Is contouring over?

In 2012, Kim Kardashian brought contouring — a shading makeup style that harks back to theatrical makeup tricks used for centuries — to the current mainstream when she posted two photos to her Instagram. One shot showed her face in heavy, unblended makeup; the other included the remarkable contour work of makeup artist Scott Barnes.

With just the right strokes and prominent shadowing, Kim’s face had transformed to emphasize slender cheekbones and a thinner nose — a makeup trick everyone seemed to notice.

Instantly, the age-old method once used on screen sirens in old Hollywood — actresses like Marlene Dietrich and Audrey Hepburn were sometimes contoured to create a certain aesthetic on camera — had caught fire outside film. Social media was flooded with Kardashian-esque makeup contouring shots, with women trying to nab the shape-shifting look themselves.

Beauty bloggers were creating tutorials to get those cut cheekbones and garnering millions of hits in the process. Even cosmetic companies began rolling out contouring products, like Tarte the Sculptor Contouring Face Slenderizer or Smashbox Step-by-Step Contour Kit.

However, after a few years, some beauty experts and writers are finally saying enough is enough with this trend. In W, makeup artist Maxine Leonard called contouring “the most inappropriate trend to ever be promoted in society.”

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Leonard says that it’s strange to paint sharp lines on every person’s face, which are taking away from the individuality of a woman’s beauty. “I find there’s a perversity about it,” she tells Yahoo Health. “It’s negative to promote that a person’s natural face shape doesn’t fit the mold — something with this heavy linearity to it.”

The super-sculpted look has now infiltrated our editorial spreads, magazine ads and online images. You may not realize how often you’re exposed to the trending contoured face, but it’s everywhere. Case in point: Leonard was recently on set with a young actress shooting a magazine cover, and the first thing she was asked to do as makeup artist was to contour the star’s face.

“The idea that I would take this beautiful, pale, cherub face and sculpt it — it’s just expected that women should look this way now,” Leonard says. “It’s taken away the freedom in how we look. It’s stripped away our self-confidence, because now what we see without sculpting is ‘flawed.’”