Hey, I know it's been a long time (again) since I last posted, and I'm not even going to try and explain, I guess I'm just not great at balancing work and blogging but hopefully I'll get there.
Today I wanted to talk about a new favourite product of mine, the Smashbox Step-By-Step Contour kit. I picked mine up in my local Cosmetic Company Outlet for a little cheaper but it usually costs £35 and can be bought in boots.
To be honest I picked this up on a complete whim, it was pay day and I just felt like spending a little money and as I work in the same centre as the CCO I got a little extra discount, what better reason to try new products right? The moment I got home I was so excited to play around with the palette and have been obsessed ever since.
The palette includes a contour shade, a bronzer and highlighter, but what I love about all three is that they are all matte and none of them are really unnatural colours so they create a really natural look, originally I didn't know if I'd like a matte highlight but it really does work
With this palette you get a useful guide to contouring, and a brush that can be used with all three shades, while the brush is useful it isn't the best I've used, it's handy to take with you as it's travel friendly and gives a light but build-able colour, the main issue is that I've found it sheds a little which can be irritating. I tend to use other brushes that work better than this one but it's nice that they include it.
Another thing about this palette is that no packaging is wasted. You have the three shades and a mirror, and a guide that you might be able to peel off the mirror (I have left mine on as it doesn't bother me) The brush comes separately in the box so there are no annoying spaces in the palette, or little compartments that you end up not using, making the palette perfectly slim and travel friendly.
I've spoken for long enough about the packaging so lets move onto the most important part, the product itself. As I mentioned you get three shades, one contour, one bronzer and one highlighter. There is only one shade option for the palette but as they are build-able it will work for many skin tones, including very pale as they are easily blend-able.
The contour shade is the best I've found yet, it isn't warm or the slightest bit orange and is completely matte, making it perfect for contouring with, I like to build it up into the hollows of my cheeks with the Real Techniques Bold Metals Contour brush and then blend out with the Contour brush from their core collection, then take a little down the sides of my nose and up along the outside of my face in a "3" shape (through my temples and across the forehead) It blends so well and you really can tailor it so suit whatever makeup you're wearing that day.
The bronzer shade is probably the one I use the least, I'm not usually one for bronzing my face but I do use it sometimes with the core collection contour brush to help blend the contour shade into my blush sometimes when I want more warmth. It isn't too orange or muddy and works well with the two other shades.
The highlight shade was the one I was more cautious of, I don't usually like a matte highlight but I've found that using this under my usual highlighter does help to brighten and add brightness, I use it with my Real Technique Setting brush and also apply down the bridge of my nose but I love it most as a brow bone highlight. While I don't like matte face highlighters I also hate shimmery eyebrow highlights and have never even thought to use something like this, but it's perfect. It helps brighten the entire area, emphasizing eye makeup without drawing attention to stray brow hairs, and makes eyebrows look more put together. It's brilliant!
I'm sorry this review was so long and rambly, I hope it's been interesting at least. I don't think I've tried a product review before so if anyone has any advice please tell me.
Thankyou so much for reading, I'll try and not leave it too long until the next one.
