Maybelline Master Contour Compact Review & Swatches

Maybelline Master Contour Compact by Face Studio ($12.99) is new contouring trio that launched with the Maybelline Spring 2016 Collection that includes a highlighter, blush, and contour powder.

Beauty trends come and go but the contouring and liquid lipstick one seems here to stay. The beauty world seems dominated by one of two things lately, contouring palettes or liquid lipsticks!

Now drugstore brands are in on the act releasing their own variations of contouring palettes (and liquid lipsticks).

Let’s take a peek at the Maybelline Master Contour Compact by Face Studio and see what the word is.

The Maybelline Master Contour Compact comes in two shade variations of either Light to Medium or Medium to Deep. Each compact comes with three shades, a brush, and a small diagram located on the back of the compact with instructions for color placement.

I’m guilty of purchasing the Medium to Deep shade because I liked the blush shade in this trio versus the one in the Light to Medium compact. Obviously, this isn’t the correct color selection (aside from the blush) for my skin tone. I do wonder how many people will find an exact perfect match with only two contouring shades to select from but I guess if you’re in for a quickie contouring job the compact might do the trick.

Maybelline Master Contour Compact Swatches

I don’t claim to be any expert at contouring so I’ll talk more about the formula here versus the application technique. Since this is only a trio you might feel a little limited as you’d think you might want at least one more lighter contouring shade to work but sadly it only has the one.

My compact and many of the compacts in the display had issues with the pans of powder falling out (as seen in the photo) below. This isn’t an issue if you depot everything as you’ll be happy to know these pop out easily. However, if you’re like me and keep items in their original packaging this is irritating and may lead to breakage.

Both the highlighter and blush are SUPER frosty and shimmery. They both tend to accentuate dryness and likely visible pores if you have them. The colors also tend to sheer out during application and fade fast with a very powdery texture. The bronzer or contouring shade is a bit denser and drier. It applies fairly well with good pigmentation and blends easily enough but also fades rather quickly at about five hours of wear.

The brush in this compact is quite useless. It’s a smaller brush that you really won’t be able to use as a contouring brush or even to apply the brush. It’s a bit denser, scratchy, and just really small. I can’t see the point of even including it.

Like I said, I’m no expert at contouring but the Maybelline Master Contour Compact gets a lukewarm review from me. I wasn’t particularly impressed with it and think it does have limitations in regards to the color selection.

Will you be trying it out?

The Maybelline Master Contour Compact is launching in drugstores now or it is available at drugstore.com.