The best contour kits you can buy

The NYX Highlight & Contour Pro Palette is an affordable kit that covers the bases with eight contouring and highlighting shades.

The NYX Highlight & Contour Pro Palette is an incredible value — eight contour and highlight powders for just $25.

Most of the powders are completely matte, making them easy to match and blend together for your unique skin tone match. The round pans are also removable so you can refill the palette whenever you run out of the shades you use most often — just swap in the replacements and keep on doing your makeup.

The palette doesn't come with its own brush or mirror so you'll need to stash both in your makeup bag, and some shoppers said they wished the highlighter shades were shimmery. That being said, $25 for a packed palette like this is still a great value.

"This is definitely my go-to contour palette. I am more comfortable blending powders than creams for contour and this is so warm and blendable. I just wish the highlight shades were more blinding," writes one Ulta shopper.

The palette has been named a top pick by editors at Stylecraze, Best Products, and Allure and has a 4.3 star rating on Ulta based on more than 760 reviews.

Pros: refillable, affordable, eight shades, mostly matte, vegan and cruelty-free

Cons: some reviewers say the highlighters are very subtle

The Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow Contour Duo is a luxurious pick that's great for beginners and pros alike, with two large pans of contour and highlight powders in gorgeous packaging.

Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow Contour Duo is the least complicated contour palette you can buy. It comes with a bronzing contour powder and soft, shimmery highlighter, all wrapped up in gorgeous rose gold packaging. This is a pricey item at $68, but the pans are huge compared to other contour kits and the color payoff is stunning.

Some contour kits (including ones in this guide) are matte, which provide realistic definition but can lack glamour. Both the contouring and highlighting shades in this palette from Charlotte Tilbury have a super-shimmery finish that "makes you look like you actually have good, glowy skin," writes a Sephora shopper.

The palette comes in two color stories to suit a variety of skin tones — Light/Medium and Medium/Dark. A few reviewers do note that the deeper palette is still not deep enough for some skin tones, so keep that in mind and seek out reviews from shoppers with similar complexions if that's an issue.

Overall, the product has a 4.5 average rating based on more than 100 reviews, and has been featured on Elle UK and PopSugar.

Pros: large pan size, two color options, beautiful highlighter

Cons: expensive, contour shade isn't totally matte

The Fenty Beauty Match Stix Trio is a curated trio of concealer, contour, and highlighter so there's no need to guess your shade.

The pre-bundled Fenty Beauty Match Stix Trio eliminates all the guesswork, giving you exactly what you need for defined cheekbones without any of the extras. If you don't want to mess with multiple powders you might not use, this is a great streamlined option.

Each trio comes two Match Stix Matte Skinsticks for contouring and concealing, and one Match Stix Shimmer Skinstick shade for highlighting. The sticks are magnetized so they can nestle together for storage and be found easier when they're dumped into your makeup bag.

Since its inception, Fenty Beauty has championed inclusivity in its shade range. But if you don't find your particular contour, concealer, and highlighter combo in the five curated trios, you can buy each one individually for your own custom kit.

The cream-to-powder formula is really blendable and long-lasting, and Byrdie editors call this the best contour kit overall. Sephora shoppers give the product 4.1 stars based on more than 1,300 reviews. "They glide on and are so easily blended with a brush," writes one shopper.

Pros: pre-bundled options for different skin tones, magnetized packaging, cruelty-free

Cons: trios are not customizable,

The NARS Contour Blush gives you razor-sharp cheekbones in the palm of your hand with two matte contouring powders.

NARS makes some beautiful cheek products — I'm a big fan of the iconic Laguna Bronzer, several of its blushes, and now, this travel-friendly Contour Blush palette. If you need a basic matte contouring kit small enough to toss in a purse, this is it.

This palette comes in five shades, so it's great for a variety of skin tones. Each compact features a deep shade for contouring and bronzing, and a lighter one for highlighting. Both shades are completely matte, so if you want a blinding highlight, you won't find it here. But for a more subtle look, these powders are soft, buildable, and versatile for everyday use.

The palette has an average 4.5 rating on the review platform Influenster based on more than 400 reviews and has been featured on Allure.

Pros: travel-sized, matte finish provides natural highlight and contour, five shades for different skin tones, talc-free

Cons: highlighter side is much smaller, expensive, doesn't come with brush

Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit ($40): This is a makeup-artist favorite with three contour shades, matte and shimmery highlighters, and a popular yellow-tinted powder. While it's highly rated, it's constantly sold out online, and the pan refills, one of the major draws for this palette IMO, are hard to find online as well.

E.l.f. Cosmetics Contour Palette ($6): While it doesn't have as many shades as our top drugstore pick, this is a super-affordable and easy-to-use pick for beginners who don't want to splurge. There's also a cream version of this same palette, though some Amazon reviewers say not all the shades blend smoothly.