Kevyn Aucoin The Contour Duo

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Good afternoon! One of the newer makeup items that I bought recently was this Kevyn Aucoin The Contour Duo, which is available only from Sephora. It contains two shades of very popular KA powders - The Celestial Powder and The Sculpting Powder.

I have been rather lazy about contouring and it's really all my own fault. In a desperate move to finish more products from my stash this year, I started using some older Make Up Forever shadows (the ones before the Artiste shadows) as contour and highlight. However, the pigmentation of these shadows is so great that it is really easy to overdo it, so most of the time I don't really want to bother. I don't want to spend one minute contouring and then five more minutes trying to buff one cheek to match the other.

What I really desired was a contouring product that was buildable but more silky and forgiving than these shadows.

I was really happy to see this new duo online at Sephora and in store (near check out, in the section with the travel minis). The highlighting Celestial Powder shade is Candlelight, the more golden/champagne of the highlighter shades. Medium, if I recall correctly, seemed to me to be a bit less pink compared to Light.

Instead of a hard case, this duo is housed in cardboard packaging with a magnetic closure. It's perfectly sized to bring along on trips, so this duo is coming with me on holiday.

Left to right: Kevyn Aucoin Medium, MUFE 164, MUFE 165. Kevyn Aucoin Candlelight, MUFE 170.

Candlelight is more satiny and less pearly compared to what I had been using, MUFE 170. Also more beige in color. KA Medium is in between the two shades I had been mixing, but it applies and blurs in a much more pleasing way.

So here I am, concealer (A'Pieu Creamy Moist #2 & #5), foundation (Dolce & Gabbana Luminous Foundation) and a tiny bit of blush - just a whisper of it, really - (Rock & Republic Spank).

You've probably seen a 100 contour/highlight diagrams, but here's number 101.

I drew this for you.

Here's my face with both products applied. Part of my diagram is a lie, I tend to not really sweep any highlighter on my nose because as is, my pores there create an uneven texture that really catches the light (not to mention the oily gleam of a tzone with excess sebum). I'm fine with not drawing any more attention to that area of my face.

Both of these products are very smooth and silky. The matte Medium shade is more dry feeling than the creamier Candlelight, but you know how mattes are. I'm satisfied with how nicely Medium blends out, just the thing I needed to avoid harsh streaks.

Here's the thing: the shades in this duo are 2.5 grams each, so $25/5 grams, and full size products are $44/3 grams. See where I'm going with this? If Candlelight and Medium are shades you would pick for yourself, this duo is an incredible way to try two Kevyn Aucoin products for a great price. I actually am considering ordering a backup, and I don't usually do backups (Kose Softymo Speedy Cleansing Oil is a different story, we'll talk about it some other time).

Are you using anything currently to contour and highlight? Liquid, cream, powder, what's your pick?

The Kevyn Aucoin Contour Duo is $25 available exclusively from Sephora.