Read ALL about my review process including how I take swatches, photos, and more here.
A little while back I saw that Cocoa Swatches retweeted from @CutCreaseMom about some $10 contour kits from Amazon. I get SO MUCH of my everyday business necessities from Amazon and have also found that you can get a ton of beauty items—-even department store brands for less than what you would normally pay. I ordered a travel tripod and a cream and a powder contour kit in the deepest shades (see the other shades here).
We’ve talked contouring and contour kits many, many times in the past (if you need a refresher read Why I Now Highlight and Contour My Face Every Time I Do My Makeup…, Why ONE Foundation May Not Cut It for Women of Color, and Search my updated My Updated Foundation Routine {Dark Skin}) and while contour kits are cool, they’re not for everybody. For most non makeup artists, you might only use one or two shades—MAYBE three—in a kit that comes with like six shades. There are some I really like (like the Cover FX Contour Kit, though I contour so often that it made more sense for me to buy full size highlight and full size contour) and the Black Radiance powder one is pretty awesome, so if you find a kit that works well for you, it can save you time and space.
Back to these.
So I filmed a video trying it out—check it out below. Make sure you SUBSCRIBE to my Youtube channel!
Cream Contour Kit
As for the cream contour kit, I found the formula to be so incredibly smooth—a little goes a long way and they blend like a dream. There’s a baby oil scent to it—didn’t bother me but thought I’d mention it. For me though, I’d only regularly use two shades out of the kit—the bottom middle shade and the bottom right shade. I’d use the bottom middle for under my brow bone and then a mix of the bottom middle and the bottom right for my highlight. You’ll see in the video why I didn’t love the deeper shades to contour. I’m not even sure why that really light shade on the top right would be in a kit like this with such deep shades, but a makeup artist could make use out of it in her or his kit. Or you could mix it together with another shade but I assume if you’re not a makeup artist and you get this kit, you wouldn’t need to mix such a light shade anyway.
Powder Contour Kit
I found the powder kit to be interesting. You typically don’t see powder kits with shades this deep and while I give them props for having such a deep black shade, I don’t think most very deep, deliciously dark chocolate skin tones would find it very effective to contour. I imagine it getting flat because there’s no real undertone to it. If it had even a teeny bit of warmth I could see it working better. This isn’t to say it’s impossible to use. I asked two of my very talented makeup artist friends to weigh in and they pretty much agreed. When contouring very deep skin, typically the focus is on highlighting which helps add dimension to the face and carefully placed blush.
I used the bottom middle shade to contour and the top left shade to highlight. I liked the highlight shade, the contour shade was a little darker than what I’d typically use. It doesn’t look “bad” but it makes the contour more pronounced than I typically wear my contour.
Performance-wise these both lasted amazingly on my oily skin even on a hot summer day. I needed to blot of course throughout the day, but nothing major.
Bottom line: So would you need these? I’d say no—even at the really affordable price. These are amazing quality for the price (oh, make sure you check the ingredients—sometimes lower-priced items may contain questionable ingredients) but I can’t see anyone who is not a makeup artist using even half of the items in these kits on a regular basis. There’s too wide a range and some colors can be off in undertones for some people. If this brand sold the shades in individuals then we’d be cooking with grease (perhaps they do outside of Amazon—there’s countless sites that sell their product). BUT if you’re someone who finds it almost impossible to find shades like these (for instance the bottom middle deep shade in the powder kit), you might not even care if a pan or two goes untouched.
Price and where to buy: Cream Contour Kit, $6.89-7.89 at amazon.com; Powder Contour Kit, $9.99 each at amazon.com
Rule of thumb for highlight—a shade or two lighter than your skintone; contour—a shade or two darker than your skintone. I like my highlight to have a bit of a golden undertone and for my contour to have a bit of warmth to it. You might even vary your highlight and contour depending on how subtle or dramatic you want it to be. And remember, you don’t have to only highlight and contour with a kit. You can use a concealer, foundation, powder foundation, matte eyeshadow, matte bronzer (to contour), and just about any piece of makeup that is the right texture and color.
