The cosmetics industry has been notorious for lacking diversity and offering limited shade ranges that don’t meet the needs of darker skin tones. Contour palettes in particular can be extra difficult to find for deeper skin, which is one of the reasons why Black Radiance developed their beauty products specifically to celebrate and empower people of color.
The True Complexion Contour Palette by Black Radiance is a top-rated pressed powder contour option that’s good for both contour beginners and experts alike due to its highly pigmented and blendable formula.
What to know before buying a Black Radiance contour palette
What is contour?
Contouring can be a useful makeup technique to help create the illusion of slimmer, more defined or sculpted features. It utilizes the darkening and lightening of different areas of the face to provide a flattering appearance and accentuate bone structure.
Palette shades
When choosing a contour palette, it’s important to find the right shade to match your skin tone. This will help you avoid an ashy contour, an overly orange tone for sculpting and an excessively yellow tone for highlight shades.
Because Black Radiance is dedicated to shade options specifically for darker skin tones, they offer their contour palettes in three options to suit various melanated under and overtones: Light to Medium, Medium to Dark and Dark to Deep.
Face shape
Your unique face shape will determine how to contour your face and how to achieve a contour that’s most flattering for your specific features:
Round: The darkest shade should be applied on the sides of the cheekbones, along the jawline and at the temples to create a square or more defined appearance. Blend the lightest shade on the center of the forehead and middle of the chin.
Heart: Place the darkest contour along the temples and forehead and at the small part of the chin to create a better balance between the top and bottom part of the face. The lightest shade should be placed just above the dark spot on the chin.
Square: To soften sharp angles, apply the dark contour under the cheekbones pointing towards the direction of the chin and on the sides of the forehead. Highlight underneath eyes, the center of the forehead and the chin.
Oblong: Focus the dark contour shade on the top part of the forehead to shorten its appearance, along with the sides of the jaw to increase definition. Highlight the inner part of the cheeks closest to the nose.
Oval: Contour just below the cheekbones in a sideways triangular shape to emphasize their appearance. Highlight just beneath the eyes with an inverted triangle.
Triangular: Create the illusion of a more balanced face shape by applying the contour around the entire top of the forehead until just below the sides of the cheekbones.
Use the medium sculpting shade of the palettes to help blend between the dark contour and the highlight areas for a natural transition. It’s best to use makeup brushes or a beauty blender when applying and blending your contour for the most seamless appearance.
Black Radiance contour palette features
Highlight palette
In addition to contour palettes, Black Radiance recently developed a highlight palette called the True Complexion Illuminous Glow Highlight palette in three different shades. These are highly pigmented powders with a creamy soft texture intended to highlight high points of the face like the cheekbones, brow bones, cupid’s bow and inner corners of the eye. These can be applied wet or dry and are highly reflective to catch the light.
Beneficial ingredients
The formulations of the Black Radiance contour palettes are fairly straightforward, though there are some beneficial ingredients:
Sunflower seed oil: Can act as a skin barrier against toxins and germs.
Avocado oil: High in beneficial fats and vitamins E and C to protect the skin.
Watermelon seed oil: Can help restore the elasticity of the skin and help to moisturize.
Coco-glycerides: Nourishes skin and provides essential nutrients that are readily absorbed into the skin and may additionally provide antibacterial properties.
Cream and powder
The Black Radiance contour palettes are offered in both pressed powder and cream options, each with its own benefits. Cream contour can often have a more natural appearance and be easier to blend than a powder contour while additionally providing a more dewy finish. Creams, however, shouldn’t be placed on top of powder products as they can cause patchiness.
Powder contour on the other hand is well suited to be used on top of cream or liquid products and may even be used to set cream contour or accentuate their appearance. They create more of a matte finish and provide a buffed, airbrushed appearance.
Black Radiance contour palette cost
The price of a Black Radiance contour palette will range between $8-$19. The less expensive palettes will usually contain three shades while the palettes on the higher end contain blush and eyeshadow shades in addition to contour.
Black Radiance contour palette FAQ
How do I know if a cream or powder option would be better for me?
A. Typically, if you have a more oily skin type or use only a powder foundation, it might be best to choose a powder option and vice versa. More dry skin types would be better suited for a cream contour, as their formulation tends to be more moisturizing.
When should I replace my contour palette?
A. Pressed powder contour palettes last around 2 years; however, cream contour palettes should be replaced after about 12 months.
What Black Radiance contour palette should I get?
Best of the best Black Radiance contour palette
True Complexion Contour Palette: available at Amazon
Our take: A highly pigmented palette that contains three different pressed powder shades to achieve an entire face contour, offered for three different skin tones.
What we like: In addition to being pigmented, each shade is highly blendable and layers well over any product. The shades are non-comedogenic and won’t leave an ashy appearance on the skin.
What we dislike: Some users say the highlight shade in the light to medium highlight was too dark.
Best bang for the buck Black Radiance contour palette
Black Radiance Bold and Sexy Palette: available at Amazon
Our take: An all-in-one 18-pan palette that features eyeshadow, blush, highlight and contour shades for a comprehensive makeup routine.
What we like: This palette offers a good mixture of earthy toned and neutral eyeshadows along with high shine metallics. All shades are very pigmented with little dust fall out and satin textures that can be used both wet and dry.
What we dislike: The contour and highlight shades in this palette might not suit all skin tones.
Honorable mention Black Radiance contour palette
True Complexion Creme Contour Palette: available at Amazon
Our take: A blendable, silky cream contour palette that features three shades to achieve definition and highlighted features with a dewy finish.
What we like: The shades in this palette are smooth, rich and buildable to customize the level of contour and chiseled effect that you are wanting to achieve. Includes an easy-to-follow contour guide.
What we dislike: Some users say these shades are too sheer.
Tessa Flores is a writer for BestReviews. BestReviews is a product review company with a singular mission: to help simplify your purchasing decisions and save you time and money.
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