July 12, 2016

Kat von D Serpentina Palette

A while back, Kat Von D beauty posted some sneak-peaks of the Serpentina palette, and I knew I had to have it. I am a Egyptophile and almost didn't care what was inside.  Once swatches of the inside were revealed, it seemed that the world wanted this too, and after the strange launch it seemed that a lot of people couldn't get their hands on it.  Read on to see if it's worth your hard earned cash when it comes to stores later this month!

Bloodmilk: Warm rusty red. Matte
Medusa: Metallic bronze with tonal sparkle
Ankh: Matte black chock full of fine copper glitter
Queen: Metallic rusty rose

L-R: Bloodmilk, Medusa, Ankh, Queen


Hieroglyph: Bright metallic orange
Nile: Pearl sapphire
Scarab: Metallic blackened teal
Venom: Muted medium purple. Matte

L-R: Hieroglyph, Nile, Scarab, Venom


Prophet: Metallic olive-y gold


PIGMENTATION: Nile, Scarab, and Prophet are tied for best pigmentation, and Ankh may be the least pigmented. I don't swatch over a base, so I'm sure that Ankh would perform better over one (especially considering all the glitter in this shade!)

PRODUCT: The textures of Queen, Hieroglyph, Nile, and Scarab, are SO good. Even though it's a color I probably won't wear much, Nile is the most definitely the winner of this palette. Ankh and Bloodmilk had a bit of a dry texture. Ankh and Venom were a bit powdery. I tested out Queen, Ankh, Hieroglyph, and Venom on my eye (sans base) and here were my findings:
  • Every shade except for Queen had a bit of fallout. Ankh had the most of the bunch and was the hardest to clean up because it's black (duh) and had the most fallout.
  • I wore my little trash look for about 4 hours, again without a base, and shockingly Hieroglyph didn't crease on my very oily lids. It was also pretty opaque in application  (I used a flat synthetic brush to apply if you're curious). Venom faded QUITE a bit-- it would definitely benefit from a base.
  • Venom applied completely differently depending on the brush I used. With a round fluffy (synthetic) crease brush, it went on VERY sheer. With a small flat brush, the color was pretty true-to-pan.
  • Queen blended out SO beautifully.

PACKAGING: This might be some of the best-looking cardboard I've ever seen! I really love the shiny gold foil motifs everywhere contrasting with the matte black. It's really awesome that the shade names are on the front of this. The lid has a strong magnet, and the space for Prophet is just big enough to hold the jar in tightly. Speaking of, I don't understand the inclusion of a jar of loose pigment.



PRICE: $45 for eight pressed shadows (1.1g each) and one loose pigment (1.5g)

Even though I like this palette, I don't think it's really anything to go bananas over.  On the plus side, there are some super nice shadows and EGYPT. On the downside, the are a few possible dupes if you're a fellow makeup hoarder (I'll revisit that topic in another post bc this one is already super long), and that random loose pigment wtf.

As always, you don't have to take my word for it! Kat Von D's Serpentina palette will be available in Sephora stores in or around July 22, and will be returning to both katvondbeauty.com and sephora.com eventually.





June 14, 2016

Kat Von D Shade & Light Eye: Plum


Wow it has been a very long time since I've written about anything! Today the mail lady brought me the Kat Von D Shade and Light mini palette and I knew that I had to write about it. This pallet has four color coordinating shadows that are meant to enhance and green eyes.

L-R: Base, Define, Contour, Highlight

Base: matte muted peach
Define: matte plum
Contour: matte medium greyed mauve
Highlight: matte whitened lilac-pink

PIGMENTATION: The define shade was ever-so-slightly sheer, but the rest had great pigmentation.


PRODUCT: The textures were a little inconsistent. Highlight was chalky. Define was a bit stiff. Base was very soft and buttery, and Contour was buttery but not as soft as Base. Bonus-- I think that Base could make a really nice blush for my skin tone. One thing to note: I always test makeup without bases/primers, and I've noticed that Contour  has pretty much stayed in tact after about 3 hours of being on my arm-- all the other shadows have faded.

PACKAGING: I really like how convenient the size is for travel, but the plastic feels very cheap. I'm a little afraid of how easily this could break.


PRICE: $26

Overall, this is a nice little palette. I like that there are neutral, warm and cool colors that not only are muted enough where one could wear them every single day and not feel "overdone," but also can lend themselves to SO MANY looks.  This palette will probably live in my bag, so I'll have to be careful to keep it safe in case the plastic is as cheap as it seems. With all of that said, I think that this is absolutely worth the price point.

As always, you don't have to take my word for it. Kat Von D's mini Shade and Light Eye palette in Plum is available now at Sephora. If plum isn't your thing, these mini palettes are available in three other colors.