All products featured on Allure are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
When we want to intensify the definition of our jawline and cheekbones (without clearly looking drawn on), we whip out the best contour kits. Unlike warmer-toned bronzers, contour kits contain cooler-toned pigments to mimic the natural shading on your face, creating a more sculpted, lifted appearance. These makeup bag staples do come in singles, but the beauty of grabbing a kit is that they come with varying colors (and, sometimes, finishes) for shading different areas of the face to create a more realistic effect. Our editors did the heavy lifting (testing) for you, so all you have to do is read through our all-time favorite contouring palettes and duos.
Our Top Picks
- Best Overall: Danessa Myricks Beauty Groundwork Palette: Defining Neutrals, $65
- Best Duo: Patrick Ta Major Sculpt Crème Contour & Powder Bronzer Duo, $42
- Best for Travel: Rodin Shading Too Cool for School ArtClass, $14
- Best Powder: Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Powder Kit, $40
- Best Cream: Tom Ford Shade & Illuminate Cream Contour Duo, $95
- Best Matte: KVD Beauty Shade+Light Refillable Face Contour Palette, $53
- Best Cool-Toned Shades: Kevyn Aucoin The Contour Book, $64
Frequently Asked Questions
- What’s the difference between contour and bronzer?
- How should I apply contour?
- Meet the experts
- How we test and review products
- Our staff and testers
Best Overall: Danessa Myricks Groundwork: Defining Neutrals Palette
Why it's worth it: The versatility of the Danessa Myricks Groundwork Palette: Defining Neutrals palette is what makes this contouring palette our top pick. This stacked set includes 10 cream-based shades (alongside their matching mini pressed powders) for endless chiseled looks. Each matte-finish shade, whether you decide to use its cream or powder variations (or both layered together for all the drama), can be used not only for contouring but as an eye shadow, brow powder or pomade, and lip color—it’s truly the Swiss army knife of makeup palettes. To keep mid-day greasiness at bay, each velvety shade is infused with upsalite, an oil-absorbing powder that provides mattifying relief for oily skin types.
Tester feedback: “No matter what look I’m going for with my makeup routine, I’m always whipping out the Danessa Myricks Groundwork Palette: Defining Neutrals,” says commerce writer Jennifer Hussein. “It literally covers my contouring bases with its buildable matte shades that blend effortlessly for a natural-looking finish. Even if I’m not wearing contour, I’ll always use the cool-toned brown shade, Chiseled, as a subtle base for my eye shadow looks.”
Shade options: 1 | Shades per compact: 20 (10 cream, 10 powder) | Finish: matte
Best Duo: Patrick Ta Major Sculpt Crème Contour & Powder Bronzer Duo
Why it's worth it: We’ve been swiping on Patrick Ta’s Best of Beauty-winning Major Sculpt Creme Contour & Powder Bronzer Duo from the moment it launched because its buttery, cool-toned shades act as both bronze and contour (which are two different things!). "A lot of bronzers on the market are very orange or warm-toned, so I wanted to create products that gave that sculpting effect without looking too gray or orange,” Ta says of the Major Sculpt duos. He certainly bridged the gap between contouring and bronzing with five colorways, each featuring a blendable, matte cream contour alongside a luminous, shimmer-speckled powder bronzer.
Tester feedback: “I'm always weary about contour palettes because there's always one or two shades in it that don't work for my skin tone,” says market editor Angela Trakoshis. “With the Patrick Ta Major Sculpt Crème Contour & Powder Bronzer Duo, I don't run into that problem because it's only one shade but two very different formulas (a cream and a powder.) For application, I use shade She's Sculpted and start with the cream and set it into place with the powder in all the places I want to look, well, sculpted.”
Shade options: 5 | Shades per compact: 2 | Finish: matte (cream), luminous (powder)
Best for Travel: Rodin Shading Too Cool for School ArtClass
Why it's worth it: Rodin Shading's Too Cool for School ArtClass is a K-beauty phenomenon that features three powder contour shades in one travel-friendly compact, but that’s not the only reason our editors love it. Available in two colorways, this true-matte contour compact presents three powder-based shades to target different areas but you can blend or layer the shades together to create a more dramatic effect. The subtle powder shades are way more forgiving than creamy options, making this a great pick for contouring beginners.
Tester feedback: “My contouring skills are not totally refined yet but I’m a sucker for some facial sculpting. I usually stick to contour sticks but Too Cool For School’s powder trio is impossible to miss if you’re into K-beauty—it’s everywhere, including many a Korean influencer,” says Allure commerce editor Sarah Han. “I chose the lighter palette, Modern, because I had a feeling the powders would be pigmented—and I was right. The middle and deeper shades look low-key but you want to start off with a light touch and build up to your desired finish. It gives my cheekbones natural definition, adds color back to my pale winter complexion, and feels like nothing on the skin, which is exactly what I’m looking for in a contour.”
Shade options: 2 | Shades per compact: 3 | Finish: matte
More contour kits we love:
Best Powder: Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Powder Kit
Why it's worth it: Anastasia Beverly Hills’s Contour Powder Kit has been a tried-and-true palette for over a decade. This palette features three powder-based shades for shading and three for highlighting. Each color has a soft-matte finish and slightly warmer tones than most contour products to create a sunkissed, bronzed effect, while the shimmery highlighters brighten the high points of your face for a multi-dimensional look.
Shade options: 1 | Shades per compact: 6 | Finish: matte (bronzer), shimmery (highlighter)
Best Cream: Tom Ford Shade & Illuminate Cream Contour Duo
Why it's worth it: We love the creamy textures and dewy finishes in Tom Ford’s Shade & Illuminate Cream Contour Duo. Each palette comes with two radiant-finish, cream-based shades: a satin-finish brown for contouring and a luminous, pearlescent color for highlighting. "I love this one because it comes in four shades, so there's more than just one option," says New York City-based makeup artist Julianna Grogan.
