I’ve been pretty vocal about my general dislike of contour palettes. I really don’t think that the average, non-make up artist needs a palette with three or more different shades of contour. I think I was just tired of people bringing me that picture of Kim Kardashian and expecting that they would automatically look like her with a bit of contouring and lashings of banana powder. I’ve also been generally unmoved by the numerous contour palettes on offer as they tend to ignore us darker-skinned women. However cue Ginuwine’s “Differences” when I laid eyes on this beauty. “My whole life has chaaaaaanged since you came in….”

Sturdy cardboard packaging.

Colours included in the the N Deep kit.

Kit includes a handy “how-to” guide.

 I’ve been a huge fan of Cover FX since I first came across the brand 3 years ago and I have a few (unpublished smdh) drafts waiting in my post editor. I was all about their cream foundation for a couple of years until I transferred my affections to their liquid foundation. The Canadian company focuses on face make up only and they do their job fantastically well. They produce stellar products without parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances, synthetic dyes, petrochemicals, phthalates, etc. etc. Look out for a “Brand Focus” post on the brand very soon.

Now onto the contour kit: the kit comprises of three shades of their cream foundation in N60, N90, and N120 in addition to their illuminator in “Candlelight”. The contour kit comes in 6 shades for very fair skin all the way to deeper skin tones. I wear N90/ N100 in the cream foundation so the contour kit in “N Deep” was perfect for me. I can highlight with the N60, contour with the N120, illuminate with candlelight and use N90 as a foundation in a pinch (or mix it with the other colours to tone them down).

The creams are very full-coverage so a little bit goes a long way and the cream dries down to a very natural finish. However, those of you with very oily skin will want to use a good mattifying primer to avoid grease face.

True colours of the creams in the contour kit after the top layer has been rubbed off.

The contour kit comes with numbers so you can easily follow the “how-to” guide included with the kit. I was apprehensive about how orange #4 looked when I first opened the kit but the true colour of the shade was revealed once I rubbed off the top layer.

Outdoor and indoor swatches from L-R: N60, Candlelight, N90, N120

The contour kit retails for $48 and this is well in line with the price of most high-end contour kits around. It initially reminded me of the Laura Mercier contour kit but I like that this kit is specifically tailored to my skin tone. I can easily use each and every shade in one application and that alone makes if very worth the price tag.

It’s so refreshing to see a well-thought out product that doesn’t seem to be a desperate money grab these days so I’m thankful for this kit. It’s already available on the Cover FX  and Sephora websites and look for it in Sephora stores from this week onward.

Contour palettes: yay or nay? Let me know in the comments!

Nana Adomah

P.S. Check out these swatches of the other contour kits I found on the Sephora website: