Contouring On A Budget

Like I've said before, and as I'm sure many others have touched on before (if it's wasn't obvious already) contouring is a big thing right now. Like, a big, big thing. Ever since the likes of Kim K popularised it, many others started to follow suit and before we knew it everyone and their dog was having a go at sculpting and shaping their face within an inch of its life. Even I'm guilty of it. However, while there are many products and palettes out there with more of a luxury price-tag, I think it's important to remember that there are cheaper, more affordable options available too for those of us who perhaps want to give contouring a go but are either not prepared to shell out a lot of money to only decide against it, or simply cannot justify spending that amount of money full stop. As with many things, you can often get just as good (if not better) quality products from the depths of the drugstores - so today I'm taking the contouring trend and discussing just what good stuff can be found in Boots and Superdrug if you have a rummage...

First off - let's talk 'traditional' contouring products. While you can just get by with a standard matte bronzer (more on that later), there are items out there that are marketed primarily to be used for contouring and so can in some ways make the whole process that little easier and hassle-free. They also often come with a highlighter to further help emphasise the shapes you carve out and create that contrast between the hollows of your cheeks and highpoints of your face for that proper sculpted finish. The first from the drugstore that I tried was the Maybelline Master Sculpt Contouring Palette. This received a hell of a big marketing campaign around the time of its release only a few months ago now and while that was perhaps a little misleading-ly full-on, this can in fact be used to create a really lovely, natural but still noticeable contour. I picked up the darker shade of the two as under the store lights the 'Light-Medium' shade actually looked a tad orange-y compared to the more ashey 'Medium-Dark' so I opted for the latter and overall I'm happy with the one I opted for. It is a little darker (but this could be purely down to high pigmentation) so I find a light hand, careful application and good blending the key to using this. Like I said though, the ashy-ness of this shade does really help it, once blended, to look super natural and akin to a genuine shadow under the cheekbone. The highlight I'm not particularly crazy about - mainly due to the fact it's proportioned out terribly in the palette in my opinion and so is practically impossible to get a brush of any size into the pigment - however, I'm sure I would like it if this problem was to be rectified. Another, more recent contour palette find, that I love for chiselling those cheekbones is the new Collection Highlight and Sculpt Contour Kit. This comes packaged very similar to the classic Sleek Contour Kit and in many ways I do prefer the layout of this compared to the Maybelline one. The rectangular packaging is much more compact and the pans are equally sized/shaped, making it easier to swirl your brush around in them. Moving onto the product itself though, and for me I'd say this palette does the reverse of the Master Sculpt in that I'm actually more in love with the highlight than the contour powder itself. Sure, the contour is nice - it's well pigmented and blends very well - but the colour isn't such a good match as Maybelline's offering. This palette unfortunately only comes in one shade at the moment (possibly something to add to in the future?) so I'm hoping at some point there will be more colours on offer to pick up another which complement a wider range of skintones a little better. The highlight though, like I said, is so beautiful. It's a little surprising as typically I tend to find the highlight side of palettes such as these to be a little naff compared to the contour itself, but this in fact really nice. A pure shimmer with no large glitter flecks to be seen and a finish so finely milled it almost comes off as an actual glossy sheen on the skin. The formula reminds me a lot of theBalm's Mary-Lou Manizer actually, with the colour of Collection's just that little bit more icy in comparison to the Mary-Lou's golden, champayne-y glow.

 

Onto standard bronzers which can also double-up for contouring and I have a fair few to talk about as I don't know why, but I just seem to love trying them. I've found a couple of HG status, but I still like to sample new ones to see if they're better than previous ones. One that's probably my all-time fave is the Soap and Glory Solar Powder Bronzer (who guessed this was gonna make an appearance in this post, eh?). I love this stuff, so much. I've rambled on about this bronzer for far too long on this 'ere blog already, so I'll keep it short and simply say that this is perfect for bronzing and equally ideal for contouring. Take the matte, darker brown shade on a smaller brush and apply and blend as you would a contour and you'll have a very nice, subtle but still noticeable sculpting effect. If you're fairer and perhaps don't mind a little bit of shimmer, the more honey-toned side used in the same way is perfect also. A bronzer that falls firmly into the  more 'traditional' side of things is the Rimmel Natural Bronzer. Again, I'm not entirely sure if this one is shimmer-free, but if it is it is virtually undetectable on the skin and the shade is just lovely. It's the perfect mix of 'warm' and 'cool' toned, in that it has a slight ashy-ness to it that gives it a natural look, but still has that standard warm bronzer quality that helps to give life back into your face. Finally, one that's probably the easiest to apply is the Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder (their 'Chocolate Bronzer' for short). On me, I find this the sheerest and so least faffy to apply, as I can leave it fairly subtle or build it up for more of an intense, night-time look ideal for photographs. This isn't particularly ashy so you have to be careful in that respect, but it is fairly easy to work with all in all. The one I have personally is the version that comes with a highlighter too (so you could perhaps class this as a 'kit'), but as you typically buy it alone I'm just categorising it simply as a bronzer. You know I like to keep things simple round these parts...