In conversation at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Zadie Smith revealed a real frustration with makeup, and girls who spend too much time on it. The author said she was alarmed and "infuriated" to see how much time her 7-year-old daughter was spending getting ready before leaving the house, so she implemented a rule: 15 minutes in front of the mirror, max.
According to the Times of London, she said makeup was a waste of time — and she called out contouring specifically:
From what I can understand from this contouring business, that’s like an hour and a half and that is too long. It was better than giving her a big lecture on female beauty, she understood it as a practical term and she sees me and how I get dressed and how long it takes.