Review: L'Oreal Infallible Pro-Contour & Highlight Palette in Light!

NEW Contour Palette!

Contour has landed at the drugstore, aside from NYX of course! ;-) I found the L'Oreal Infallible Pro-Contour & Highlight Palette at my local Walgreens and guys... it was pricey! It was within the $12-$15 range which is crazy for a powder duo and a brush that I will never use. I gave it a shot anyway and here are my thoughts! :-)

I have the shade light and I was super impressed by the contour shade! It adds the perfect shadow to the hollow of my cheeks, very blendable! Now... the highlight shade not so much. It's not a brightening shade on my skintone so I can't really use it to set my concealer. It's not a shimmery powder neither so I can't really highlight with it. On the back of the palette there's a diagram showing you where to place it (forehead, nose, chin and cheeks) but it honestly did nothing for me.

Here are the swatches! The palette comes with a brush shown above that is awful. It's meant to help you highlight and contour at the same time but it just doesn't work for me. 

Bottom line: Almost $15 and I only like one side of it? It's not worth it. I like the contour powder but I have other palettes I prefer over this one. I think they could've left out the brush and just added something else, a banana powder or even an actual highlight. This is a pass for me my friends! :-)

Must Haves: E.L.F Studio Contour Palette!

Amazing & Affordable!

Right off the bat I want to let you know this palette is AH-MAY-ZING! :-) I've been testing it out and I'm truly impressed with this palette! The texture is really smooth and the pigmentation is awesome. The E.L.F Studio Contour Palette is available on their website and it's only $6... such a bargain!

I love their studio line packaging, it's always so sleek and compact! They have several other palettes in this style which is pretty cool because you can customize them. Each pan or square pops out and you can switch it out with one of their blush, bronzer and foundation pans!

Here's a closeup of what you get! The size of the pan is great and the color selection is perfect for light to medium skintones. Hopefully they release another one that's suitable for deeper skintones.

Here are the the swatches! The powders are super silky and easy to blend. The contour shade is a really nice shade, not too grey nor too brown...very natural! The bronzer is a beautiful color and it's matte which I prefer for year round. The banana powder is my favorite powder from the palette! It's so smooth and opaque, definitely brightens and helps prevent your concealer from creasing. Finally we have the white powder which is great to clean up my contour. Here's a picture of me wearing the palette.

Bottom line: I love this palette!! I own the Anastasia Beverly Hills and NYX contour palettes but I've been gravitating to this one more! The others are really good but there's tons of shades that I don't use. I find that this one has everything I need and that banana powder is so good! This is a gem for sure and the price is unbeatable. If you've been on the hunt for a contour palette this could be the on for you! :-)

Review: E.L.F Studio Contouring Brush!

New From E.L.F!

Contouring is the "it" thing at the moment and E.L.F has joined the game! They released their Studio Contouring Brush for only $6... pretty much the best value in the market! I've been testing it out for a little bit over a month now and I'm loving it! This is a great quality brush and it works amazingly with creams or powders!

The handle is very sturdy and the brush hairs are very secure so no worries about shedding! I love the shape of this brush because it makes getting product in the hollow of your cheeks easier!

The brush hairs are pretty dense but super soft! I love using it for contour placement because the shape and size is perfect for that. You can also blend with it but you have to work with it more since it's on the thinner side. I prefer to use the Studio Ultimate Kabuki Brush for blending. Contouring is done in less than 5 minutes with that brush combo! 

Bottom line: I'm a fan of this brush! I love how affordable it is and how good it is for that price. I'm excited to keep practicing my contouring with this brush because it really makes everything seem easier. Drugstore knows best! :-)

Must Haves: NYX Highlight & Contour Pro Palette!

Great For Beginners & Experts!

