Contouring and highlighting is one of the most popular "trends" right now, but it is actually one of the oldest makeup tricks around. What began as a way to exaggerate the hollows and high points of the face for use on television, has turned into a daily occurrence for the everyday woman.
High end makeup companies are making a fortune selling expensive contouring kits, but you don't have to spend all that money to get the same look! Drugstore makeup brands are coming out with more and more products to help you achieve a perfectly contoured and highlighted face. Today I'll break down some of my personal favorites. The best thing is they are all under $20.
Ulta contour kit
We're going to start out with the largest, and most expensive product. Let me begin by saying that if you are patient enough to wait for a sale, you can pay as low as $7.30, which is what I paid! Occasionally Ulta will have a 40% off sale on everything from their brand, that will bring the price down to $10.80. Then, if you have a $3.50 off coupon which comes in their monthly ads, you can pay just $7.30 plus tax! However, if you're not that patient and want this right now, I think this is a great contouring palette for $18! That's about half the price of a higher end palette, with the same quality.
Swatches from left to right: warmth bronzer; golden bronzer;
bombshell bronzer; goddess bronzer
The bronzers in this palette are lovely! On the let side, you have lighter and warmer shades, and on the right side, you have darker and cooler shades. The warmer shades on the left are great for adding a natural looking bronze on the perimeter of the face, while the cooler shades give a realistic shadow appearance to the hollows of the face. This kit comes with a booklet to show you where exactly to place the bronzers and contours, if you don't have experience with contouring. A lot of times, I mix the shades together to get a personalized shade. Obviously warmth bronzer is my favorite, I've nearly hit pan. It gives the most natural looking sunkissed glow!
I've built up the swatches here to show you the true color, but they don't go on the face that way, so don't be scared! These are pigmented, but not so much so that they come off way too strong. They're also incredibly easy to blend out!

Swatches from left to right: lustre highlighter;
radiance highlighter
The highlighters in this palette are wonderful, but I don't reach for them much, since I have others that I prefer better. These are creamy, and have no glitter, so they leave a beautiful sheen on the cheeks!
City Color Contour Effects Palette
This next contour palette is a little simpler, containing only one bronzer, one contour, and one highlighter. I picked this up in store for about $9, online this runs from $7-$13.99. I've also heard this is popping up in 5 below stores for just $4!
As with the Ulta palette, the contour shade is very cool, and bronzer shade is very warm, as a general rule this is what you want to look for. Although you get less shades, the pans are larger than Ulta's. You also get a contouring diagram in this kit. As far as the highlight shade goes, I really don't care for it. I didn't even want to use it for the first couple weeks I owned this, because it's so intimidating! It's white and sparkly- much like Edward Cullen. To be honest, I don't think it'd be flattering on anyone. However, the bronzer and contour are so good that they make up for it.
Wet N Wild Contour palettes
$3.99, Walmart stores
Now we have an even simpler version of the contouring kit! Wet n Wild, one of my favorite drugstore brands, has come out with these highlight/contour duos, and they couldn't be more perfect! I'm featuring both shades today, because unfortunately I only prefer one shade in each palette for my skintone. In the shade "dulce de leche" I prefer the highlight- it's a beautiful yellow shade, perfect for highlighting under the eyes. In the "caramel toffee" palette, I prefer the contour shade. It's a very gray toned brown, and cooler than any of the other contour shades I own.
Here are swatches of the yellow highlight shade, and the cool toned contour shade. I honestly don't use the other two shades that often. But of course they couldn't put the best two shades in one palette, because then you wouldn't have to buy both of them! *eye roll*
Now let's move on to a little something different- cream contour! Yes that's right ladies, we're going there.
Hard candy Glamoflauge concealer- $8, walmart
Maybelline Fit Me concealer- $5
Cream contouring scares some people because they assume it's more dramatic and easier to mess up. Actually, it's quite the opposite! As long as you apply the concealers you're using to highlight and contour underneath your foundation, it is actually way easier to accomplish, and more natural looking. Just pick your favorite concealer, and go down 2 shades for your highlight, and up 2 shades for our contour. Apply the darker shade where you would place your contour, and the lighter in places where you'd highlight. Blend it out a little with your finger, then blend your foundation over top. The result is so much more blended and natural looking, and it's really kind of fool proof.
I love the maybelline fit me concealer, but unfortunately they don't have a shade in their range light enough for me to highlight with. This is why I go with hard candy, they have some extremely pale shades, and the formula is great too.
Physicians Formula Shimmer strip-$13.99
This right here is one of my favorite products ever, I could write sonnets about it. The reason I love this so much is because of it's versatility. I use this as a highlight every day I wear makeup, obviously I use the very top strip, but I love that there are tons of different shades, so any skintone can wear this! You can also wear these as eyeshadows, and they work beautifully for that purpose!
The very last swatch you see here is all the shades mixed together, which is a beautiful rose gold shade. The first two are the first rows vertically, then horizontally, which are the lightest, and most dramatic highlights. These are beautiful, but keep in mind that these will give you a very dramatic highlighted look. This is not some "angelic, lit from within" thing, this is a "see your highlight from space" thing! And I couldn't be more in love.
Wet n Wild bronzer- "reserve your cabana" $3.99
Now for those of you who don't like a dramatic highlight, I've still got you covered!! This one from Wet n Wild is just gorgeous. This is definitely more along the lines of "lit from within", and I love this if I want a more subtle, glowy look.
Well, we're finally finished! I hope this was helpful, if you have any questions or requests, please leave them in the comments below!
Do you guys have any favorite highlighting or contouring products from the drugstore? If so, I would love to hear about them!
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