Is This Sculpting Palette Worth The Price Tag?

Who doesn’t love a good contour? It can slim your face, give you a nose job, lift your features, and add glam to your look. It’s probably a technique many of you add to your daily makeup regime – I know I do – so finding the perfect palette to give your cheekbones drama is kind of a big deal. The market is saturated with contour palettes, yet every time a new contour kit is released, we have to try it, and Natasha Denona’s Sculpt and Glow Face Highlighting and Contour Palette was no exception. I was excited to see how Natasha would take advantage of her MUA skills to create something fresh, and considering she makes some gorgeous palettes; I had high hopes.

What it is: A contour and highlight palette with six shades in Light Medium and Medium Dark options. Each palette has three cream shades and three powder shades designed to be layered together to create a subtle, contoured look. The creams are rich in antioxidants and hydrating oils like jojoba and sunflower seed to nourish your skin.

What it does: The palette is designed to combine contouring, highlighting and strobing techniques to create a natural contour with a subtle glow. The palette has a six-step system to maximize its sculpting effect.

Initially, I presumed I would use the Medium Dark palette, as my medium skin tone usually suits the deeper hues of a darker palette, but with this, I felt the tones of the Light Medium would suit me better. On Sephora, there are clear instructions and a video explaining how to use the palette, so I followed the steps – although I think this would be helpful if it came in a leaflet with the palette for beginners or people who might be gifted it.

What we liked: The palette is beautiful. I love the gold case and decadent mirror, and the little plastic cover that protects the creams from getting dirtied from loose powder is really clever. I started with the cream contour, and though it seemed a little ashy, I thought it was ideal for contouring; it blended well, and it had an interesting texture. The cream was very sheer, almost semi-translucent, and although it seemed a little oily, it worked well with my dry skin…

What we didn’t like: Next, I tried the cream highlight. It was the same consistency as the contour, but the creaminess of it meant that it didn’t really have much effect; it didn’t lift the areas I wanted to highlight and the formula creased, which was such a disappointment as I was beginning to think this would be amazing. I found the powders were chalky and had fallout (although they feel creamy and smooth, they’re quite dry), and when I pressed them onto my skin, they hardly applied any pigment. I tried using a beauty blender and a brush, and the result was the same, the powders just didn’t stick to my skin. I also expected the complexion matching to be better; although I found the contours and cream highlights to work well with my skin tone, the glow formulas were way too light and beige-y for me. I think lighter skin tones should try the Light Medium palette in store, as I think the colors would suit fair skin better.

The contour I was able to achieve was very minimalistic. It’s designed to give a very natural-looking contour, but I feel like to go through all these steps for such a low-impact look doesn’t make sense to me – especially if the palette costs $89. If you want to use a palette like this, you’re using it to get a full glam look, otherwise, the level of contour this achieved can be done quickly and easily just with a concealer and good contouring shade. Considering the Medium Dark palette was too deep for me, I think that the light tones will definitely be too light for deeper skin tones. I love Natasha Denona palettes, I think they’re ahhhhmazing, but I wasn’t impressed with the complexion spectrum for these palettes, so for that reason I pass.

Price: $89

Available: Sephora.com