Does The Viral Facial Distinction Principle From Tiktok (Actually) Work?

Tiktok is the realm of newness and novelty. Each week, one thing new emerges and it’s at all times one thing that I merely want to find out about. A novel option to type my hair for max influence, a brand new homegrown model I ought to store from or only a contemporary meme that may take over the Tiktok group—and Gen-Z digital advertising and marketing methods—for the following month.

But it surely’s not day by day {that a} trending subject on Tiktok forces me to rethink what I believed I knew. It began with only one video that appeared similar to some other. A speaking head, describing Tiktok’s newest magnificence fixation: facial distinction. 

@alieenor My favorite glow up tip is taking part in with distinction to get extra confidence ✨ #contrastlevel #mediumcontrast #highcontrast #emmawatson ♬ son authentic – Alieenor 🧡

Within the video, French magnificence content material creator Alieenor, as she is thought on Tiktok, presents the pictures of three acquainted faces: Anne Hathaway, Emma Watson and Taylor Swift. Every movie star is then given these titles: excessive distinction, medium distinction and low distinction, respectively. She goes on to element how figuring out your facial distinction degree would possibly simply be the following sure-fire option to discover your signature make-up type.  

The idea of distinction is, under no circumstances, new. Movie noir is characterised by its stark, high-contrast lighting. Renaissance artists employed the inventive strategy of chiaroscuro, mixing the Italian phrases for “shiny” and “gloomy”. For his Fall/Winter assortment in 1965, Yves Saint Laurent famously drew inspiration from the colour-blocking works of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. The end result was a putting assortment that highlighted each the artist’s and designer’s refined use of distinction in color. 

However how does that translate to make-up routines?, you is likely to be questioning. Alieenor says that facial distinction is however only one sensible software of the idea; it’s all about creating concord on the face. By taking the time to know your facial distinction degree, you’ll be carrying your make-up, not the opposite approach round—your face, however higher. She alludes that mastering facial distinction idea can’t solely show you how to discover your signature beat, however it could possibly additionally assist to offer a extra balanced look.  

Mastering it’s easy, in response to the Tiktok creator, who created a filter on the app simply to find out your distinction degree. First, situate your self—devoid of make-up—in comfortable, pure mild, earlier than deciding on your pores and skin tone on the Tiktok filter. Is your pores and skin mild, medium or darkish? Then spend a while evaluating the relative darkness and lightness of your options, utilizing your facial pores and skin as a benchmark. 

In case you have darkish hair and eyebrows on honest pores and skin, like Hathaway, you belong to the excessive distinction class. By comparability, in case your hair and pores and skin are of comparable values, your face in all probability falls beneath the low distinction class. If there exists some distinction nevertheless it’s not exceedingly apparent, you’ll in all probability fall within the medium distinction group.

@alieenor Réponse à @Ashleyvdk One of the best ways you possibly can really feel like your self when carrying make-up is knowing your distinction degree #contrastlevel #highcontrast #annehathaway #maralafontan #inestazi #monicabellucci #highcontrastmakeup #darkhair #distinction #colorseasonanalysis @Mara Lafontan @INES TAZI ♬ son authentic – Alieenor 🧡

In her video, Alieenor additionally reveals sure make-up dos and don’ts for every class. The Tiktok content material creator purports that folks with decrease distinction ought to avoid intense colors on the face. Meaning no daring lips, and minimising darkish, smoky eyes. As a substitute it’s best to go for extra minimal, “no-makeup” make-up. Suppose pure tones and lip glosses that won’t pull focus out of your options, in addition to shimmers and glitters (with a restrained hand, in fact). Those that belong within the excessive distinction class, alternatively, can—and may—embrace sturdy make-up seems. For those who do choose a extra pure beat for the on a regular basis, Alieenor says that high-contrast people can diffuse a robust purple multi-tasking product on the lips and cheeks, for a extra blotted end. 

With the filter in hand, I carried out an inspection of my face. With mild pores and skin set towards the backdrop of my ash-coloured hair, it appeared like medium distinction was the precise group for me. That’s, till I took a greater have a look at my eyebrows. The deep tones from my darkish brown eyebrows appeared to push me into high-contrast territory. Naturally, I used to be left confused about which was proper. In any case, I didn’t need to commit any cardinal make-up sins. 

Alieenor’s authentic video and filter has racked up near 12 million views on Tiktok, and there appears to be throngs of individuals on Tiktok who swear by the idea and its claims. However certainly, I couldn’t be the one one who was struggling to work out my facial distinction degree. I shortly came upon I wasn’t alone. I stumbled upon movies of different individuals making an attempt—and sadly, failing—to find out their facial distinction. 

