The Smashbox Step-By-Step Contour Kit ($45) is, for lack of a better analogy, a 4th round draft pick of a contour palette. Everyone (and their mom, and their grandmom, and their mailman) loves the Kat Von D Shade and Light palette for good reason. This one lurks and hides in the corner of every Smashbox display hoping for someone to give it a chance.
Polarizing pro/con: It's compact.
This means that you don't get 6 options...and it's not really a contour kit or palette for a multitude of skintones. It's for light-medium people (there's a medium/deep kit sold as well) who want something compact and hard to f*ck up.
It also comes with a leaflet of instructions for contour/highlight powder placement depending on your face shape. I've taped up the guide for oval/square/round to my vanity, simply because I don't know my face shape. (It's most likely a giant squoval.)
There's a semi-passable brush included that's good in you're in a pinch.
So far, I have no complaints. I was at Ulta and between the Lorac contour palette and this, the Smashbox version swatches with a much smoother consistency and buttery texture. These powders don't skip or apply patchily on the back of my Saharan desert torn hands.
I still think that the price point could be lower (maybe $32-$39 range) if they could be honest and ditch the brush. It's a very solid palette that won't overwhelm users who are new to contouring/those who don't need 10 bronzers to contour at one time.
And last but not least....swatches! (Indoors v. Natural Sunlight)
Contour swatches from left to right: Smashbox Contour, Sephora Tranquil blush, Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Powder in Medium, KVD Shade and Light in Sombre, NYX Taupe
Bronzer swatches with: Smashbox Bronzer, KVD Shade and Light in Shadowplay, Benefit Hoola Bronzer,Too Faced Chocolate and Milk Chocolate Soleil,
Highlight swatches with: Smashbox Highlight, KVD Shade and Light Contour in Lyric and Lucid
