She made the mother of all TikTok debuts when she joined the app in January with her 'under contouring' hack. The video amassed a cool 4.7 million views and soon make-up obsessives everywhere wanted a full breakdown of the technique and products used by Los Angeles-based celebrity make-up artist Mary Phillips, and she certainly delivered. The viral trend has since seen TikTokers trial the hack Mary uses on her celeb clientele, including Hailey Bieber and the Kardashians, but we've just shifted our gaze to her latest hack which may just be the answer to faking your best skin yet.
Replying to a comment about how undercontouring can work for people who need more coverage due to discolouration and blemishes, Mary introduces her followers to the world of 'micro-concealing', like the name suggests this method is all about targeted and detailed coverage of the problem areas, which makes for a big impact.
Watch: Mary Phillips' Micro-Concealing Hack
'If a client has more blemishesor a little bit more textured skin, I like to go in with a little tiny brush. I've heard people call this technique micro-concealing before,' says Mary. 'If you have pitted acne scars you can go in with a little brush to highlight them and bring it out. All highlighting is doing is, when something is a little deeper you want to fake it and make it look raised.'
Mary advises applying little and light touches of concealer to areas of the face that need it most – for her this means mouth area wrinkles and chin pimples. She then takes a foundation brush to diffuse and soften her touch ups. The trick is to do this step before powder, 'while everything is still nice and moist,' adds Mary.
It's the work of clever light play, deflecting radiance off from areas that would otherwise be discoloured or hollow and Mary is right, it's a trick which many others before her have relied on, like Kim Kardashian's friend and long-standing make-up artist Mario Dedivanovic and celebrity artist Valeria Ferreira. Despite our natural inclination to cover the areas we don't like, this hack makes us tackle them head on with an ultra-light touch and the less-is-more approach will help master the kind of minimalist, clean-girl look which (for us) will never stop being in vogue.