Filtered Out 

The restricted success of the filter lies in its overt simplicity. With simply three pores and skin tones to select from and just one level of comparability (which comes within the type of a cartoon face), the filter presents a finite variety of potential outcomes. Within the absence of different key elements, the filter shortly generalises a large spectrum of faces, sorting them into three umbrella teams that lack readability. 

Therein lies the confusion that customers are confronted with. Singaporean make-up artist Kat Zhang attributes this uncertainty to our telephones. 

“Quite a lot of various factors are usually not mirrored on our screens,” says Zhang, who can also be the founding father of Singapore-based inventive administration company Suburbs Studio. With black hair however very mild brows, the filter proposes that she might be somebody with medium distinction. However Zhang says {that a} filter can solely accomplish that a lot. Plenty of exterior elements, corresponding to lighting, the clothes we put on when utilizing the filter and even the angles at which we maintain our telephones, can have monumental results on the accuracy of such Tiktok filters. 

And it’s not simply the filter. Zhang means that the overarching idea of facial distinction could also be oversimplified. “It removes the aspect of color and tones, focusing solely on distinction between the options,” she contends. “Sure, it does assist slender down the spectrum of seems [that might flatter you], to find out how versatile you’re by way of how a lot make-up your options can carry. Nevertheless, it doesn’t decide what’s greatest—that’s subjective.” 

Blind Spots 

Regardless of how fastidiously we look at ourselves, a 2D picture can not seize the depth and dimension of human faces. In line with Gwendolyn Janelle Tan, the principal color guide and founding father of Model Forth, a neighborhood picture consulting company, facial distinction is however a small a part of figuring out one’s most flattering look. 

“The effectiveness of facial distinction idea could also be restricted as a result of it doesn’t account for undertones, which play a major function in figuring out appropriate colors for make-up and clothes,” says Tan. The skilled picture guide says that understanding facial distinction alone is just not adequate, it’s very important to take into accounts different instruments corresponding to color evaluation. 

For her, color evaluation is completely important. “Color evaluation identifies the colors that greatest swimsuit a person’s pure options, corresponding to pores and skin undertone, eye color, and pure hair color,” she says. “That is finished by way of draping methods to watch how totally different shades replicate on facial pores and skin, categorising every individual right into a palette that enhances their look.” 

For these unfamiliar, the method of color evaluation could be extraordinarily thorough, most of the time taking hours and a seasoned skilled, not not like a sacred non secular expertise. As a educated color analyst, Zhang says, “There are blind spots while you don’t have a educated eye or aptitude for understanding what fits you.”

Skilled color analysts can acutely distinguish one’s complementary colors and make-up seems with extra accuracy and impartiality. These periods are a far cry from the subjective self-assessments that Tiktok filters usually name for.

The fundamental outcomes of color analyses usually splits the inhabitants into three main pores and skin tone classes—cool, impartial and heat—earlier than analysts take a deep dive into the totally different hues that complement one’s pores and skin. Lately, color evaluation has solely grown in reputation, with extra magnificence manufacturers utilizing labels like “heat” or “cool” to distinguish shades of the identical product, particularly so within the basis and lipstick departments.

A transparent instance of color evaluation takes form within the type of the purple lipstick. Who amongst us hasn’t fastidiously swiped on a purple lip, solely to seek out that it simply seems mistaken, earlier than banishing it to the furthest corners of our vainness tables? Effectively, the excellent news is that not all reds are created equal. Even in a traditional purple lipstick, there exists a myriad of undertones that influence its last color payoff. A warm-toned particular person might discover that reds with an orange undertone sit higher on the pores and skin, whereas these with cool-toned pores and skin will possible see extra concord of their complexion when utilizing a blue-toned purple.

What’s extra, color evaluation doesn’t cease on the three foundational classifications. What units color evaluation aside from the extra simplistic idea of facial distinction lies within the Munsell Color System. Conceived by American painter Albert Henry Munsell in 1913, the system seems at color in three dimensions: hue, worth and chroma. These attributes enable us to not solely establish colors by a transparent normal, additionally they enable us to outline color in relation to 1 one other with extra accuracy.

Writer Carole Jackson tapped into Munsell’s Color System, to write down her 1973 ebook Shade Me Stunning, which served as the muse for a lot of later variations of color evaluation. Jackson broke the science of color evaluation down additional into the 4 pure seasons: Spring, Summer season, Autumn and Winter. The color analyses of the twenty first century now usually render 12 totally different outcomes, with three subcategories per season. Whereas nothing is inherently mistaken with Tiktok’s obsession with facial distinction, it’s necessary to notice that distinction is only a small piece of the puzzle with regards to reaching facial concord when making use of your make-up.

