Contour Sticks and Bronzer Sticks

A stick bronzer or contour stick can enhance your natural beauty and give your face a whole new look. The product in the stick has a creamy, denser, lipstick-like consistency and gives you quick and precise application – allowing you to create precise facial contours. Plus, it’s far more practical for travelling than a powder, as it can’t shatter and end up all over your luggage.

What’s the difference between a bronzer and a contour stick?

Bronzers and contour sticks have a lot in common – they are both used to add dimension to the face. But if you’re after a specific effect, it’s good to know the differences between them.

Bronzer stick

• The main purpose of a bronzer is to illuminate your face and give it a healthy, tanned look.
• The colour of the bronzer is more of a warm shade with orange tones.
• You can also find matt bronzers, but most often a bronzer stick has a subtle gloss or shimmer finish to give a brightening effect.
• It’s best not to overdo it with the amount of bronzer you use. Apply a small amount around the cheekbones and to the top of the forehead or the tip of the chin. A little bronzer on the nose gives you a cute look. In short, it’s up to you, and which places you want to bring to life.

Contour stick

• A contour stick is designed to draw and highlight the contours of the face.
• It is designed to create shadows to accentuate the best parts of the face or camouflage imperfections.
• A good contour stick highlights the cheekbones, optically reduces the size of the forehead, and can even camouflage a double chin.
• A precision contour pen with a thin tip is ideal for optically narrowing the nose.
• The contour is meant to look like a shadow, so it usually has a cooler undertone and a matt finish.

How to use a contour stick

With a contour stick, you conjure up a shadow on the face, so apply it to the parts of the face you want to highlight and slim down. Typically, contours are painted on the forehead around the hairline, on the temples and under the cheekbones from the ears towards the mouth. To visually narrow the nose, apply contours along the sides of it. The contour line from the earlobes along the bottom edge of the chin can camouflage a double chin perfectly.

A cream contour stick is best worked in using a damp makeup sponge or a thick brush. The advantage of contour and bronzer sticks is the cream texture, which blends into the skin and looks more natural than the versions in loose powder. Don’t be afraid to use bronzer and contour sticks together to give your face both definition and a fresh tanned look at the same time.

How do I choose?

The best contour stick or bronzer should be no more than two shades darker than your skin. With contouring, it’s also worth taking the skin’s undertone into account:

• For cool skin tones (i.e. undertones that are more pink), a cool-toned contour stick should be used – i.e. a greyish tone rather than a rich brown or orange. Using too warm a contour shade can look unnatural and, at the worst, even dirty.
• For warm skin tones (with more yellow undertones), we recommend a contour stick in a “neutral” shade – neither too grey nor too orange. Too warm a shade doesn’t look natural, while too cold a shade can make you look unhealthy.

For both bronzer and contour, of course, even if the shade isn’t perfect, carefully blending and balancing the look with your other makeup will ensure that you still look great.

Find the best bronzer sticks and the best contour sticks for fair skin and dark shades at Notino! Do you prefer another type of application? Find all the forms and consistencies of bronzers and contouring products in our Bronzers category.

Tip: Also try a contouring palette with highlighter, contour and even a blusher in one convenient pack.