I've been looking for more swatches for this palette everywhere and could barely find anything so decided to post this as it's a great product.
The formula is super smooth and feels like 'almost silky' cream to powder product, for the most part it blends beautifully but it can pack a punch quickly with a denser brush (which I use) so it's probably better to use a very fluffy brush or pre-blend on the back of the hand especially for those with very fair skin.
The dark/hair color does stain and takes some effort and rubbing to take off even with makeup wipe meant for waterproof makeup (waterproof liquid cleanser takes it of more easily) so it will really stay put and wear for a long time. But on face I had no issues with the wear time of the deep shade, harder to say how the lightest shade wears as it's already 'barely there' natural shade, but I don't notice anything looking worse in any way at the end of the day (8-10+h wear time).
For reference I have fair (for some very fair) olive skin, somewhere between neutral and warm leaning and this works perfectly for me and at the moment it's my top favorite. I can use the darkest/hair shade for multiple eyeshadow looks and eyebrows (I have dark brown hair), the deep/medium shade for daily eyeshadow and contour of course and the lightest shade as natural/barely there nose contour as well as a 'brontour' when I want one or a nice smooth eyeshadow base for other darker colors to go on more smoothly or to cleanup edges. So far this palette is the most versatile I ever had.
I made comparison swatches with some other contour products I have at the moment in case that helps anyone:
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Etude – Reborn Maker in Cool Shading – has a nice cool contour color and leaves some stain behind so more likely to last longer (not that I saw wear issues with any of them) but it was my first stick contour and I realized I really don't like sticks for face contour direct application and then blending as it's a pain to blend compared to how effortlessly product can be applied when patting brush into product and pre-blending on hand if needed, so I ended up trying to brush it directly onto brush and only then on face which was annoying
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Peripera – V Shading Blending Stick in 03 Grayish Cool – I already knew that I don't like stick contour for all over face, but I tried this one for nose, however my issue with this was how sheer it looks on skin (much more sheer than the 'built-up' swatch on the hand) and the cream seemed to move makeup underneath more than the Etude Reborn Maker stick
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Dasique – V Cut Blending Shading in Cool – (Deep/Cool gray at top, then Mid/Medium Gray and Light/Ash Gray) A really nice palette but my main problem with it was that lightest shade was completely unusable and did not show up on my face at all, I'd say it's only for people that are almost paper white kind of fair or as a translucent base for eyeshadow maybe, but the JSM is much more smooth, in the swatches you can see that Dasique is much more powdery and has texture where JSM is absolutely smooth. Other than that it does still blend wonderfully, no issues with wear time and the cool contour color was very much loved, once I used it up I started using the warmer (says deep/cool gray but to me it looked warmer than medium gray, or maybe medium gray was more olive like) shading color for contour until I got next one (in this case JSM one)
Previously I also had Misha Cotton Contour in Smoked Hazel and it seemed more olive on hand but for some reason on face it seemed like it pulled very slightly red which I was not a fan of. I didn't have this issue with JSM deep contour, Dasique mid gray contour or Etude contour.
I got this on discount on stylevana and it's an absolute steal (£17 instead of £33) for this product, but even for original price I'd say it's worth it especially if you can use it for more than just contour. I may continue trying other contours every now and then but feel like I'll want to have this one with me at all times, especially when I need something reliable.
by pomeone