Adia Wilson KKW Contour
Over the last 10 years the Kardashian empire has continuously grown worldwide. From the popular reality show “Keeping up with the Kardashians” to hundreds of public appearances the Kardashians managed to build a brand off of their name. Thus, it was no surprise when Kim Kardashian launched her own cosmetics company, called KKW Beauty. The launch of KKW brought forth a great deal of criticism from the public as customers questioned whether the quality of the products were worth the brand’s steep prices. The KKW creme contour and highlight kit includes one dual ended contour stick, one dual ended highlight stick, and a dual ended blending brush with sponge applicator. This kit alone cost a whooping $48 and this does not include shipping and handling. The KKW Beauty line also released a powder version of the creme contour and highlight kit. This kit retails for $52. Both kits come in the shades light, medium and dark/deep dark.
For this review I used both the KKW creme and powder contour kits in the shade dark. After blending my favorite Too Faced foundation in the color Chestnut onto both my face and my neck, I used the KKW creme contour stick to add depth and dimension to my face. Using the lightest color provided on the dual ended highlight stick I highlighted the high points of my face (under eye, bridge of nose and chin). Right off the bat I noticed that the highlight color provided in the dark contour kit was significantly lighter than I would like. I usually use yellow tones such as caramel to highlight the high points of my face but the highlight color provided on the dual ended stick clearly had gray under tones. Despite this I proceeded to use this highlight stick and just as I suspected the color was surely too light. I looked like a corpse. Thus, to cancel out the dull ash tones that were on my face as a result of using the highlight stick, I placed my Anastasia Beverly Hills concealer in the shade 6.0 over each  highlighted area. The golden pigment of the ABH concealer successfully added life back to my face. After deciding that the beige highlight shade in the creme kit was surely a miss rather than a hit I proceeded to contour my cheeks and forehead with the lighter brown shade provided on the contour dual ended stick. This stick comes with a deep dark brown shade on one shade and a lighter brown shade on the other. While applying this contour I realized that I loved the consistency of the product. The stick glided on my skin smoothly and the color was just the right shade for my skin. Using the brush provided in the KKW kit, I buffed out my contour to perfection. Based on the color and the smooth application of the creme contour portion of the kit as oppose to the highlight portion I was surprisingly pleased with the results.
Lastly, I pulled out the powder contour kit in order to set my creme contour. The kit comes with two shimmery highlight shades (rose gold and golden chestnut), in addition to two matte contour shades (toasted almond and deep espresso). For this look I used the powder contour shade in toasted almond. I found this shade to be more warm toned as opposed to the deep espresso which had more of a cool gray undertone. As I stated previously gray tones are colors I like to steer very clear of. I used a fluffy contour brush from ELF to apply my powder contour to my cheeks, forehead and jawline. As soon as I placed the powder on my cheek, I knew Kim K did something right. The color was beautiful, it was warm and smooth. Toasted almond should have been named hot coco because the feeling you get when you drink the perfect cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter night is the blissful feeling I got applying this contour. To top off my look, I dug into to the shimmery highlight shade named golden chestnut and applied it to my cheeks, the tip of my nose and my cupids bow (top of lip).
Ultimately, I do like a number of aspects of the KKW Beauty contour kits. I am all here for the products consistency, the pigmentation and the sleek yet simply mauve pink packaging the products are shipped in. But, the price and under tones of some of the shades provided were slightly disappointing. I wish the creme highlight stick would have came in a color that was more golden than the pale beige color the company chose to go with. News flash Kim K, no woman of color has gray undertones so we need to do better. Nevertheless, aside from the minor mishaps in color choices, I did in fact love using the products and will continue to use them in my everyday makeup routine.

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