Review: KatVon D True Love Palette - Sinner

I stopped in a Sephora for their Fashion's Night Out festivities, and lo and behold, all of the Fall '11 collection for Kat Von D was out! Although I'm on a strict budget right now, I couldn't resist bringing home the Sinner palette. (For those into neutrals: the Saint palette is absolutely gorgeous, but I couldn't justify buying it because I have Urban Decay's Naked Palette. It didn't look like there were any exact dupes, and the Saint palette is definitely more travel-friendly than the Naked Palette, but I have enough neutrals to play with right now.)

The fall line's packaging is very different compared to the previous palettes offered from the brand, the most exciting change for some may be the new inclusion of a mini eyeliner as opposed to the tiny brushes.  Inside the box, there was a surprise-- a sample of the High Voltage Eye Primer in Skin.

L-R: Disco Dust, Linzy-Jane, Ace of Spades, Violator

Disco Dust- pale frosted pink with gold shimmer. This was a bit sheer.
Linzy-Jane- medium red-based purple. When applied, this was a bit sheer.
Ace of Spades: matte dark red-violet with purple, red and magenta micro-glitter (previously appeared in the Adora palette). This swatched slightly patchy, but i didn't have any problems when wearing it.
Violator: shimmered dark gunmetal with lots of purple, blue, red micro glitter

L-R: Disco Dust, Linzy-Jane, Ace of Spades, Violator
(taken with flash)

L-R: Disco Dust, Linzy-Jane, Ace of Spades, Violator
(taken without flash)

L-R: Holy Bible, Glock, Dorian Gray, Lucifer

Holy Bible: silvered white with a frosted finish. (previously appeared in Adora)
Glock: gunmetal grey with faint iridescent shimmer. (previously appeared in Adora)
Dorian Gray: this is pretty close to Glock. It's just a bit darker, and the shimmer is more pronounced.
Lucifer: matte black. (previously appeared in KvD's first 5 palettes)

L-R: Holy Bible, Glock, Dorian Gray, Lucifer
(taken without flash)

L-R Holy Bible, Glock, Dorian Gray, Lucifer
(taken with flash)

Puro Amor Autograph Pencil

Puro Amor Autograph Pencil: Rich, matte black (if you were a fan of Urban Decay's LE Perversion eyeliner, you may want to check the full sized version of this out)

PACKAGING: The new etched case looks really nice, but the spring loaded hinge won't allow the mirror to stay in an upright position.  Since the outside is metal, I don't think this will absorb much shock if one were to accidentally drop it (in other words, your shadow may be toast if this is dropped).  On the plus side, the outside is able to be easily cleaned and the design won't wear off.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE: Most of the shadows are very soft, so you only need to touch your brush in the pan to get a good amount of product out. Because of this, they kick up a lot of powder, so you have to be careful in your application so that you don't get dark shadow all over your face. Don't worry too much about glitter fall out, because I wasn't able to get much glitter on when I applied the glitter shades on my eyes (disappointing, I know).

Of the eight shadows, the best are Glock and Dorian Gray-- both applied really smoothly without kicking up a lot of powder and were a little harder-packed, so i can see them lasting a bit longer if you were to drop this palette.  I just find it weird that they were included together in a palette due to the fact they're very close.

The eyeliner included in here is FANTASTIC. If you're not interested in Sinner (or the other new KvD palettes), I recommend checking out the full sized version of this eyeliner.  It's creamy and very easy to apply-- no skipping here. After initial application, there is a few seconds of play time if you want to smudge it out, but when it dries, it's there.  For kicks, I swatched it against Urban Decay's Zero 24/7 liner:

L: KvD Autograph pencil in Puro Amor
R: Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero

Obviously the Kvd liner is way blacker- and that's only 2 strokes! I think the Urban Decay liner was 3 or 4 strokes because I couldn't believe the comparison and kept marking my arm like a crazy person. After I swatched these eyeliners, I hopped in the shower and the KvD liner definitely passed the waterproof test. (In fact, without makeup remover, the only way I could get it off was with my Clarisonic brush!) So if you've got eyes that water a lot, then you may want to check out this eyeliner.

PRICE: $35 for 0.4g worth of eyeshadows (each is .05g) and 0.8g worth of eyeliner. Yes, this is a $1 increase in price compared to previous releases, but when you do the math, you're paying about $4.25 for each shadow and about $1 for a really awesome eyeliner.  

All in all, this is a passable palette if you love dark sultry looks.  It's not perfect, but I don't think it's a waste of money either.  You don't have to take my word for it-- it's available now at Sephora.