Contouring seems to have taken over the makeup world currently. With heaps of makeup brands releasing contour palettes, I was unsure whether I should buy one. In all honesty I was skeptical of them just because I feel that contouring is generally too much to do for an every day makeup, and I thought contouring palettes were excessive.
My opinion has changed, however, after being given this by a friend. As I mentiond, I was skeptical about contouring palettes and wasn't sure I would loved this. However, after using it almost daily since I got it, I am in love.
The packaging is super sleek and the palette is encased in a matte black container. On the back of the palette there are step by step instructions on how to use each powder. Whilst I don't refer to this, I think this is an awesome addition to the palette and is definitely helpful.
There are 6 large powder in this. The first row is your highlight shades and they are a peach toned matte shade, a yellow toned matte shade and a peachy shimmery highlighter.
The second row is your bronzers or contour shades. The first is a despise brown, the second is a cool/grey brown and the third is a warmer brown. All of these are matte.
All of the powders are really pigmented and soft to the touch. You need only a small amount of product on your brush and be warned they are really well pigmented. Despite being so pigmented, these are super easy to blend and look extremely natural on the skin. My personal favourite contour shade is the brown/grey shade as this mimics shadow extremely well on my face.
Whilst I like both of the matte highlight shades, I feel that they don't show up too well on my skin as my skin is similar to the lightness of the highlighters. I don't consider myself super pale, although I am light skinned. The shimmery highlighter is my favourite as it creates a super subtle and natural looking glow to my skin. I like to use the yellow highlighter to set my under eye area as it adds a tiny bit of brightness to that area. If you are darker in skin tone I think the highlighters would show up really well.
Overall I am extremely impressed with this palette and I adore it. If you can find it I absoloutely, 100% recommend getting it. Even if you are a novice at contouring I think this is an excellent palette to have in your collection.
This was the hardest review to write so far, As soon as Australis released this palette everyone was lusting over it and the ones that didn't have this were searching high and low for this, even paying $50-60 for this on trade me! Lucky for me I was able to pick one up when I was in Gisborne over christmas. It was smaller than I had imagined it to be so that came as a shock to me. I also have the Anastasia Beverly hills contour palette so I was able to compare these 2.
Firstly I like how this palette comes with a secure clip to close the lid, the plastic looks and feels cheap so I am overly cautious on where I place this as I can imagine how fragile this would be if this was dropped.
On the back there is a diagram on how to contour and highlight which I thought was such a clever idea especially for people that don't know how to contour or need a little help with the placement.
This palette comes with 3 highlighting shades and 3 contouring shades. The first 2 highlighting shades are matte finishes, the third looks the same as the first highlighting shade but with shimmer in it. The 3 contouring shades are all matte finishes.
The formula of these are buttery and pigmented, you only need a small amount of product on your brush, I find lightly swiping my brush into the palette is enough product for me, if you have a heavy hand you will lose alot of product.
The first highlighting shade comes out too chalky on my medium toned skin, the second highlighting shade is the same unless I use it lightly over my under eyes, I use the third highlighting shade for everything, highlighting my brow bone, on top of my cheek bones, above my cupids bow and above my forehead.
The first shade of the contouring shade comes off too muddy for my skin so I normally use this shade as an eyeshadow. The second and third contouring shades I mix between the 2 for contouring my face depending on what I'm going for. The second shade is slightly darker and the third shade is warmer.
Comparing this with the Anastasia Beverly hills contour palette it is an affordable dupe, the colors are very similar but a lower quality version, but for the price it is an absolute bargain. I will definitely repurchase this again when I have the chance.
Tips: I also use this palette as eye shadow to contour my hooded eyes, I like to use the contouring shades to add a matte finish to some of my shimmery lipsticks.