While on set day in and day out, makeup artists discover some particularly weird techniques…and then, they eventually come up in conversations with me. One time, Mario Dedivanovic told me he uses lip liner on Kim Kardashian’s lids. Katie Jane Hughes also once recommended I find my perfect undereye concealer shade by matching it to an incredibly specific area of my face.
But the most unexpected tip for creating the illusion of high, sculpted cheekbones came from Joseph Carillo, as it has to do with a part of your ear that you probably never think about — unless you, like me, have it pierced.
When Carillo, who’s based in New York City, sweeps bronzer onto his clients, he always goes around the hairline, along the hollows of the cheekbones, and then up to the tragus of the ear. For those who don’t know what a tragus is, it’s that middle part of your ear that sticks outward from your cheekbone. Yes, that’s called your tragus (plural: tragi).
Carillo swears that adding bronzer to your tragus adds dimension to the face by extending the shadow you create when sculpting your cheekbones, as well as a slight lifting effect. He first discovered this tip while working on set with men. “Looking at faces with high cheekbones, I realized that lifted cheekbones started from around that little part of the ear,” he recalls.
Typically, Carillo buffs the Huda Beauty Tantour Contour & Bronzer Cream upwards from the cheekbones to the tragus. Then, he sets it with a matte powder bronzer. You can go with either or, though.
So next time you go through your bronzer or contouring routine, take cues from Carillo and don’t forget your tragi.
Originally published in Allure US.
Frequently Asked Questions
The tragus is the small, firm flap of cartilage sticking outward from the cheekbone, at the middle front of the ear. Makeup artists use it as a reference point when extending bronzer along the cheekbones.
Sweeping bronzer from the hollows of the cheekbones up to the tragus extends the contour shadow, adding dimension and a subtle lifting illusion. This technique is often finished with a matte powder bronzer to set the placement.
Yes. The tragus placement technique works with either a cream or powder bronzer, or both layered together. A cream formula is typically buffed on first, then set with a matte powder for longer wear.
This lifting effect comes from extending the natural shadow created when contouring the cheekbones. Carrying that shadow toward the tragus visually elongates the cheekbone line, creating the illusion of lift without added product elsewhere.
No special tools are required. A dense contour or bronzer brush works well for buffing product from the cheekbones up toward the tragus, blending the placement seamlessly into the rest of the face.
