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.



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.

Jem and the Holograms Truly Outrageous Liquid Lip Set

This month, a great makeup invention had a baby with the greatest cartoon show of all time to create the Jem and the Holograms Liquid Lip Set.  If you have no idea who Jem and the Holograms are, you can watch all of the episodes on Netflix. OR download them elsewhere or come to my house and I'll put on my Jem costume and sing only the best songs from the show for you.*

Yes, this is really me. I made the mistake of not having a bag with me that day, hence the 90 things in my hand. Photo from Comics Alliance, from San Diego Comic Con 2012. I think.

*Don't actually come to my house. Depending on when you read this, I probably don't feel like cleaning.

Fashion and Fame: Sheer glimmery opal gloss. SO PRETTY. This has a thick and sticky texture, which honestly I like.

Fashion and Fame

Like a Dream: Matte medium terracotta-pink (looks like the swatches I've seen of the original KvD Liquid Lipstick in Lolita)

Like a Dream

Music is Magic: Matte cool-toned bright pink.

Music is Magic

To the Rescue: Medium cool toned berry. I thought this was similar to KvD's Bauhau5, but it's darker.

To the Rescue

She's Got the Power: Smoky dark purple. This had a slightly more watery texture than the rest, and this was the only swatch to bleed. It was also a bit patchy.

She's Got the Power

L-R: Fashion and Fame, Like a Dream, Music is Magic, To the Rescue, She's Got the Power

PIGMENTATION: Of the four matte lipsticks, She's Got the Power was the only one with uneven pigmentation. The other three were opaque in one swipe. Fashion and Fame is supposed to be a topcoat, so it's doing its job being sheer.

PRODUCT:  So far, I've only tried To the Rescue on my lips, and it applied evenly and smoothly. I didn't have to apply multiple coats, and I was able to press my lips together after a few minutes and nothing budged.  I have a cold and can't really smell anything, but Fashion and Fame must have a super strong smell, but I was able to detect a really sweet scent from it. 

PACKAGING: For the first time, I will be keeping the outer packaging of something. The pink glitter box doesn't hold a death grip on the tubes, so they're easy to remove, and I love the big Jem logo on the outer clear sleeve.

The tubes themselves, while being mini, aren't incredibly small. The doefoot applicator is big enough to easily cover the lips, but small enough to provide some control so that the product doesn't go everywhere. The outside of the tubes have this awesome holographic lightning bolt motif that is so cool and I hope doesn't rub off with use. My camera only sort of picked up the holographic shine on the single shot of She's Got the Power.

I'm still testing these, but I'm not disappointed in this set (so far). As a Jem fan, the packaging and shade names have me excited. As a makeup fan, I like that the shades truly run the gamut and how 4/5 shades apply completely awesomely.

PRICE: $25

As always, you don't have to take my word for it! The Jem and the Holograms Truly Outrageous Liquid Lip Set is available now (for a limited time) at Sephora.

Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Remix Palette

Remember the Mi Vida Loca palette? (If not, here's my review of it.) Apparently it was a fan favorite (or maybe one that a lot of people missed out on) so Miss KvD and her beauty team created a revamped version.  Will it perform the same way as the original? Let's find out.

Warning: my camera was being fussy about photographing this palette. I'll note where things are off.

Muse: Pale lavender. Satin finish.
Echo: Medium matte violet with light magenta glitter. Worst performing of the bunch.
Dark Wave: Indigo. Satin Finish.
Synth: Bright light-medium blue. Matte finish.

L-R: Muse, Echo (definitely more violet in real life), Dark Wave, Synth. 

Hyperballad: Cool toned blue-green. Matte finish.
Lemmy: Metallic forest green.
Vinyl: Metallic acid green with pale gold shift
Misfit: Apple green with blue pearl

L-R: Hyperballad (a tiny bit more green in person), Lemmy, Vinyl, Misfit.

The lettering is silver, so I had to sacrifice read-ability for accurate color portrayal. Sorry!

Anthem: Medium red-violet. Matte finish. 2nd worst performing.
Löve: Metallic bubblegum pink.
Swoon: Slightly muted hot pink. Matte finish.
Destroyer: Muted red. Matte finish.
Rewind: Burgundy pearl

L-R: Anthem, Love, Swoon, Destroyer, Rewind

Rewind is at the top.

Harpsichord: Muted metallic copper. Best performing :)
Analogue: Matte orange.
Fran: True yellow. Pearl finish.
Legend: Pale white gold. Metallic finish

L-R: Harpsichord, Analogue, Fran, Legend.

Strutter: Cool-toned matte beige.
Lyric: Translucent pale pearly pink. SUPER gorgeous.
Black Metal: Matte black. This leans warm.
Skulls: Metallic cool toned white.

L-R: Strutter, Lyric (pic does NOT do this justice), Black Metal, Skulls

Noble:  Warm peach beige
Moulder: Matte warm cream.
Vox: Dark chocolate brown. Matte.

