3x contour & highlight palette: W7, Catrice & Maybelline

I love doing these 3-in-1 reviews! It is a great way to show you a review of 3 similar products that are comparable and might work the same. Today it is up to contour and highlight palettes from the drugstore. These have been a standard item in many high end make up lines, but lately, budget brands have started putting out more and more contour palettes. But which one to get?! I decided to try some. This 3-in-1 review will deal with contouring palettes from Maybelline, Catrice and W7.

W7 Hollywood Bronze & Glow bronzer & highlight palette
Catrice Prime and Fine Professional Contouring Palette 010 Ashy Radiance
Maybelline Master Sculpt Contouring Palette 01 Light Medium

The first one I bought was the W7 Hollywood Bronze & Glow. The Catrice and Maybelline ones came later. The Catrice Contouring Palette is brand new: it is part of their spring/ summer 2016 relaunch. As far as I know, the Maybelline Master Sculpt Contouring Palette is a little bit older, but I haven’t heard much about it yet.

As you can see here, I already used the W7 Bronze & Glow quite a bit: hint it is one of my favorite make up products! The Catrice & Maybelline palettes were brand new when I shot these pictures, so that is why they still look untouched. As you can see in the picture above, each palette is different. Where the Catrice and Maybelline palettes have a matte bronzer and a shimmery highlight, W7 has shimmer in both. In the Maybelline palette the bronzer has the warmest undertone of the three, whereas the Catrice one looks like it is the coolest.

W7 Hollywood Bronze & Glow bronzer & highlight palette

The Hollywood Bronze & Glow palette is a dupe for the much more expensive Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow. If you look up pictures of the two, you will find the resemblance quite striking to say the least. Even the name is almost an exact copy. This had been on my wishlist for quite some time and once I saw it in real life, I knew I had to have it. At €5.99 this palette is a little bit more expensive than Catrice, but cheaper than Maybelline.

This palette contains a shimmery bronzer and a shimmery highlight. I am not too fond in shimmer in a potential contour shade, but as you will see below, that is now how I ended up using the bronzer in this palette. What drew me to this palette is the light and fairly cool undertone this has. It is hard to find bronzers and contours that work on my fair skintone. Most look too orange or too dark.

Nothing, as bronzer
(I use this picture as reference for the other two products as well)

Added contour, added highlight

As you can see in these face swatch pictures, the bronzer is too warm to work as a contour on me. As a bronzer however this is one of the best things that has happened to me. And that is how I like to use this now: as my overall bronze shade to warm up my complexion and add a bit of color back into my pale winter face. The highlight is absolutely gorgeous: it is a stunning champagne shade that adds a good amount of shine.

Catrice Prime and Fine Professional Contouring Palette 010 Ashy Radiance

A later addition to my wishlist was the Catrice Prime and Fine Contouring Palette. When I saw this was being released, I knew I wanted to try it. At only €4.59, this palette is the most affordable in the bunch and thus definitely worth a try. Especially its name, Ashy Radiance, made me feel hopeful, because the ashier the undertone, the better a bronzer works as a contour on fair skin.

As you can see this product consists of a fully matte bronzer and a highlight with what I deem a subtle highlight. This definitely looks like it has the potential to be a great contour kit. When I swatched this in stores, it looked pale enough to suit my skin tone and I do not always love boom, in your face highlights, which means this could be another perfect palette.

Contour – Highlight

These pictures show the effect of adding a contour and highlight. As you can see, that is a fairly subtle effect. The good news is that the bronzer certainly works as a contour for me. It is subtle and not too in your face which I like. I am not one to go all out with the chiseled cheek bone look, but I like a bit of definition and this product most certainly gives you that. The highlight is subtle as predicted, but still enhances your complexion ever so slightly.

Maybelline Master Sculpt Contouring Palette 01 Light Medium

The only reason why I picked up the Maybelline contour palette was because it was a) on sale and b) because I felt I needed another contouring palette to round off this review. I had been eyeballing this for some time. It was one of the first contour palettes I spotted in the drugstore and it intrigued me from the start. At €12.99 I thought it quite expensive to just buy on a whim, which is why I held off for some time.

Where the first two palettes contain separate pans for the bronzer and the highlight, the Maybelline one doesn’t. That isn’t that handy. I had trouble dipping my bronzer brush into the product without picking up highlight. I do like the look of this though: the color looks alright and the highlight in this palette looks the least shimmery of the three.

Contour – Highlight

On my face, you can see that the bronzer is much more warm toned than the other two. However, I think I can get away with it. Maybe not now, but come summer time, I think this could look nice. It certainly looks more natural than the W7 Bronze & Glow contouring efforts and a bit more present than the Catrice Contouring Palette. The highlight in this palette barely shows up on my skin: it is almost matte and even more natural looking than the Catrice one.

Catrice – Maybelline – W7

Swatched side by side, you can clearly see the differences. On the left is the Catrice Prime and Fine Contouring palette, which shows a subtle highlight and a matte, cool toned bronzer. Maybelline Master Sculpt Contouring palette shows a barely there highlight and a warmer toned matte bronzer in the middle. Finally, W7 Hollywood Bronze and Glow is on the right, with the strongest highlight and a shimmery bronzer. Shade wise, the Catrice and W7 bronzers are closest: W7 is a shimmery version of the Catrice one. Maybelline is a in a totally different shade range, but might look nice if you aren’t as pale as me.

Catrice – Maybelline

W7

Full face I feel you can clearly see a difference between the three. W7 has the strongest effect all around, which is why I prefer to use it as a bronzer rather than a contour. Catrice has a subtle contouring effect which suits my skin perfectly now that it has its pale winter color. The Maybelline one falls in the middle and though pretty is a tad too warm toned for my current skin tone. The prettiest highlight goes out to W7, followed by Catrice, then Maybelline.

But what to buy? That depends on your skin tone and preferences. If you prefer strong highlights and are looking for a good overall bronzer too? Then W7 is all yours. Are you as pale as me and are looking for a good every day contour and highlight product? You should have a look at Catrice. However, if you have a darker, more tanned skin tone, Maybelline may be your best choice.

What is your favorite contour?