There's been lots of buzz about this NYX Highlight & Contour Pro Palette, good and bad! I'm someone that prefers to try something so I can form my own opinion and I'm I happy I did! I've had this palette for a few weeks now and I'm truly impressed with it! I'll be honest though, I was a little bitter after I got it because when I ordered it the price was $30 and now NYX lowered it to $25. Granted, I got a great discount by using a coupon code ("never pay full price" is my motto haha) but that's still money I could have saved. With that being said, after using it I completely forgot about the $5 and fell in love.

There's a total of eight shades in this palette, the top row are for highlighting and the bottom row for your contour. I'm very happy with the color selection! I'm no expert in the highlight and contouring field but this palette made everything so simple! I haven't tried any of the other contour palettes in the market because they are a bit pricey. This is a great starting point for someone like myself who wants to learn and test the waters haha ;-) The packaging is a sturdy plastic, nothing fancy but for the price it's nice.

Here's a closeup of all the shades. The powders are so smooth and silky! The pigmentation is crazy on these so make sure to use a lighter hand. They blend easily too so you don't have to worry about your contour looking muddy at all. The colors seem suitable or light to medium and olive skintones. But, what's great is that the palette is customizable! Refill pans will be sold later on so you can make your own perfect palette.

It's really simple to pop the pans out of the palette, love the idea!

Here are the swatches! This is the first row, the highlighting shades. I wish the shades had names but it's OK. The first shade to the left is a beautiful highlight shade! I was so scared to use it at first since it's a pearly white but it looks amazing on.The third shade is a yellow toned powder which I've been using to set my concealer and it's awesome! It makes my under eye are look so bright, I'm a fan! The last shade is a peachier highlight, gorgeous! Can't wait to use it more during the summer.

Here are the contour shades! I've only used the first and third shade in this row. I originally thought the third shade was best for contouring because of the taupe tones but it didn't show up too much. The first shade was perfect for me.

Bottom line: This palette is a great value! I know there's other well known palettes competing with this one but this is worth a try. The range of colors in this palette is amazing and I've been enjoying the trial and error process of figuring out my ideal highlight and contour combos. NYX did a great job and I recommend it for sure! :-)

Review: ULTA Sculpting Palette!

Emphasize Your Features!

So I don't know about you guys but when I go to Ulta I tend to skip the Ulta Collection products and go straight to the brands I know I love. Last time I was there I noticed these blush, bronzer and highlight trios and knew I had to have them! I recently reviewed a similar product from Hard Candy called the Contouring Face Trio which is the same thing just in baked form. Those were amazing so make sure to check out that review for swatches. I was able to justify the Ulta Sculpting Palettes because they were new and at the time only $6! ;-)

Don't be fooled by the picture, these are HUGE! There's 15.6 grams of product in these so they are a great value. I did get them on sale but they retail for $14 which is still affordable. Ulta has alot of sales plus the $3.50 off $10 coupon so you can catch them on a deal too. There's a total of three palettes, the one that I'm missing has a more neutral mauve blush so I skipped it for the brighter colors. I have nothing but great things to say about these and overall I'm impressed! These are super nicely pigmented and silky to the touch. They blend so effortlessly that I find myself reaching for it more often than my other blushes and bronzers! I didn't notice any fading at the end of the day when I wore each of them so the lasting power is awesome! Here are the colors and swatches (click on the image to enlarge!):

*Rosette- this trio has the highlight with pink tones, a lighter bronzer than the other palette and the hot pink blush. It's a gorgeous trio and pairs very well together! The blush is buildable and the highlight is beautiful when it hits the light!

*Muse- this trio has the highlight with cream-beige tones, a darker bronzer and an orange-coral blush which btw is amazing! This trio caught my attention first and I love it! That blush is like nothing I have, its a darker coral that looks great on. The bronzer is to be used with caution since it's darker but beautiful nonetheless.

 

Bottom line: I love these trios and they have opened my eyes to the Ulta products. I can't wait to give some of their other products a try because these trios blew me out of the water! I love sets and palettes that simplify our lives. Everything is in one place and paired for you in a foolproof way. You get so much product so these are definitely worth the money! Give them a try! :-)