Battle of the Contour Palettes: Anastasia Beverly Hills vs it Cosmetics (review)

There aren't too many complete contour palettes out there, especially ones easily available in places like Sephora and Ulta, so i wanted to review two of the most recognized ones; the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit and the it Cosmetics My Sculpted Face Kit.


I'm still never sure of the best format to use for comparison reviews so let me know what you guys prefer :) 

Packaging

it Cosmetics: 1/5

• I'm really not a fan of the packaging on this one, i think they made it look really cheap and amateurish. The image that they use on the front, back and plastic liner is super pixelated and the fonts they used are really tacky in my opinion. 
• Stiff cardboard palette with strong magnet closure.
• I do appreciate that they showed the colors contained in the kit on the front but they are also not accurate at all so turn out to be pretty pointless. 
• On the back of the palette it tells you (very loosely) how to use the kit but i think it gives a lot of room for error stating that you can use a matte or shimmer highlighter on places you'd like to maximize, i just get visions of very sparkly people walking around. 
• It does have two little mirrors on the inside "page" which i do appreciate but i think would've been better with just one large one instead of a regular and magnifying mirror. I feel like contouring is very much an over-all look and not a magnified, super-precise one.

Anastasia: 4/5

• The packaging on this one is much more sleek and clean. All black with a simple logo print on the front. It does come with a full brochure on how to use the products in great detail with pictures.
• Again, a stiff cardboard palette. I don't fully recall if it has a magnet closure but it DOES have a sleeve you can slip over the palette to keep it all safe for travel/ storage.
• The pans are removable and refills will be available on the ABH site at some point in the future. Not only is it nice so you can refill your favorites but you can also remove them and put them in a z palette for travel if you're trying to condense everything.
• No mirror on this one which i think is really the only thing its missing. 

Product and color selection

it Cosmetics: 3.5/5

• I believe each pan comes with .09oz of product for $38 total.
• 4 matte contour shades and 1 shimmer highlight and 1 matte highlight.
• The shimmer shade is amazing but VERY shimmery. Definitely a pure white, icy shade and perfect for highlighting the eyes, too.
• I think they'd have been better varying the contour shades and making one of them a more champagne/yellow matte highlight. 
• The contour colors are well pigmented and easy to work with but the centre two colors are too similar in my opinion and i think its missing a true, taupe contour for pale people. 
• I do appreciate the very deep brown it comes with because i think a lot of kits don't allow for very dark skinned people.
• The matte white comes across very sheer and would be far too sheer and icy for darker skin tones. Its also hard to work with and you need to keep going back in with your brush.

Anastasia: 4/5

• Each pan comes with .11oz of product for $40 total.
• 3 matte contour shades, 2 matte highlight shades and 1 shimmer highlight shade.
• The matte, eggshell highlight is perfect for fairer skinned people and the matte, yellow highlight will be better for darker skin tones to achieve that Kim K look. Using a mixture of the two matte highlighters is beautiful.
• The shimmer highlight color is a champagne shade so more universal than icy white. Really beautiful and easy to wear.
• All colors are well pigmented and a LOT of product comes off on the brush. Super easy to apply and blend.
• Great selection of contour colors but perhaps could use a darker shade for deep skin tones, i've yet to try it on very dark skin.
• The darkest contour shade is really nice for a deep bronzed look.

(l-r: Anastasia shimmer highlight vs it Cosmetics shimmer highlight)

(l-r: Anastasia matte highlight X2 vs it Cosmetics matte highlight)

(top-bottom: Anastasia contour shades)

(l-r: it Cosmetics contour shades)

Overall

I think i'd always prefer and recommend the ABH contour palette over the it Cosmetics one unless the it Cosmetics one happens to have the perfect colors for your skin tone (which i think is probably quite rare). 

The only things i prefer about the it Cosmetics one is the shimmer highlight is perfect for extreme cheek highlighting and eyes, and the mirror in the lid.

The ABH colors just seem to be better thought out and well developed. The kit is much sleeker and more user-friendly. The it Cosmetics one just seems a little thrown together to me.

Anastasia wins this one!

Anastasia.net

itCosmetics.com

Labels anastasia beverly hills battle comparison contour contour kit cruelty free highlight it cosmetics my sculpted face review rhian hy wifelife