I never thought there would come a day in my life where I decided to start cream contouring my own face. I just didn’t think it was for me and I honestly didn’t think I would ever be capable to even get that contour right. Therefore I always stuck to my powder bronzers and just went to town with those. However, when I kept seeing very positive reviews on the Fenty Beauty Match Stix I got curious. I loved the way it looked on those people and I ended up wanting to try it for myself as well. So, I ended up ordering the Fenty Beauty Match Stixx Matte Skinstick in the shade Amber and after trying it out for quite some time it’s time for the review. If you’re interested in finding out more about this product, make sure you continue reading!
First things first, the packaging. Like all other Fenty Beauty products I think the packaging looks just amazing. Even the cardboard box it comes in is really pretty. The Match Stix itself comes in a pinky toned component that has a hexagon shape. It’s actually magnetic zo if you have more of these Match Stix you can stack them on top of each other, but if you just have one that’s not really an important aspect. The packaging doesn’t feel too hefty so that doesn’t add to the luxury feel, but aside from that I really like the packaging. It’s just very sleek and unique and definitely something different. I like it.
Just like in the foundation, these Match Stix come in many, many colours. There are 20 different shades ranging from very pale to darker tones. Since I was interested in using one of the Skin Stix as a contour product I decided to buy a shade in the medium-toned shade range, which ended up being the shade Amber. This is, for me, the perfect contour colour because it is quite cool toned and not extremely dark. It’s basically what everything I look for in a contour shade.
Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Match Stix Matte Skinstick in Amber – €24/£21
Like I said I was intending on using the Match Stix as a contour, but that isn’t the only purpose you can use it for. These sticks are actually very multifunctional. You can buy a very pale shade to highlight the face with, you can use them as a concealer and you can use them as a contour. Now that I’m thinking of it you could possibly use them as a foundation as well, even though I don’t think it has the ideal texture to be a foundation. Because the stick itself is pretty thick I don’t think it’s ideal for concealer either -and according to the reviews I read and watched the texture is not ideal for that as well- so I think contouring or highlighting is the way to go with these sticks. But that’s just my personal opinion.
Having said that, let’s go through the claims and see whether Rihanna is telling us the truth here or not. According to Rihanna these Fenty Beauty Match Stix are sticks that come together in two light-as-air finishes and a shade line up to satisfy your every need. The matte skinsticks concealer, correct and contour and the shimmer skinsticks highlight, blush and enhance so you can mix and match.
The matte skinsticks are made to layer, are weightless and super easy to blend. They also stay put, are ultra smooth and melt at first touch to a buildable, powder soft finish. No creasing and caking, so even the delicate under eye area is fair game.
Overall the claims do sound pretty promising, but also a little vague in my opinion. But what I understand from it is that this product is going to be ligthweight, very easy to apply, buildable and have a soft powder finish. So it’s one of those cream-to-powder kind of products. That does sound very nice. I also really like the fact that it’s supposed to be buildable because that probably means it’s not going to be to heavy at first and for a contour-noob that’s just great. That made me feel more sure about using this product.
Okay, but are the claims true? Even though I think brands always exaggerate a bit when it comes to their claims I do agree with what Rihanna is saying about this product overall. Let’s start talking about the texture shall we, one of the most important parts of a cream contour in my opinion.
Because I’ve never been that into contouring I never had much expectations or requirements for my contour products, which means that I didn’t really have something this product should do in order for me to like it. What I do think is important is that it’s very easy to blend and that it’s not too thick. Luckily this product fulfils both of those requirements. The product has a very light texture, you actually can’t feel it on the skin and that’s just great. Because of that it doesn’t feel like you’re packing butter onto your face and therefore it’s much more comfortable to wear and much less cakey looking.
Pigmentation wise this definitely is a great product for starters. It’s very settle if you apply just one light layer of product and therefore you won’t go overboard with it too easily. I do think that if you really want a stronger contour this product might not be perfect for you. Of course you can build it up and that does work perfectly fine, but if this is way to settle for you than I think building up would be too time consuming and you’d be better off using something that isn’t as settle as this is. But for me this is absolutely perfect. I really like the intensity of the contour.
Another big plus about this product is how easy it blends. I always felt a little unsure about cream contouring mainly because of my fear for not blending it out good enough and ending up with two big lines on both sides of my face and along my jawline. Luckily that is pretty much impossible with this product. It literally takes no effort at all to blend this product into the skin and create that smooth and natural looking contour. Even for beginners this product is really easy to use!
Because of the cream-to-powder finish there’s no need to set this contour. Because I like using it straight onto my foundation, without powdering in between, I do end up setting it along with the rest of my face, but in theory that isn’t needed. When it’s all blended in it acts like it’s a powder and because of that it stays in place very well and doesn’t start slipping and sliding everywhere throughout the day.
Overall I’m pretty dang impressed by this Fenty Beauty Match Stix in Amber. I have never been into contouring ever before, but thanks to this product I’ve actually grown to love it. I love how easy this product is to use, I love how settle it can look but I also really like the fact that it’s buildable. In my opinion it’s the perfect contour stick for anyone who’s just starting off with contouring, but you can definitely love it if you’re already a contour-pro as well!
And that’s pretty much it for today. I hope you enjoyed reading today’s post and be sure to let me know if you’ve already tried some of the Fenty Beauty products and if so, let me know how you like them!
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