L.A. Girl Velvet Contour Sticks Review & Swatches

L.A. Girl Velvet Contour Sticks ($5 each at Lagirlcosmetics.com) are a brand new product designed to make contouring easy with twist-up stick packaging and a velvety cream formula that comes in highlight, blush and bronzer shades. I've come to expect great things from L.A. Girl so I didn't hesitate to grab 8 out of the 16 shades to try. Funny enough, despite these being called "contour sticks" I didn't pick up any of the bronze shades because I'm not all that into contouring (gasp!). But I did grab all three highlights (because I love me some highlighters) and five shades of blush. So let's take a look! 

The packaging on these is really cute! They're chubby twist-up sticks and the product itself is dome-shaped...much better for using on the contours of the face rather than a flat stick. They have a see-through cap so you can clearly see the shades, plus the outside of the tube closely matches the actual shade, making it easy to grab the one you want without having to look for the name.

The formula is so velvety and soft with jojoba seed oil, shea butter, cocoa seed butter, and grape seed oil. They're paraben-free and cruelty-free as well!  They glide on like butter with fantastic pigmentation and are such a dream to blend. Unlike other cream blushes I've tried that are a little drier, these won't leave weird streaks or lines...even a beginner can blend these out like a pro due to the creamy formula. They set to a soft, powdery finish that lasts all day on my dry skin. If you're oily, you may want to top these with a powder blush (or translucent powder) to give it extra staying powder. A lot of people I know who have oily skin don't always get along with cream blushes because they slide around too much. I can't say for sure that these will do that, but they're really creamy so it's a good possibility.

There are three highlighters, three bronzers, and ten blushes in the collection. I ended up getting all three highlights and five blushes.

Let's start with the highlighters...

Cashmere is a matte highlighter which is great if you want to brighten areas of your face (especially around the eyes) without shimmer. I also use this as an eyeshadow base and it works wonderfully for that.
Luminous is a warmer golden highlight, while Radiance is a cooler champagne highlight. Both are shimmery, but not sparkly or glittery.

The blushes I got were mostly mattes with one very shimmery shade and one with more subtle shimmer.

Snuggle (pale peachy pink matte) and Dreamy (light pink matte) are so perfect for fair to light skin tones. They're soft, pretty shades with a matte finish.
Glimmer is pink with gold shimmer and leaves your cheeks looking luminous. I skip highlighter completely when I use this shade.
My Bae (pinky coral with a little shimmer) and Plume (cool-toned pink matte) looked dark when I first swatched them, but I realized that they can be easily sheered out to work really well on my light skin.

Overall, I'm really loving the L.A. Girl Velvet Contour Sticks! The color range is impressive and I think everyone will be able to find a shade to suit them. Plus, the stick format and easy blendability makes these a snap to use on the go or when you're pressed for time. At $5 a pop, these are a great budget-friendly find that I would definitely recommend picking up! 

You can find these at Lagirlcosmetics.com