Out of the sea of contour kits I decided to go with the tried and true Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit in ‘light to medium.’ You can also customize your own on Anastasia’s site and Sephora is now offering a ‘medium to tan’ version, although I didn’t see it in stores and it looks quite warm to me.

Here are the products swatched on my arm.

From top to bottom:

Left: Vanilla, Banana, Sand
Right: Java, Fawn, Havana

[OVERALL]
These powders are extremely finely milled and pigmented. They work well with both synthetic and real brushes. They were easy to blend into the skin as well as build up. It’s hard to over apply these powders, which makes this kit great for beginners.

[LIGHT SHADES]
As you can see, all of the lighter colours look the same on my arm. They do however show differently on the face. The main difference between Vanilla and Sand is that Vanilla is far sheerer while Sand is more heavily pigmented and that’s apparent on the face. Vanilla acts as more of a setting powder while Sand has some shimmer, making it a highlight.

Although it isn’t perceptible on the arm Banana is very natural looking on the face. I used the same techniques featured in many Youtube tutorials to set my undereye concealer (Maybelline Age Rewind in ‘Neutralizer’). It made my concealer last the entire day and didn’t cause any creasing.

Although you’ll see that only two out of three contour powders work well for me, I like the variety. I use them all as shadows and I like that I have options if one of my friends comes over and wants to do their makeup.

[JAVA]

An orange-y brown Java definitely warms up my skintone. I think it’s just muted enough to not look like a stripe on the cheek, but I did have to work quite hard to build up this level of pigmentation. I think this one will be especially useful for when I want to bronze but don’t want a lot of shimmer.

[FAWN]

To some Fawn may look worringly gray in the pan, especially as it’s wedged between Java and Havana. On the cheek you can see that it’s a very subtle contour on skin with warm yellow undertones. It really looks like a natural shadow and is my favorite out of the lot.

[HAVANA]

With my strong yellow undertones Havana pulls very orange on me. I’m not the biggest fan of this as a contour as it’s more apparent when the color is lower than it should be and looks very unnatural.

My experience with the contour kit –

This kit will work well on both warm and cool skin tones as long as you’re fairer than NC45. Whether or not you like it will depend on how dark you like your contour as well as if you have a preference for powder vs. cream contour products.

                           Comment below if you’ve tried this product and share your experience with us.