Review: Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Palette

I always lightly contour my face when wearing makeup. I generally always use my Nars bronzing powder in Laguna (there’s shimmer in the pan, but it’s not very visible once on your skin). I saw the new Nars contouring blushes and wanted one immediately as I thought it would be great to try a totally matte contouring powder and a matte highlighting powder. Let me just quickly go on a rant and say that highlighting powders do not need shimmer in order to be effective. Contouring and highlighting means that you are playing with tones and shades which give a optical illusion of shadow and  light/brightness. If you use a paler powder than your skin tone to contrast with your contour – you are still highlighting chosen areas of your face. You want particular features to look like the light is reflecting off those parts of your face more – it doesn’t mean that it actually has to reflect light (though it can). Phew* now moving on lol

I decided to wait until my boyfriend was in the states before purchasing the Nars conturing blush (so that he could bring one back for me) and I’m so glad that I waited because in the meantime I found this Anastasia Contour Palette (see, don’t buy products on impulse!). The Nars contour blush comes with a contouring shade and a highlighting shade all for the price of $42 US. The Anastasia Contour Palette comes with 6 shades for $40 US. Soooo even though I love my Nars products, I decided to go with the Anastasia palette (it was a no brainer!).

Above: The palette in it’s cardboard sleeve.

 I bought it when the palette came with 6 pre-selected shades, but you can now choose what shades you would like in your palette which is great! You can buy refills, mix and switch up colour combinations, as they have a great range of shades (from contouring colours, to highlighting and setting powders) so even if you are super pale or a beauty bee of colour, you will find shades to match your skin tone! If you are really unsure about what colours to go with, they have a handy colour wheel available to point you in the right direction and colour combinations that go well with each other (you can find those on their website).

Above: The contour palette in all it’s glory!

What I love about this palette is that it is seriously heavy for a palette containing 6 pressed powders inside. The weight of it makes it feel more solid and of higher quality. I think it is made from very solid cardboard even though it doesn’t automatically look like it. The packaging is in a matte black colour which means it will show finger print marks all over after you have been using it which is just a small minus. It also has a strong magnetic closure to keep your powders safe.

Above: The 6 shades that came in my palette (3 highlighting powders and 3 contouring powders)

My palette contains 1 cool toned contouring shade which matches my colouring (Fawn – Java is also cool toned, but it’s a little darker and looks slightly red based on my skin). I didn’t mind receiving the other shades because I figured I could use them as eye shadows – and I was right!

Above: Colours in the palette from left to right top row: Vanilla, Banana and Sand. Bottom row, left to right: Java, Fawn and Havana. 

As you can see, the highlighting powders are those in the top row, while the contouring shades make up the bottom row. There is only one shimmery powder in the palette and that is the colour Sand on the top row, first powder from the right. All the other colours are matte. They are all super smooth and silky. They are slightly powdery only because they are so so soft. It is very easy to pick up colour with your fingers or a brush. I find that you can use Sand as a highlight and because it is soooo super soft (probably the most buttery of all the colours I own in this palette) you can apply it to your face with your fingers (if you want to).

Above: Swatches from left to right: Vanilla, Banana and Sand. As you can see they are very natural in colour.

Above: Swatches from left to right: Java, Fawn and Havana. Java and Havana are warm toned while Fawn in cool toned.

If you buy 6 colours for $40, then each powder comes in at $6.66, which is pretty darn cheap in my books. Otherwise an individual pan costs $14. I’m sooo happy I bought this palette and I can honestly say that I will happily buy another 6 colours soon because as I mentioned, they work wonderfully as eyeshadows also. Down below is a makeup look which I created using only the colours from the palette (I mean in regards to powder products, so I used the powders as my contour powder, highlight, eyeshadows and for setting my concealer). The finished result is a natural nude look which looks polished. I go for a subtle and natural looking contour, so forgive me if the look isn’t really really sharp and dramatic. I also don’t use photoshop, so what you see is what you get. Fawn is sooo natural looking, that I would go so far to say that you can’t go wrong with this contouring shade if your fair or a beginner. It’s definitely not a colour that will make you look ‘tanned’ but rather will leave you looking polished and natural without going muddy or what not.

I bought my palette directly from Anastasia’s official online website (they ship to Aus from the US) and this is definitely the cheapest option, I paid $18 for shipping and my order arrived really quickly (I think it took less than 2 weeks to arrive) in perfect condition. I’m not into doing my brows, so I won’t be testing out their brow products anytime soon, but I have heard great things about their eye shadow palettes so who knows, maybe I will test those out soon! For the meantime I’m very happy with my purchase! Coins well spent 😉 Success!

Are you tempted by these contouring/highlighting powders? Is Anastasia Beverly Hills a brand you love or are familiar with? Let me know in the comments below!

Catch ya next time beauties,

Beauty Bee~

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