Tom Ford's Shade and Illuminate has been chosen by the Preview team as the Best Contour and Highlighter of 2019. This and 24 other products were reviewed by 25 real girls for this year's Preview Girls' Choice Awards to see if they truly deserved their title. Ahead, celebrity makeup artist Nikki Duque-Martinez gives us her thoughts on the product:
The Product: Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate
What It Is
Shade and Illuminate has a duo of creams for highlighting and contouring the face. The highlighter has a balm-like texture that draws light when applied onto the skin, while the deeper shade has a sheer finish that subtly sculpts the contours of the face. It comes in four shades, or "intensities" as they're called, to cater to different skin tones.
Current Condition
I love working with cream contour and highlighters, and I actually have the Shade and Illuminate in my professional makeup kit. I think all Tom Ford products look chic, and this product in particular is blendable and buildable, can be applied using your fingers and brushes, highly pigmented, and have no reddish undertones.
How I Used It
I use it after foundation to highlight in certain areas and to create shadows on the face. It's very easy to use, but I think it's better to use fingers to apply the highlighter and an angled brush for the contour. After that, I blend, blend, blend, and then set it with a little powder. Here's how I apply it on my client Andrea Torres:
Contouring the jaw
Contouring the cheekbones
Applying the highlighter
Check out the finished look below!
Final Thoughts
I'd definitely recommend this product. I use it all the time for work. The highlighter gives you a glass-like sheen without having huge specks of glitter. For the contour, it has a grayish undertone that's perfect for creating shadows. Overall, it's buildable, blendable, and highly pigmented!
*As told to Nicole Arcano
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