Shade options: 4 | Shades per compact: 2 | Finish: radiant
Best Matte: KVD Beauty Shade+Light Refillable Face Contour Palette
Why it's worth it: If you want a long-wearing, no-budge contour, KVD Beauty’s Shade+Light Refillable Face Contour Palette is best for the job. When you first purchase it, this palette comes with six true-matte shades (three for contouring and three for brightening, not highlighting). “This is my go-to contour and highlight palette because it is refillable and has multiple shades of both contour and highlight,” says New York City-based makeup artist Kasey Spickard, adding that the versatility of the shades and amount of product per palette equate to a pretty awesome value. “These also allow you to blend a custom contour and highlight color for your skin tone,” he adds.
Shade options: 1 (refillable) | Shades per compact: 6 | Finish: matte
Best Cool-Toned Shades: Kevyn Aucoin The Contour Book
Why it's worth it: If you want to ditch bronzer entirely (we get it, they can be a little too orange) but still want a sculpted look, try Kevyn Aucoin’s The Contour Book. "It's cool-toned, which is perfect for creating a shadow effect, rather than a bronzer which is warm-toned and won't look as subtle," says Grogan. This palette features three of the brand’s cool-toned Sculpting Powders, which are made specifically for mimicking the shadows along your face, alongside two sparkly highlighter shades and a radiant-finish, multi-toned blush that’s bound to catch eyes.
Shade options: 1 | Shades per compact: 6 (3 contour, 2 highlighters, 1 blush) | Finish: matte (contour), radiant (highlighters and blush)
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between contour and bronzer?
Contouring products focus on enhancing the shadows and angles along your face while bronzers provide warmth to your skin tone for a tanned effect. "Contouring is about shaping and defining the structure of the face, while bronzing is about warming up the skin where the sun would naturally hit," says Daniel Martin, a New York City-based makeup artist. A key difference between contour products and bronzers are their finishes and undertones: Contour products are almost always cool-toned and matte to imitate your natural shadows, whereas bronzers lean warmer and can be matte, shimmery, or everything in between.
How should I apply contour?
We have fully-baked guides and video tutorials on how to apply contour, but here’s the gist. For your cheekbones, you’ll want to apply just within your hollows. Don’t know where that is? Suck in your cheeks. "It's the best way to find the hollows," says Troy Surratt, a New York City-based makeup artist. Working from the tops of the hollows inward, shade along and just beneath the area, stopping about an inch from the corner of your mouth, then blend well with your finger, contour brush, or a sponge. To define your nose, blend two lines of your preferred contour shade from the start of your brows down the sides of the bridge of your nose with a small contour or shadow brush.
Contouring isn’t a one-size-fits-all technique, as your face shape can impact where you should be applying it. For example, if you have a round face, contouring under your cheekbones can make it appear smaller, but those with a narrow face can make it look even longer with cheekbone contour. To avoid looking gaunt, New York City-based makeup artist Ashleigh Ciucci recommends that those with already angular faces be more weary with their application. "Shade along the top of the forehead and a bit on the chin," she says, noting this will create a more rounded effect.
Meet the experts
- Julianna Grogan, a makeup artist based in New York City
- Kasey Spickard, a makeup artist based in New York City
- Daniel Martin, a New York City-based makeup artist and global director of artistry and education at Tatcha
- Troy Surratt, a New York City-based makeup artist and founder of Surratt
- Ashleigh Ciucci, a New York City-based makeup artist
How we test and review products
Before reviewing any makeup, we ask questions about a number of factors: What ingredients are in it? Does the brand offer a wide shade range inclusive of consumers with all skin tones and undertones? Is it safe for readers who have sensitive skin or wear contact lenses? Is it on the affordable side or more of a splurge? Is its packaging consciously designed or needlessly wasteful?
For our review of the best contour kits, we enlisted the help of multiple editors, writers, contributors, and professional makeup artists to review the products. This ensures our testing base spans different skin tones, genders, and dermatological conditions. We considered each product's performance across four primary categories: ingredients, wear and longevity, packaging, and inclusivity. For more on what's involved in our reporting, check out our complete reviews process and methodology page.
Our staff and testers
A beauty product is a personal purchase. You might be searching for a face cream to address persistent dryness or a new nail product to add to your Sunday self-care routine; you may simply be browsing around for the latest launches to hit the hair market. No matter what you seek or your individual needs and concerns, Allure wants to ensure that you love anything we recommend in our stories. We believe that having a diverse team of writers and editors—in addition to the wide range of outside testers and industry experts we regularly call upon—is essential to reaching that goal.
After all, can we really say a skin-care product is the "best" for people over 50 if the only testers we've solicited opinions from folks who have yet to hit 30? Can we honestly deem a high-end diffuser worthy of your hard-earned cash if it's never been tested on curls? We're proud that our staff spans a wide range of ages, skin tones, hair textures, genders, and backgrounds, which means that we are able to fairly assess any beauty product that comes into the beauty closet.
Check out more Allure-approved makeup bag essentials:
- These Freckle Pens Create a Sunkissed Look, No Damage Required
- 9 Best Gel Eyeliners That Won't Fade by Midday
- These Foundations Are Airbrushed Skin in a Bottle
Now, watch Kiki Palmer's honest takes on TikTok-viral beauty trends:
Shop all of our latest obsessions in one place! And don't forget to follow Allure on Instagram and TikTok—or subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on all things beauty.
