The contour craze is far from over, and even though I'm not as much into the super done up look as I used to be, I still regularly get questions from people who want to try contouring out for themselves. It always takes a while until a trend trickles down to the masses, and now that drugstore favourite Maybelline has brought out this master contour V stick, it's safe to say that contouring has become 100% mainstream. This cream contour stick has a dark contour side and a lighter highlighting side, retails at about €10, and is supposed to make contouring fool-proof. Let's find out how it performs.
The Maybelline master contour V stick has an oval tip which allows for the most versatile application angles (thick, thin, just brown, just beige or both). The stick twists up and comes in three different shades, I received the 02 medium to review. Light might work better for me when I'm at my winter-fairest, but right now the colour works nicely for my complexion.
The 02 medium contour stick is on the warm side of the spectrum. Not that that's a huge problem, because this one does blend out nicely, but you'll have to consider that using the medium shade will have a slightly bronzing, warmed up effect on cool/neutral complexions like mine. The 01 light is cool toned, so if you want a super natural contouring effect that is based on shadow rather than bronzing, get the lightest one. It'll work even if your skintone is medium rather than super fair, just apply a bit more. The product is creamy, easily blendable, and it doesn't cake or go patchy if you buff it in.
I made this super awesome collage of pictures showing what the master contour V stick does for me. I kept the result subtle because a very obvious contour is kind of so two-thousand-and-late (unless that's the look you're going for of course). Apart from applying the contour and highlight in different areas, I also used the stick turned on its side to swipe on both colours simultaneously, to allow for a soft blend.
- in the first row of pics, I'm just wearing my base: revlon colorstay applied with the beautyblender.
- in the next row I've applied the contour stick like so: the contour shade along my nosebridge, the edges of my forehead and my jawline; the highlighting shade on the bridge of my nose, between my eyebrows and on my chin; and a swipe of both contour and highlight along my cheekbones.
- subsequently, I've blended everything in until all the harsh lines were gone, using my beautyblender.
- finally, I've added the pink and beige shades of my Jane Iredale Sunbeam bronzer as blush/highlighter to finish the look.
Let's look at the before and after side by side.
And there you go! The stick is super easy to use and it gives a lovely, natural result. In combination with the beautiful glow I get from my Jane Iredale highlighter, my cheekbones are lifted and subtly sculpted without looking like I've got stripes on my face. After all, that kind of contour only looks good in carefully angled instagram pictures, not in real life. I still prefer using powder contour because it just works a bit quicker, but that's a matter of preference.
The master contour V stick is sold at your local drugstore.
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