LYS Contour Stick and the Cream Sticks Worth Keeping in Your Bag

On 29 May 2020, the designer Aurora James posted on Instagram asking big retailers to give 15 percent of their shelf space to Black-owned businesses. She called it the 15 Percent Pledge. On 10 June, the first major beauty retailer signed, and a makeup artist in Georgia, who had been working toward exactly this kind of opening, had a door to knock on. The door opened, and what came through it was a very pink, very well thought out makeup line.

That makeup artist is Tisha Thompson, founder and CEO of LYS Beauty. LYS stands for Love Your Self, and the brand launched online on 14 February 2021, about a week before it reached that retailer's stores. The AJC describes it as the first Black-owned clean makeup brand to debut there, based in Kennesaw, Georgia, and free of phthalates, parabens, sulfates and mineral oils. I like the point of view. Thompson is a trained makeup artist with 18 years in the industry, by the brand's count, so the products read as made for the person holding the brush, and the LYS contour stick is the clearest example of that.

The trick is to treat the LYS grid as a small, complete face. The No Limits Cream Bronzer and Contour Stick is the star, and the brand says it is talc-free and built on rosehip oil, green tea extract and sodium hyaluronate. The No Limits Matte Bronzer Powder sets it for a longer day. Higher Standard Cream Glow Blush Sticks bring the color, and the Aim High Cream Highlighter Stick finishes the high points. Speak Love is the brand's lip line, so the Lip-Plumping Glossy Lip Balm belongs here rather than on the cheekbone. Underneath it all, the Secure Skin Blurring Primer Stick, the Bright Start Airbrush Concealer and the Triple Fix Skin Tint Foundation Stick cover the base.

Cream contour goes on best with your fingers, not a brush. Draw two short lines under the cheekbone, press and pat them outward, and only reach for a brush once the shape is in the right place. Cream disappears into skin much faster than powder, and the warmth of your hand does half the blending.

Across the other brands, the range of shapes is wider than you would guess. Haus Labs' Precision Sculpt Shaping Balm Contour Stick and NARS's Multiple Sculpting Contour and Bronzing Stick are the two closest to the LYS idea, with a pointed or rounded edge for clean lines. Anastasia Beverly Hills' Smooth Blur Cream Contour Stick is the softer one, and Ogee's Sculpted Cream Bronzer and Contour Stick does both jobs in one. Too Faced's Chocolate Soleil Melting Bronzing and Sculpting Stick leans warm and sunny.

Freck Beauty's Face Hack Precision Sculpting Cream Contour Bronzer Stick suits a lighter touch. Dior's Forever Skin Cream Contour Sculpting Face Stick is the most polished, and Westman Atelier's Face Trace Cream Contour Stick is the one I would give to a friend who wears very little makeup but likes a soft shadow.

A pairing I like: a cream contour stick under a cream blush, so both layers stay soft and move together, and a light dusting of powder only where you actually shine.

What I would skip: a cream contour stick over a full layer of setting powder. The two fight, and the stick will drag instead of blending.

Put the blush on after your base and before any powder. A cream stick slides over bare or tinted skin and melts into it, and powder on top keeps the color from wandering by noon.

Anastasia Beverly Hills' Cream Stick Blush comes with a brush applicator built in, which is the easiest choice for a bag. Violette_FR's Bisou Blush is a marbled stick, and the swirl of two colors gives a less flat, more natural flush. Bobbi Brown's Skin Enhancer Blush Stick is the quiet, skin-like one. Dolce&Gabbana's Cherry Glaze Bar is a waterproof, glowy cream stick for a longer day, and Lancôme's Teint Idole Shape Stick is a creamy blush in the same easy-to-carry shape.

Charlotte Tilbury's Unreal Lip and Cheek Glow works on both lips and cheeks, which means one stick can tie the whole face together. Fenty Beauty's Match Stix does the same with a color-adaptive formula, and Nudestix's Nudies Blush Stick suits a fingertip, no-mirror routine.

Try this: swipe two dots on the apples, then blend up toward the temples with your ring finger. The least pressure is always the best one for cream.

What I would skip: a glossy, glowy blush stick on an already oily day. Wait for a matte stick or go with a powder in its place.

Blenders earn their drawer space by the job they do, not by the trend. A dense brush places a stick, a damp sponge melts the edge, and a fluffy brush diffuses whatever is left. Most people only need two of them.

Tower 28's Big Blender Brush for Foundation and ILIA's Complexion Brush are soft and dense, and they would be my choice for buffing a cream contour stick without lifting it. Saie's Double-Ended Sculpting Brush gives you a pointed end for placement and a fuller end for blending, so one brush covers the job. Sephora Collection's PRO Contour Brush number 78 is angled for cheekbones and is the classic shape for precise work.

On the sponge side, e.l.f.'s Blending Sponge and Beautifully Precise Airbrush Blender are the ones I would toss in a drawer, and Beautyblender's Pro Makeup Sponge is the familiar teardrop. Westman Atelier's Liquid Blender Brush is the most refined tool here, a soft, luxurious thing to use on cream.

I use a damp sponge for the contour and a dry brush for the blush. Damp on damp gets streaky, and dry on cream gets patchy.

What I would skip: washing a sponge with whatever soap is next to the sink. Use a gentle cleanser and let it dry in the open air.

I would call the LYS contour stick a sensible first purchase because it asks so little of you. One stick, two fingers and a mirror, and you have a shape you can repeat in under a minute. That is how most good makeup habits start, with something small you will actually use.

Swatch the shade along your jaw in daylight before you commit, and add a blush stick next, once you trust the first. The pledge gave one founder an opening in 2020, and she used it well. You only need a stick and a steady hand. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Contour Makeup Went From a Kevyn Aucoin Sketchbook to a Stick in Your Bag and Milk Blush.