MAKEUP // THE BODY SHOP CONTOUR PALETTE (FOR LIGHT TO MEDIUM SKIN)

November 08, 2017

MAKEUP // THE BODY SHOP CONTOUR PALETTE (FOR LIGHT TO MEDIUM SKIN)

Welcome to my second blog post, guys! Today, I thought I’d share my thoughts on The Body Shop’s Contour Palette, R275. Contouring and highlighting yo face has been a thing for a while now and many makeup brands have brought out their own take on it. I’ve mostly stayed away from the whole trend, partly because trying to figure out what shades are not going to look too orangey/dirty on my super pale skin is way too much of an effort and partly because I wasn’t entirely sure that sweeping some powder over these chubby cheeks would make any kind of a difference (moonface probs, ya feel me?). Then there’s the whole issue of trying to track down a highlighter that doesn’t make you look like you’ve just come back from a weekend at Daisies and that is a whole other mission in itself.

Clockwise from the top left is the contour shade, bronzer, blush and highlight.

Anyway, I came across this palette one day and thought I’d give it a try. It comes with four shades: a cooler-toned contour shade, a warmer-toned bronzer shade, a blush and a highlight. This one is in the shade light to medium (01) and there’s another one for darker skin tones (02). It also comes with a useful guide on the back of the cardboard sleeve that shows where each shade should be applied on the face.

I think this is a great palette for anyone who’s giving contouring a try for the first time. The contour and bronzer shades aren’t too intensely pigmented so there’s no risk of overdoing it, they can be built up slightly but it’s also really easy to blend them out if you think you’ve gone a bit overboard.

The blush is a great warm-toned coral with a gold shimmer running through it. I think this is a perfect summer shade that will look incredible on warmer, tanned and darker skin-tones ( I don’t think it’s necessarily the best shade for me, but it’s so pretty I don’t even care!). Again, it can be blended out really easily and the shimmer comes across as really tiny flecks that aren’t too noticeable.

The highlight is another warm-toned shade in a light champagney-beige colour. When you apply it to the skin the pigment is basically undetectable in colour but it leaves a lovely sheen. It is very slightly shimmery, again with tiny flecks in, but I don’t think this will be noticeable unless you’re looking very closely.

Left to right: Highlight, blush, contour, bronzer. As you can see, the highlight shade's colour is barely there but the sheen shows up better in the next photo.

Left to right: contour, bronzer, blush, highlight.

If I had to raise any negatives it would be the fact that the pans are quite small, making it difficult if you’d like to use a bigger brush for the bronzer or blush shade. Also, while it’s great for my paler skin that the shades aren’t too intense and are very blendable, I wonder if they would show up on medium skin tones or if the darker palette would be pigmented enough for those with darker skin tones – probably best just to check it out in stores if you aren’t of the deathly pale variety like I am.

Finally, the packaging is really simple, sleek and of great quality and the mirror it comes with is nice and big – a perfect palette to pack when traveling! Another great feature that I really appreciate is the fact that the actual palette itself is reusable. Once the shades are finished, you can pop them out of the palette and replace them with The Body Shop’s eyeshadow palette pans (my eye is on Oregon Sunstone and Sienna Dust – also, such great names?!).

Back of the palette. Just pop the pan out when it's finished and replace with a new one of your choice.

All in all I’ve really enjoyed using this palette so far and think it’s worth checking out and having a little swatch in store if you interested in giving the whole contour thing a go.

Just creates a really subtle, glowy look that can be built up more if you wish. I definitely could've gone heavier with the contour but I tend to overblend it to avoid any harsh lines. I've also put the contour shade on my eyelids and the highlight on my browbone.