Sculpt & Shape - Part 1

MAC's Sculpt in Shape Collection - A collection of duos, reminiscent of March 2005's "Doubles" Collection in format, and our beloved Mineralize Skin Finishes in size, was released yesterday. These powders were originally MAC Pro items that have been combined in convenient duos for MAC's general customers. The sculpting powders are described as "A powder specially tinted to enhance natural bone structure and sculpt contours into the face. Immaculately shaded to create natural-looking shadow effects, the finish is sheer and matte." Well that just says it all, no? And the Ying to the Sculpting Powder's Yang are the Shaping Powders - "A micro-fine shaping powder formulated with soft focus technology that accents and emphasizes the high planes of the face. More subtle than many highlighters, these are the ideal shade complement to M·A·C Pro Sculpting Powder." And there you are, perfect contouring and highlighting tools. Still, there seems to be some confusion over what the powders do, how to use them, and why one needs them. Here was my reply (posted on Specktra) to such a question:

Contouring and highlighting play with light and shadow to emphasize the natural features of the face, so with this product, you get a completely natural, shimmer, glimmer, and iridescent free highlight, and a subtle but effective contour. There is though and inner glowy characteristic about the highlighting half of the duo. It's similar to the effect of the Mystery Powders. I think it's [highlighting/contouring] something a lot of women don't think about. They aren't thinking about creating an effect. You can use blushes like Blunt or Emote to contour; I've heard of using Sweet As Coco, but that is neither deep enough (depending on your skin tone) nor the right finish (Sheertone Shimmer) to contour with effectively. That is just going to give you some shimmer on the hollows of your cheeks. I feel the same about bronzers and MSF's (I'm speaking to you Metal Rock) as contours. They are accenting the cheekbones, which is fine, and I sometimes do with is Chocolate Brown pigment or Sweet As Cocoa (over/slightly above my contouring!), but if you were truly trying to create the illusion of higher cheekbones, those products aren't going to really do it. I think MAC is introducing some Basic Corrective theory and sophistication with this and previously with Of Beauty.