L-R: Noble, Moulder, Vox

PIGMENTATION: Generally the pigmentation was great in this palette. The most pigmented shadows were Harpsichord, Synth, Lemmy, and Rewind. The least pigmented was Echo, with Anthem coming in at a close second.

PRODUCT: Most were buttery and not too dry. I didn't have any problem building up Echo or Anthem without a base, but a base would definitely help.

PACKAGING: The palette is housed in a cardboard sleeve, like a record. Being the "remix" of Mi Vida Loca, I thought this was an awesome idea. The palette isn't exactly secure in it, as if it's turned over a little, it will slide out on its own. If you're klutz like me, there is an outer clear plastic box to keep everything together.  I really like how the shade names are printed on the front, and I hope future KvD palettes will have that too. This also comes with an instruction sheet for three different makeup looks you can achieve with the palette.

PRICE: $59

All in all, I'm thrilled to say this is SO much better than the OG Mi Vida Loca palette.  I love that there are neutrals to pair these crazy colors with, and for me, the color-wheel layout makes it visually easier to figure out what to pair with what. If you want ALL the colors in a variety of finishes in one place, you may want to check out Mi Vida Loca Remix.

Of course you don't have to take my word for it! The Mi Vida Loca Remix palette is available now at Sephora.

Formula X To Go System

Thank you to Sephora for sending this to me!

Nail Cleanser- Alcohol based with a tiny bit of oil in it (I guess to prevent your nails from drying out).
Base- This is a sheer pink sticky basecoat. I've never used a sticky base before, and I'm definitely into it.
Pyrotechnics- Lovely balanced red. There are two other versions with different colors if you're not a fan of red.
Top Coat- Leaves my nails glossy for DAYS. I've never had a gel manicure, but I feel like this gives the look of one. Not sure why, but this has deposited air bubbles on my manicure.

The first time I used the set, my manicure lasted 14 days without chipping. Yes, 14 days. I've used the nail cleanser, base, and top coat with other nail polishes, and it's worked just as good. This system is phenomenal and I have purchased full-sized versions of the system.

This was on day 14!

As always, you don't have to take my word for it. The Formula X To Go system (as well as a full-sized and individual versions) are available now at Sephora.

Bite Beauty Maple Agave Lip Mask (Canadian Exclusive)

First it was Socialized Healthcare. Now it's this. For fall, Bite Beauty released a Canadian-exclusive tinted version of their Lip Mask in a maple scent/flavor. I'm not sure if it's LE or if Bite will ever share it with us Yanks, but Canada did share Kids in the Hall with us, so there is a sliver of hope. I procured mine via a friend from Sephora's message board (Thank you Heartsmyface!) and I wanted to write a quick review in case you were curious to see if it was worth going through the trouble of getting it.

Maple: Ultra sheer warm rosy bronze with a subtle bronze sparkle.

PRODUCT: It's much thinner than my original lip mask, which I think makes it much better for wear during the day. Because of the thinner texture, it doesn't last very long. I've had it on for about an hour and am already feeling the need to re-apply. It smells and tastes like pure maple syrup, but it's not noticeable after a few minutes.

PACKAGING: The lip mask is housed in a plastic/flexible metal tube (like a toothpaste tube). The label is a matte ink, and there is a metallic ring printed at the top that shows the color. If this is anything like my regular lip mask, I am predicting the label will flake off on my fingers when I start using it a lot.

PRICE: C$30

If you live in the magic land of Canada, it is available on Sephora. If you don't, then you must seek out a kind Canadian.

Colourpop Super Shock Eyeshadow: Hustle

New to my makeup arsenal is Colourpop's Super Shock Eyeshadow.  Although it's a cream, it's definitely different than any cream product I have. 

Hustle: Cool-toned burgundy with tiny tonal sparkles.

L-R: Applied with It Cosmetics Large Crease Brush, Swatched with finger, Blended with finger

PIGMENTATION: There is a slight translucency, but it's buildable to full opacity.

PRODUCT: Super Shock is a super squishy cream formula. Admittedly, it feels very strange. When I dip my finger in, it feels very smooth, but then it squishes like it's a cushion.  It blends very easily.  Once dried, it didn't budge when rubbed.  I forgot to do the water test (where I run the swatches under water), but it did wash off pretty easily.

As application goes, I recommend first applying with your finger, then blending out the edges with a synthetic brush. I also built the color up by lightly buffing more product over where I applied it with my finger.

PACKAGING: The packaging is pretty unfussy-- sleek white plastic with a screw-on cap. It feels pretty sturdy.

PRICE: $5

If you like cream eyeshadows, check out the Super Shock formula.  If you don't like cream eyeshadows, check out Super Shock shadows. I feel like they're a good medium between cream shadows (like Mac's painpots) and regular ol' powder eyeshadows due to how blendable they are. 

Of course, you don't have to take my word for it. Colourpop's Super Shock Eyeshadows are available in Hustle and a TON of other colors here: https://colourpop.com/