Possibly The Best Value Highlight And Contour Palette Ever! (New Review)

Morphe has really been killing it lately! Last month they brought out some seriously gorgeous blush palettes, then just a couple of weeks ago it was a collection of stunning red lipsticks fronted by Nikita Dragun. Morphe’s latest drop is a highlight and contour palette with the gorgeous Laura Lee fronting the campaign – her contour is always on point! I love the formula of Morphe’s powders, so when I discovered they were doing two Sculpt and Shimmer palettes that would combine highlighters and contours, I was psyched. Considering I’ve been contouring for nearly ten years, I’ve tried literally hundreds of contour palettes, here’s what I thought.

What it is: Two highlighting and contouring palettes, one for fair to medium skin tones, the other for tan to deep skin tones. Each palette has four matte contouring shades and four high-impact highlighting shimmers.

What it does: Created to slay IRL and on Insta, the palettes have a combination of contour shades so you can add depth and dimension, and four shimmers so you can choose your highlight to suit your look.

8H Hi-Fi Sculpt & Shimmer Palette, $25:

Contour shades: Donut, cool hazelnut, Debutante, a rich warm brown, Blogger, a soft terracotta, Fabulous, a very warm, reddish brown.

Highlighters: Beam, an icy Champagne, Mirage, a coppery-bronze, Big Bang, an intense gold, Venus, a bronzey-gold.

8L Low-Fi Sculpt & Shimmer Palette, $25:

Contour shades: Literati, a warm sand, Enemy, reddish brown, Donut, cool hazelnut, Debutante, a rich warm brown.

Highlighters: Lit, pale gold, Stardust, an iridescent salmon pink, Supernova, a peachy rose gold, Cosmic, a soft rose.

What we liked: I love that Mophe did contour and highlight in one palette, as you usually either get a contour or highlighter palette, so this makes it such a useful palette, especially if you’re traveling. I also think this is insane value – four contouring shades and four highlighters for $25 is SO amazing. The matte contour formula is really beautiful, it’s very smooth, picks up easily on brushes, and it blends nicely. The highlighter shades in both palettes are super pretty and poppin’, and each selection works really well for the skin tones it’s designed to complement, aka warm toned shimmers for deeper skin tones and cool tones for fairer complexions.

What we didn’t like: I wanted this to be my fav new contour palette, especially as I LOVED the blush palettes Morphe just recently released, but I was a little disappointed with the shades. For contouring I feel you really need some ashy, grey-toned colors to add depth, whereas these were all very warm toned and looked more like bronzers to me; without more ashy shades, you can run the risk of looking a little orange and less natural. I personally think it might have been better to include a couple of light, matte ‘highlighting’ shades that you could use to brighten your under eyes and any other areas you want to pop more, instead of four shimmering shades.

The verdict: This is a really pretty palette, and the value for money is amazing, so if you don’t already have any contouring or highlighting palettes, this is the perfect product for you. I still need to use some of my usual contouring shades, which have a more ashy tone, but I think this makes a really great palette for bronzing and highlighting.

Shop them here.