Read ALL about my review process including how I take swatches, photos, and more here.
Although color correcting kits are being shoved in your face left and right this year, Make Up For Ever (who has since forever had their own color correcting kits tailored for all skin tones) comes through with a throwback of sorts to last year’s big contouring craze. The brand sent over Make Up For Ever Pro Sculpting Palette in #40 and #50 for review consideration.
I like contour kits—if of course they contain shades that suit you well and that you’ll use often. Some I think are great but are probably better suited for makeup artists (i.e. Anastasia Beverly Hills Cream Contour Palette) simply because they have more shades you’ll ever need. I LOVED the Cover FX Contour Kit—a bit too much because I was killing them so fast. I’d go through them so quickly that it just made more sense for me to buy full size products to highlight and contour. Then as things go with my makeup, I started looking at other products when I got my makeup done for a shoot. Now I prefer my highlight to be more golden and for my contour to be a deep brown powder with reddish undertones (see the products I use here). Doesn’t mean I won’t dabble with other products. I mean, I AM a beauty blogger so trying new products comes with the territory.
I actually gave Make Up For Ever Pro Sculpting Palette a try for the first time on camera. I like how compact and easy to port the palettes are but if I were to use these in my routine regularly, I could imagine I’d go through them pretty quickly. Also I do prefer highlights with more of a golden undertone so I didn’t love the highlight shades. This doesn’t take away from them at all—they’re just not the colors *I* prefer on *me.*
The contour shades are nice—but I currently prefer to contour with just powder so I wouldn’t get much use out of them. The contour in the #40 kit is somewhat of a cream version of the type of warm deep brown powder I like. It’s pretty along the perimeter of the face—the temples especially—to warm the perimeter of the face. You’d warm the perimeter of your face to add dimension and also with women of color typically the perimeter of our face is darker than the rest of our face so warming the perimeter (or highlighting and contouring as an alternative) helps to prevent the “flat” look you’d get from using one foundation shade. Read more about that here.
There’s also a deep orange correcting shade as well as golden shimmery cream highlighter (these two shades in both kits are same color) that I personally wouldn’t use much at all but can come quite handy if you need them. The deep orange correcting shade can help cover dark spots and other discoloration in deep skin BUT if your foundation or concealer is already doing that job, you won’t need it. In fact (as I’ve said dozens of times) most folks may not need a color corrector.
Quality-wise and performance-wise these are amazing. They blend well, I didn’t experience any creasing, and they last long. If the shades work well for your skintone, by all means have at it. Thankfully there are now more contour options available for consumers with dark skin so you can play around to see what looks best on you (see also How to Contour Very Deep, Dark Skin). And thankfully since many of these are popping up in places like Sephora, you can try them out in-store before committing to purchase.
See more contouring reviews and posts here
See the Make Up For Ever Pro Sculpting Palette in action in this video:
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Bottom line: Make Up For Ever Pro Sculpting Palette is not for me because *I* wouldn’t use most of the shades on *me* (although I may want to buy the warm deep brown shade on its own if it’s available—yeah I know I said I like to contour now with powder but I’m allowed to play with other makeup…lol) but if these look like shades you’d like, give it a try. I do think the average makeup user may go through these quickly so fingers crossed MUFE releases these shades in single containers.
Price and where to buy: $45 each at Sephora (plus 4% cash back when you use eBates)
nice contour palette <3