and the lip tutorials," she said. "I had a moment where I thought, Are my lips not big enough? And, no, I have great lips. While it's great to learn, some of these tutorials make you think you have to put pounds of makeup on, and that’s not the case."
In this instance, you might even think something like the back of your neck (which many of us have never looked at) needs altering. In other words, the tutorial creates insecurity where there wasn't insecurity before.
How much or how little makeup you feel like wearing is completely up to you. If you'd like to slide a bit of bronzer beneath your cheekbones to give them an extra pop, that's great. If you want to skip contouring all together and go bare-faced, that's also great. But before you go and check out the back of your neck with a hand mirror, consider why you're even looking there in the first place. And don't let a tutorial from anyone dictate what you deem beautiful — above, below, or behind your neck.