CULT BUY: The non-intimidating contouring trio for anyone who's a bit crap at makeup.

I have never met Rihanna. And I probably never will. Sadly, neither will you. Sorry.

But somehow, she knew what I needed before I knew myself.

She looked into my soul and saw that I, a self-confessed makeup tragic with freckles and average cheekbones, was deeply intimidated by the whole contouring thing and needed an easy solution.

Hence, she created the Fenty Beauty Match Stix Trio, just for me. Or so I like to think, because it’s hard to imagine how a makeup kit could be so spot on for my skin tone and not have been custom created for me.

So thoughtful.

Now, people legitimately ran through the streets when the singer’s brand, Fenty Beauty magically appeared in Australian Sephora stores in September. Above all else – the cool packaging, the highlighters made from, presumably, unicorn dust, and RIHANNA – women everywhere raved about the range’s inclusivity.

Everyone can wear Fenty Beauty. Yes, even us, who are a bit crap at makeup.

The brand describes the Match Stix Trio as ‘a magnetised trio of long wear, light-as-air makeup sticks curated by skin tone with two Match Stix Matte Skinsticks to conceal and contour and one Match Stix Shimmer Skinstick to highlight’.

With this in mind, I nabbed myself a set and went about figuring out how the hell to use it. Here’s how that all went down.

First thoughts

I felt really bloody cool using these products. Like someone who could, you know, make money filming beauty tutorials or has people following them on Instagram who aren’t their mum, or pop. I’m not, but let’s continue.

After much deliberation, I chose the lightest of the four shade combos, aptly named ‘Light 100 – Linen, Amber and Starstruck’. Side note – I was really glad to not have my skin tone described as beige, honey beige or alabaster. No, I am Linen, thanks very much.

The three sticks (sorry, stix) set me back $79. But I quickly did the maths and realised that’s $26.30 per stick, which seems much more reasonable for a high-quality celebrity makeup brand.

Using the Match Stix Trio

The first word that comes to mind is… smooth.

While the concealer and contour sticks’ matte finishes are different to the highlighter’s shimmer, all three products are thick and luxurious for easy, builadable coverage without feeling heavy.

I once saw Kim Kardashian do this thing where she drew lines and triangles all over her face to do her contouring, so that’s what I attempted to do here.

You can see the play-by-play in the gallery below…

I started by drawing two kind-of-but-not-really triangles on the blueish skin under my eyes with the concealer. It’s ridiculously creamy, which made blending it in with my ring finger super easy. Apparently you can do this with a brush too, but remember, I’m a bit crap at makeup. And stingy.

The product also blended in seamlessly to my tinted moisturiser (Nars Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturiser), so my entire face was one lovely linen sheet, rather than just pillowcases under the eyes.

OK, so the contour looked very dark on first inspection, and I was tempted to chuck it in my second makeup bag where all my crap products serve out their lives. I’m glad I didn’t. It blends down to a natural colour creating the desired ‘I ate air for breakfast hallowed cheekbones’ look – even on my freckly skin.

How Rihanna knew the exact shade for my skin tone, I will never know.

The highlighter is my favourite stick in the trio. Again, the texture is creamy and light, but has a bit more depth to it thanks to the flecks of sparkle. It held its natural yet other worldly shimmer all day and made my cheekbones and eyebrows look like they are in fact made of bones and not squishy stuff.

Verdict

If you want to buy into the world of luxe celebrity makeup products and finally figure contouring out, take Rihanna’s outstretched hand and give the Fenty Beauty Match Stix Trio a go.

They’re pretty much unf*ckupable and make chiselling your face feel like something you could actually do everyday, rather than a science experiment.

Oh, and they clip together and will never get lost in your handbag.

That alone is almost enough for me.

You can find the Match Stix Trios and the entire Fenty Beauty range in-store at Sephora, or online at Sephora.com.au.