The Draping Technique. How to Contour with Color.

Good Afternoon Beauties, Today’s blog post is about Draping, what it is and how to do it.

First off, what dafuq is draping? Draping is a rather old makeup technique where blush is applied in a way to enhance bone structure, basically contouring with color.

Draping is how my mother taught me to apply blush when I was just starting out in makeup in fact because back then contour kits didn’t exist and contouring as we know it wasn’t really done outside of the Pro MUA game at the time. Ok, I’m aging myself here, but it just wasn’t a household thing when I was 13 or when my mom was alive. Way back in one my first blogs on contouring I spoke about using blush as contour when I was a teen.

Anyway. In this post, I’m going to give you a brief history, product recommendations and two demonstrations of how to use the draping method.

Let’s get started!

Going back to the late 1970’s – 1980’s, draping was in its heyday thanks to celebrity makeup artist Way Bandy, who wrote about it in his book Designing Your Face. While Designing Your Face is out of print, Draping has made a comeback thanks to Marc Jacobs (a close friend of Bandy) who added new life to the technique in his Fall 2016 campaign for his Air Blush Soft Glow Duo blushes.Which are perfect for this type of blush application, giving it a modern chic makeover.From what I gather they were inspired by Mr. Bandy and the draping method.
Another great product to use for the technique would be the Charlotte Tilbury Swish & Pop Blushers as the shades are paired perfectly for one another and they way she demonstrates them use is essentially draping.

I personally like using the Love Flush Blush Wardrobe from Too Faced which was limited edition from last spring I believe but any blushes can do the job just fine as long as the shades are harmonious.

 

What you will need is two shades in the same color family, be it warm or cool. One shade should be more of a deeper, muted shade while the other is a brighter and lighter shade. The finish is up to you, just keep in mind if the blush has a frosty finish or too much shimmer it will come off a bit dated like you just came off the dance floor at the disco tech kind of dated.

My favorite shades from Too Faced to use are Baby Love (Deep Dusty Peach) and I Will Always Love You (Muted Orange) You together for a warm look and when I’m in the mood for a cool toned look I love to use Justify My Love (Vibrant Cool-Toned Pink) and Your Love is King (Plum).

I want to show you how draping looks with both tones. The first is the warm-toned look, which is the most wearable of the two in my looks that is. I was all kinds of extra on the cool toned look.

Anyway, the warm shades I used are Baby Love (Dusty Peach) and I Will Always Love You (Muted Orange). If you have seen any of my MOTD posts then you have seen this combo on here before.

 

 

 

For this demonstration, I have zero contour on my face, just my foundation, concealer, setting powder to start.

 

On a small domed shape blush brush, I took the deeper of the blushes (Baby Love) onto the backs of the cheekbones, and into where one would normally contour.  I also brought the blush up onto the temples as it was traditionally done.

Going onto the apples of the cheeks, meaning the round fleshy part of the cheek I applied the brighter of the two shades (I Will Always Love You) being sure that the two shades are very blended into one another, you don’t want to be able to differentiate the two colors or else we would be going into that 80’s territory. Again I brought this shade lightly onto the temples, you could tap a bit on the chin as well and the tip of the nose, very softly.

I like to finish the look off with a golden or champagne highlight just on the cheekbones to further enhance the look.

I chose a rather bold lip with this look because I liked it but this can also come off as dated. I wasn’t aiming to for it be so bright. But a lip in a softer tone that falls in the same color family as the blushers would keep the look modern and chic.

For the cool toned take on the look, I got a little out there and some fun. You could totally do the same technique on the cheeks and pair it with more neutral elements.

When I started off with this cool-toned look, I had full intentions of keeping it neutral but then black lipstick happened which is technically a neutral however, I got out of hand with the highlight at the end. Anyway, as before, I used no actual contour products in this look.

 

 

Taking a deeper plum blush and placing it as I did before with the deeper shade in the warm look. On the backs of the cheeks, hollow of the cheeks, and up on to the temple with a small domed blush brush.

Another look at the placement. I do believe a Pumpkin hair is on my cheek too. She was helping.

On a fluffy blush brush, I took the brighter pink blush and applied it to the apple of the cheek and blended it into the deeper shade. Just like with eyeshadow and our typical contour, blend blend blend.

Sadly, some of the colors were lost in the picture, they got kind of washed out but I had A LOT of blush on here. I had to knock the pigmentation down in real life because I had to actually go out. I finished this look off with a shitload of highlight, I used a combination of Purple Horseshoe and Blue Moon from the ABH Moonchild Glow Kit and Nyx  Duo Chromatic Illuminating Powder in Lavender Steel.

And that is how you Contour with Color! I hope this post was informative and fun. I enjoyed making it for you guys!

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