
One thing about me? I love blush. In fact, the only thing I love more than blush is a beauty hack. So when those two things combine, it's like Christmas.
I discovered my latest blush experiment while doing some ~ahem~ "in-depth beauty research".
Alright, fine. I found it scrolling TikTok.
It came from beauty influencer Kripa Patel Joshi, who coined the hack a "curvy contour cut".
She may say contour, but there's no mistaking the pink hue on her cheeks that has been blended in with the contour. So, really, it's more of a "curvy contour and blush cut". But, I admit, the alliteration sounds better.
"You might think it's crazy… but this will give you the most perfect lifted cheekbone," she said in the video.
The idea is to cut under your blush with concealer as you normally would, but instead of cutting in a straight line, you move your beauty blender in a curved motion.
Can't picture it? Have a look at it in action.
Watch: The "curvy contour cut" hack for lifted cheekbones. Post continues after video.
The result is stark, so the beauty influencer suggests "diffusing" the line with your bronzer or blush brush.
"That's how we can fake the perfect cheekbone," she said.
People in the comments were certainly on board, many hailing the hack as "genius".
I was equally as interested, so I decided to put it to the test myself.
But first, some caveats.
- I'm not a professional makeup artist.
- My blush and tools are budget-friendly.
- My hair is giving 'founding father ponytail', but I digress.
I followed Joshi's instructions, and here was the result. On the left, we have the before, and on the right, we have the after.

If you're underwhelmed, same.
Yes, it does make my contour and blush neater and sit better on my face, but I achieve the same result without the "curvy concealer" method.
Was it my execution? Perhaps. Maybe my beauty blender's sponge isn't quite the right texture, or maybe I need to spend a little more time blending.
Nevertheless, I went on to finish my makeup (and fix my George Washington hair in the process) to see how it would look all put together.
Here's the verdict:

Better, yes. The curvy cut did seem to give my cheekbones a little more definition. But I think that's largely due to my obnoxious pout.
I also think this 'hack' may favour a very specific type of face — and that's not mine. I have quite a long, oval face. And no amount of curvy cutting is going to manifest prominent cheekbones.
Blush placement also plays a huge role here. For my face shape, I tend to put my blush more on the apples of my cheeks for a healthy-looking flush — Charlotte Tilbury taught me that. However, people with other face shapes might benefit from completely different techniques. For example:
- Round faces benefit from applying blush higher on the cheekbones and blending upwards towards the temples for added lift.
- Heart-shaped faces might find applying blush on the lower part of the cheeks, near the outer corners, gives balance.
- Diamond-shaped faces can highlight their cheekbones by focusing the blush along the tops and blending outward.
It's not one-size-fits-all, and therein lies the catch with viral beauty hacks.
All that to say, I can see the potential of this hack. And I think with some practice (and better brushes), I could execute it better. But I think your face shape plays a big part here. Not to mention Joshi already has amazing cheekbones (and no 'founding father' hair… jealous!).
So, while this might not become my daily blush routine, it's certainly a fun trick to keep in my makeup arsenal. Who knows, I might just perfect it yet.
Feature Image: TikTok/@kripapateljoshi/Supplied.
Catie Powers
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