It's been ages since I posted a good Sunday Steal, and I know it seems like most of the time I feature higher end makeup and beauty products but that is genuinely just because it tends to what I wear myself. Every once in a while however, I find a fantastic little find from the drugstore that boasts the same quality (or better!) as a luxury cometic item, without the fancy price tag. The ELF Contour Palette fits this bill perfectly.
While I think the drugstore is upping its game in terms of textures and finishes, I still find it incredibly hard to find decent matte finish products across the board. Most products geared towards contouring that you find at the drugstore are either way too warm, or actually have a sheen/shimmer to them which completely defeats the purpose. In addition to that, the number one complaint I have about drugstore powder products is generally the lack of colour payoff; I don't want to have to scrub my brush in the pan to get enough product for one cheek.
Enter in the ELF Contour Palette and we've got a bit of a game changer. The sleek black compact houses 4 powder contour and highlight shades that have 4 grams of product each (my NYX Blush in Taupe is 4.5 grams for comparison). The unique thing here is that they are all removable, which might have you asking, "why?", but the brand actually sells these in different shades with blush palettes as well. So this means you can cheaply purchase a few, and then customize them to your liking, or if you travel you can pop out your favourite shades and put them all in one handy palette. Kinda brilliant on ELF's part, and as far as I know they are the only brand selling a contour kit under $10 that does this!
So how about the quality? I'm happy to report that all four shades in here (even the palette highlight shades!) are super pigmented. You can see in the swatches that even the bone colour swatches well against my skin tone (MAC NC25 for reference). The minute I put my finger to the product I noticed how incredibly smooth and buttery these powders felt - something I honestly wasn't expecting. Because of this, they usually need a brush tap-off before use simply because a lot of product picks up on the brush. Quite frankly, I would take this any day over a product I have to swirl my brush in multiple times to build up enough pigment.
The powders blend out smoothly on my dry skin (which isn't an easy task) and hold up decently throughout the day, gradually fading after about 6 hours, which is no different than most colour powder products on me personally. Between the two dark shades I use one more to warm up my face and the other to sculpt a bit, and the pale shades I actually really like to use to brighten under my eyes and to clean up under the contour of my cheeks a bit to crisp things up. Unlike larger contouring kits, there are no unuseable shades here for me, which makes the value even better.
The powders blend out smoothly on my dry skin (which isn't an easy task) and hold up decently throughout the day, gradually fading after about 6 hours, which is no different than most colour powder products on me personally. Between the two dark shades I use one more to warm up my face and the other to sculpt a bit, and the pale shades I actually really like to use to brighten under my eyes and to clean up under the contour of my cheeks a bit to crisp things up. Unlike larger contouring kits, there are no unuseable shades here for me, which makes the value even better.
For under a tenner, the ELF Contour Palette is a total win in my books. I'm glad I got the chance to try it, because many years of poor drugstore face products had my views jaded a bit, and this definitely sets the bar higher. I'll be putting one of the blush palettes on my list to test very soon, since I love the idea of how portable, interchangeable and affordable these are. This would make the perfect palette for someone who is new to contouring and doesn't want to invest too much to start out!