Butterfly Impact 

Along with color evaluation methods, one should additionally make sense of visible weights to be able to really grasp the idea of facial concord. Visible weight refers back to the prominence of 1’s options—predominantly the eyes, lips, nostril, and eyebrows—in proportion to the face. The location, measurement and form of those options are simply a number of the elements that may affect one’s visible weight.

Are your eyes and lips pronounced? Do you have got excessive cheekbones and a pointy nostril? In case your solutions to those questions is “sure”, you almost certainly have excessive visible weight, that means your options permit you to carry off bolder make-up kinds, like dramatic winged liners and vibrant lip colors. Conversely, in case your facial options are softer and fewer outlined, your visible weight is low. Make-up methods for individuals with decrease visible weight constantly lean into softer, extra pure colors. Go away your black liners behind, and as a substitute, attain for a darkish brown that may deliver consideration to your eyes, relatively than overwhelm them.

“Facial concord is about optimising your options, [allowing them] to enhance one another with out one overpowering the others,” says Zhang, who repeatedly employs visible weights when dolling up her movie star shoppers. If you appropriately utilise color evaluation and visible weights in tandem, you’ll discover that your options seem extra radiant and youthful.

Even with these methodical analytical instruments, keep in mind that different components might however complicate the method of discovering your “greatest look”, as Tan shares. “Ageing, as an example, can alter pores and skin texture, brightness, and pigmentation, which can change how colors seem on the pores and skin. Hair color—particularly if it turns gray or is dyed—and adjustments in private type may also affect the notion of distinction and concord.”

@warnerbrosmx Porque ustedes lo pidieron… versión extendida del análisis de colour de Robert. ❄️ #Mickey17 – 6 de marzo, solo en cines. #RobertPattinson #BongJoonHo #Peliculas ♬ sonido authentic – WarnerBrosMX

Feeling Good 

Finally, as a lot enjoyable as these filters are, they’re, fairly merely, simply preliminary on-line instruments to bolster our information. These theories and devices, corresponding to Alieenor’s video on facial distinction, serve merely as foundational guides formulated to untangle the rising complexities that exist inside the magnificence trade. “On-line developments revolving round magnificence provide frameworks to know your options and preferences, making it simpler to navigate magnificence and magnificence selections. They don’t seem to be absolute guidelines,” says Zhang. They’re positively not devised to outline you or take away from the pleasure of experimenting with your individual make-up.

This sentiment is shared by Tan, who says that the aim must be to reinforce your pure options in a approach that feels genuine to you, relatively than fully remodel your self to match present developments. And when the developments that flow into on-line depart you with extra confusion than readability, it’d simply be the time to take a step again and give attention to what fuels your confidence as a substitute.

I usually discover myself at this crossroads: being continually bombarded by magnificence developments that supply seemingly easy options, however which regularly depart me feeling much more unsure. On the floor, on-line magnificence theories seem so easy and straightforward to know, however in my expertise, I often stroll away with extra questions than solutions. So after spending years dissecting numerous theories, every promising to disclose magnificence’s greatest secrets and techniques, I’ve put an indefinite pause on following these fleeting developments. In searching for the wonder trade’s “greatest” recommendation, I’ve realised that nobody proper reply exists.

Reasonably than spend my life attempting to realize perfection with on-line magnificence hacks, I’ve determined to enterprise headfirst into the unknown. As a substitute of shying away from experimentation in magnificence, I’ve elected to offer in to each whim and fancy that catches my eye. No hair color is just too wild, and no lipstick too dramatic.

Don’t get me mistaken, I’ve positively made errors. I used to rock a deep plum shade on my lips day by day in class, regardless that the sultry shade dramatically aged my look, by means of highlighting the gray undertones in my pores and skin. However within the wake of every mistake lies a lesson that finally guided me in the direction of a deeper understanding of the colors and kinds that really flatter me.

By shifting my focus away from on-line filters, this private journey of trial and error led me to a DIY color evaluation of types. Albeit extra time-consuming, this endeavor has been immensely rewarding. Its intimate nature has allowed me to amass a wealth of tailor-made information—one that may solely grow to be extra refined with time. Whereas developments and on-line theories might come and go, the enduring sense of fulfilment that stems from shaping your individual magnificence journey stays.

This story first appeared in GRAZIA Singapore’s February 2025 print subject and on Grazia.SG

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