Anastasia Beverly Hills | Contour Kit | Review

Contouring and highlighting has become a huge craze lately - whether you like it done very naturally with a bit of bronzer or done very heavy with creams and powders. There has been some controversy with professional make-up artists stating that contour and highlighting is 'not a good look' or 'drawing lines' on the face is not necessary but, in my opinion, each to their own. I think contouring and highlighting can bring out the most beautiful features on your face. That's why I decided to review this extremely coveted beauty product - the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit in the shade 'Light/Medium'. 

I have had this palette for about 5 months now (please excuse the condition - it has been well loved!) and I purchased it from Cult Beauty for £39.00, which may seem a little expensive to some people but because I personally use almost every shade in this palette, I think it's reasonably priced. However, if you only want to use 1 or 2 shades, you can purchases these pans separately on the same website for £14.00 each. I believe Cult Beauty is one of the few UK websites where you can purchase Anastasia Beverly Hills products. 

Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit - Light/Medium

NET Weight: 3.0g / 0.11oz Each | Dermatologist Tested | Hypoallergenic | Cruelty Free

Swatched in natural daylight WITHOUT flash on NC25 skin.

(L-R: Vanilla, Banana, Sand, Java, Fawn, Havana)

 Swatched in natural daylight WITH flash on NC25 skin.

(L-R: Vanilla, Banana, Sand, Java, Fawn, Havana)

Highlighting Shades:

Vanilla: A very light milky pink shade to be used under the eye area, nose, chin and forehead to lighten the centre of your face.

Banana: A subtle matte yellow shade to be used under the eye area, nose, chin and forehead to brighten the centre of your face.

Sand: A very light shimmery (no glitter) champagne shade suitable for highlighting the tops of cheek bones, nose, chin and forehead. This shade can also be used as an eyebrow or inner eye duct highlighter too.

Contouring Shades:

Java: A warm neutral brown matte to be used on all parts of the face to contour.

Fawn: A cool neutral brown matte that is excellent in creating that grey/taupe shadow on the cheekbone to give the illusion of sculpted cheekbones. Also great for fairer skin tones too.

Havana: A warm brown matte with red tones to add warmth to contouring on all parts of the face.

For the highlighting shades, I like to use vanilla on the highlighting plains of the face (under eye area, chin, nose and forehead) and then sand on top to accentuate these areas). Although the 3 contour shades vary and suit some skin tones more others, I like to mix the colours together and create my own contour colour. Usually I would go a little heavy with fawn in my cheekbones to create that sculpted look, then mix a little bit of fawn with java and buff into the temples of my forehead and jaws. Depending on my overall look, I will sometimes go in with havana and warm up my contour on all parts of my face and buff it all in until I'm happy with it all. The texture of these products are beautiful, soft and finely milled meaning it blends like a dream. The pigmentation of these products are of brilliant quality, as you can see from my swatches. 

The right brush definitely helps in creating a beautiful highlight and contour look, too. My 3 go-to brushes for this palette are (click to purchase):

MAC 109 Small Contour Brush: Small rounded dome tip made from soft natural fibres, perfect for picking up product and blending at the same time.

Real Techniques Contour Brush (from the core collection): Small pointed tip great for placing contour shade product right where you want it, especially the cheeks bones to create that sculpted look. 

Real Techniques Highlighting Brush: Small, thin and soft pointed tip to pat or brush on the highlighting shades to smaller areas such as the nose, chin, forehead and under eye area. 

As you can see from my photos, I haven't hit pan yet and I use it on a regular basis (a few times a week since I purchased it, 5 months ago), so you get a lot of product for what you pay for. I think this will last me a very long time, amongst a lot of other contour and highlighting products that I use but I must say, this palette definitely does not disappoint. If you are in the market for a good contour and highlighting product that is worthwhile, then  I would recommend Anastasia Beverly Hills products - whether it is this palette or you make your own palette online. The quality of these products are simply beautiful to the touch and seriously adds dimension to your face. Of course, contouring takes a lot of practise (I'm still learning!) but as long as you study the plains of your face and start off with a little product and then eventually build up the colour, and work the product into the structure of your face. 

Here's a full, heavy make-up look I did using this contour palette. Please bear in mind I have a light-medium asian skin tone (MAC NC25 for reference) and my contour preference is a heavy, sculpted look: 

Fawn used to deepen and create that 'shadowy' look
on the cheek.

Forehead, nose, cheek and jawline contour with highlight.

Make-up breakdown:

Face | MAC Studio Fix Fluid NC25 | Maybelline Age Rewind Concealer 'Light' | Soap and Glory One Heck of a Blot | MAC Mineralise Skinfinish Natural 'Medium Plus' | Anastasia Beverley Hills Contour Kit 'Light/Medium' | MAC Mineralise Blush 'Warm Soul' | MAC Mineralise Skinfinish 'Soft and Gentle'| Eyes | MAC Paint Pot 'Painterly' | MAC Pressed Pigment 'Black Grape' | MAC Eyeshadows in 'Saddle, Embark and Nylon' | MAC In Extreme Dimesnion Mascara | Ardell Demi Wispies | Eyebrows | Soap and Glory Brow Archery 'Hot Chocolate' | MAC Prolongwear Brow Set 'Ebony Brown' | Lips | Mac Lip Erase 'Dim'

Would I recommend this palette?

Yes, I would recommend this palette to anyone that is interested in achieving a subtle or heavy contouring look, and for anyone that is already quite familiar with the art of contouring. If you're a beginner in contouring, then I wouldn't necessarily go out and purchase this straight away. I would recommend using a less expensive alternative (NYX Taupe Blush is a great alternative to Fawn) and practise first, before splashing out on this palette. But either way, I think this palette is worth the money since I use all the colours and works well with my skin tone and texture, but like I said before, you still have the option to purchase these pans separately. 

Please let me know your thoughts on this palette, if you have it too and what brushes you use to achieve a good contour look!