This 3-Finger Contour Hack Saves Me Tons of Time Getting Ready

I hate the getting-ready process. Parts of it are OK: I love listening to music, dancing around my apartment, and picking out my outfit. But when it comes to doing my makeup, I kind of dread it. It takes a long time, and I always find myself running late. (And yes, I'm aware of the fact that taking frequent breaks to scroll TikTok probably has something to do with it.)

Either way, I'm all about shaving time off my getting-ready routine, and I've found that beauty and makeup hacks are some of my favorite ways to do that. I'm always on the hunt for new tips and tricks that will make my life easier, and I've adopted quite a few that I've learned from various sources like TikTok and Instagram. Recently, I learned a three-finger contour hack that completely changed my makeup game.

What initially piqued my interest is how easy it looked. All I had to do was apply blush, contour, and highlighter to my fingers, then swipe it on my face and blend it out. Typically when I do my makeup, I start out by underpainting with contour and blending it out. Then I go in with my base makeup like foundation or a skin tint, then I follow up with concealer, blush, and eye makeup. It's been a long time since I started out with base makeup and then went in with contour, so I was interested to see how this new trick would make my makeup look.

After finishing up my skin-care routine, I went in with a tiny bit of the Bobbi Brown Hydrating Skin Tint ($45) (a product I'm obsessed with — read my full review here). Then, it was time to try the hack. I started out by gathering everything I needed, which only included three products: a cream bronzer — I used the Kevyn Aucoin The Contrast Stick ($53), a cream blush — the Kevyn Aucoin The Color Stick ($53), and a cream highlighter — yeah, you guessed it, I used the Kevyn Aucoin The Lighting Stick ($53).

Bobbi Brown Hydrating Skin Tint

From

$45

$45 at Bobbi Brown Cosmetics

Once I had everything I needed, I drew a line down my ring finger with bronzer, a line down my middle finger with blush, and a line down my pointer finger with highlighter. After, I positioned my hand so my ring finger was flush against my cheekbone, and I dragged my three fingers upward toward my hairline. Then, I blended everything out using a damp beauty sponge. To finish everything off, I did my eye makeup and added lip liner and gloss.

I was pretty shocked at how good everything looked when I was finished with my makeup. I was initially worried it would look streaky or like one big blob of pigment on my cheeks, but that wasn't the case at all. The hack was quick, it was easy, and it took significantly less time than my typical makeup routine.

One thing to note — you'll want to plan on opening up your products before you start applying them to your fingers. I didn't do this the first time I tested it out, and I ended up getting makeup everywhere while attempting to open every item one by one.

I've tested it out a bunch of times since the initial run, and it's become a hack I lean on frequently. I don't use this trick every single time I do my makeup, but I've been using it whenever I need to get ready quickly or if I'm just doing an easy no-makeup makeup look, because it is so fast and makes my skin look great. If you've been searching for a quick hack to finish your makeup in a flash, or if you are just a newbie to contouring and highlighting and want an easy way to see if you like it, I'd recommend giving this a try. It only takes a couple of minutes to complete, and it's worth every second.