Product Review: EM Cosmetics Chiaroscuro Stick (Highlighter and Contour Stick)

Living in the Philippines, there are some advantages and disadvantages. Advantages would be, close family ties, great beaches, great food, inexpensive gimmick places, and sooo much more! Disadvantages, well, there are also a lot, but let me focus on what I personally think is a major disadvantage when it comes to doing things that I love. Makeup.

It takes a couple of months and sometimes years to get Western products into my country. Good thing, there are entrepreneurs here who purchase these hard to get items online and sell it to us, hungry fans. Sometimes, if you stumble upon websites that has international shipping, you do the shopping yourself and wait for ages to get the items you ordered online, if at all the package will arrive at your doorsteps. Most of the time, the cost triples because of the shipping fee and the customs taxes. But hey, you got what you always wanted right?

I have been a big fan and a subscriber of one of YouTube's superstar, Michelle Phan. Phan is a Vietnamese that was born in the United States. She first started her makeup channel using just her laptop's built in camera and things just started to grow from there. She is now a multi millionaire who co-owns her own makeup line, EM alongside some of her businesses like the IPSY Glam bag, a monthly beauty subscription bag.

Since its launching about 2-3 years ago, I had been salivating over her product line. It is quite expensive but I heard that it really gives you value for money. At the moment, EM Cosmetics does not directly ship to my country, but by partnering with MyUS.com, things aren't too impossible anymore. However, it would cost me too much money to be sending a $50.00 worth of makeup.

Good thing that I have a very good friend that stays in the US, I asked her if she could buy me EM products and send them to me via USPS. Or you can opt to buy from your local Instagram merchant, I got my EM Life Palette (Career Life) from Summersbeautyonlineshop for Php3,000.00 only.

Anyway, enough about my blabbering, here's my take on the EM Cosmetics Chiaroscuro Stick.


The Chiaroscuro Stick (Contour and Highlight Stick). We all know that Michelle is currently in a relationship with a half-Italian, half- Swiss/Austrian model, Dominique Capraro. To narrow the gap between two languages, she probably started studying the Italian language and eventually came across the word Chiaroscuro (Kee-a-ros-ku-roh) which is the Italian term for light-dark.

This product retails $24.00 USD or Php1,080.00. Quite expensive for a contour and highlight stick, but let us see if it's worth the price.

PACKAGING:
3 out of 5 stars
EM cosmetics' packaging is very simple. White and a Monochrome badge for a label. It was supposed to look sophisticated and elegant, but I quite honestly think that Michelle, knowing her very creative style, would've and should've at least harnessed all her creativeness and put some life into her product line.

The contour and highlight stick is housed in a steel tube painted in white. It is double ended, one being the contour shade and the other the highlighter. There is no indication outside the packaging which side is for contour and which side is for highlighting, so you have to remove the cap to find out.

Downside: Since the product is housed on a steel tube, the product tends to melt on humid and hot places like the Philippines. If you'll notice, my chiaroscuro looks messy and don't get me talking about the inside of the tube!


The highlighter is more soft than the contour shade. I don't know why but it seems that most of the feedback of users complain about this.


SHADE:
4 out of 5 stars
The Chiaroscuro Stick has 4 shades: Fair, Light, Medium and Deep. I got the medium shade and I thought, it was a great match! If you are NC40-NC42 in MAC or if you have a yellow undertone, the medium shade is your best bet.


Some might not like the yellowish undertone of the contour stick, but trust me, it blends like crazy! Looks natural and even beginners would instantly know how to contour their face! The highlighter is very similar to NYX Illuminator in Gleam. It has a pinkish undertone that'll give you that flushed dewy look! I love it!

APPLICABILITY:
You wouldn't believe how highly blendable this product is (if there's such a word) If it's your first time, you would amaze yourself for doing a contouring job like a pro! The product is very pigmented and one stroke would go a long way. It has a very creamy BUT light and airy consistency that basically allows you to blend it properly and effectively.


Excuse the face, LOL! I just thought it would look hilarious with the contour and all. Anyway, here's the result of using the EM Cosmetics Chiaroscuro Stick.



The shade is almost perfect, had the composition of the product been more stable (less prone to breaking) then this product would have been perfect.

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