Review: KvD pigment- Rooftop

Hi!  The other day I ventured over to my local mall, and (of course) couldn't pass up visiting the Sephora inside J.C. Penney.  What did I find there? TWO more Kat von D True Romance pigments!  I only bought Rooftop-- the other one was a green that reminded me of the Dimebag shade from the Ludwig palette- probably not something I'd use a lot.  I'm not sure if these are new or not, but they not offered on Sephora's website, and I've never seen these in the regular Sephora stores.

 

In the interest of comparison, L-R: Ladyhawke, ROOFTOP, Meditation
*Ladyhawke and Rooftop were swatched without a base!

I'd describe Rooftop as a cool-toned metallic bronze.  The formula is similar to that of Meditation-- smooth, highly pigmented, and a a minimal amount of fall out. 

If you're into neutrals and have the patience to deal with a loose pigment, I'd recommend this shade if you come across it.

Review: KvD pigments- Rapture, Starcrossed, Meditation

Hi!  Have you gotten your hands on any of the Kat Von D pigments yet?  Since the collection became available in the Sephora stores, I purchased three more colors.  Sure, that was about 90 years ago in makeup time, but I wanted to really test them to give you the best review I can!  Good thing too, because I was having a ton of trouble using Starcrossed until i came across this review  of the pigments that gave me a tip that worked like a charm.  Onward ho! (to the review, a few spaces down haha)

Meditation

 The packaging doesn't help reveal the true color of the product inside; it makes the colors (at least of the shades reviewed here) look much paler/less interesting than what they actually are.

Rapture

 Starcrossed

L-R (bottom half was swatched over Urban Decay's Primer Potion, top half is all by its lonesome)

Meditation: Metallic rose

Rapture: Metallic peach with gold flash

Starcrossed: Metallic champagne with champagne microglitter

Of these three, Meditation has the best formula.  It has a really smooth laydown with minimal fall out.  At first, i thought Starcrossed was relatively unusable because the tools I was using (Sonja Kashuk and Kat von D brushes) were just barely picking up the pigment.  As the review i referenced above stated, this color in particular works well using a brush with stiffer bristles.  Once I tried this, Starcrossed became so much easier to use!  However,  there is still a TON of fall out when I brush it on my eye.  I recommend using a base with these to get the product to stick to your eye and stay there- especially if you have oily skin like me.

Overall these are gorgeous, but do take a little bit of care so that you don't wind up with pigment and/or glitter all over your face.  If you're more of a low-maintenance person, you might get a little frustrated with these.  If you're like me and have high-maintenance makeup habits, then go for these! They're awesome!

These are available at Sephora.

Review: Kat von D Angeles Palette

Hi!

I feel like it took me forever to get around to this post, but better late than

never? So for starters, the Kat von D Angeles palette TOTALLY makes up for my disappointment with the Truth palette that launched at the beginning of the year. In my opinion, Angeles is a bit more versatile than Truth, due to its selection of colors-- there are neutrals with the brights, brights to mix with brights, or neutrals to mix with neutrals.

L-R

Venus: Bright metallic copper

Leather: Mid-tone matte brown (previously appeared in Ludwig & Beethoven palettes)

Specimen: cool-toned metallic taupe

Rehab: Soft, very pale taupe shimmer (previously appeared in Truth palette, see my post about it for a comparison)

L-R

Peggy: Bright teal with a gold flash (previously appeared in the limited editon Momento Mori palette from last spring)

Bukowski: Mid toned blue with an aqua flash

Bellbottom: slightly iridescent light violet-blue shimmer

Morphine: sheer white/pale blue duo with fine, light blue iridecent glitter. (this is a cream)

Pigmentation is decent across the board, but of the powder shadows, Venus and Specimen are AMAZING, while Bellbottom & Rehab apply slightly sheer. This wasn't a problem for me, as I use Rehab to blend other colors out/as a highlight, and it doesn't take much for Bellbottom to be built up to an opaque color. With morphine, it's a pretty color, but it feels really cheap--it reminds me of toy makeup I'd play with as a little girl. Definitely takes a while to dry down. I'd recommend using a primer and something powdery beneath this so it will hold onto your face for dear life. Maybe this different formula will help it hold onto its moisture, and not dry out in 2 months like all my other KvD cream shadows? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

And now, SWATCHES!!! (All were swatched over Urban Decay's Primer Potion)

L-R

Venus

Leather (This swatched poorly, but it looks fine on the eye)

Specimen

Rehab

L-R

Peggy

Bukowski

Bellbottom

Morphine (camera doesn't quite do it justice)






As for the three repeat shadows, honestly, I don't mind.  I've gotten a ton of wear out of Leather in the other palettes it's in, and it broke in my Ludwig palette, so I'm happy I have another one.  Rehab has a much better formula in this palette, and it's a pretty useful color, so I can see myself using this with a bunch of eyeshadows I already have.  Even though Peggy isn't a wear-all-the-time color like Rehab and Leather can be,  it's a completely rad color and I haven't ever seen a color quite like this on my makeup adventures.  I personally wish she still put Lucifer (matte black) in all the palettes, like how she did with the first five-- I use it every day to color in my eyebrows!

If you're interested in seeing some looks I did with this palette, you can check them out here!

This palette is available at Sephora.

KvD Rehab-- Truth vs Angeles

Hi! How do you feel about companies putting the same shadows in different palettes? For example, Urban Decay adding Midnight Cowboy (a super shimmery, glittery beige if you're unfamiliar) to nearly every palette that they put out. In the newest palette offering from Kat Von D, there are not one, but three shadows that have made appearances in other palettes. The strangest repeat I thought was Rehab, because it appeared in the Truth palette that was launched earlier this year.

On the left is Rehab from the Angeles Palette, on the right is Rehab from the Truth palette. Even from this bad picture, you can tell that the color's formula for the Angeles palette is much smoother & more pigmented than the Truth palette. Actually, in the Truth palette, Rehab is one of my least favorite shades because the pigmentation is so spotty. I really had to work with it to make it to anything for me, which is kind of pointless for essentially a highlighting color.

What's the best color you've seen repeated in a palette? What's the worst?

Harajuku Lovers for Charity!

Hi! Have you seen the limited edition Harajuku Lovers "We Love You Japan" t-shirt? I'm currently going bananas for it-- it's so cute! Gwen Stefani designed this for the Japanese tsunami relief efforts-- all $40 of the selling price will go to the charity, and there is an option to make an additional donation with your purchase.

The sizes left are junior's XS, M, L, and XL (S is sold out:( ), and this is limited edition. If you love Japan, Gwen Stefani, or just really want this t-shirt, head on over to: http://gwenstefanijapanfundraiser.shop.bravadousa.com/Default.aspx

In Practice: green + purple look from Kat von D's Truth Palette

Here's the look I've been most successful with from the Truth palette (so far. Let's hope there will be more successes!).

Crease/outer corner: Prague
Lid: Long Distance
Highlight/inner corner: Sugar Skull

(other products used: High Frequency mascara in Lucifer, Autograph eyeliner in Puro Amor, eyeshadow in Lucifer [on brows], Tattoo Concealer in Light- all by Kat Von D. Also used: Urban Decay Primer potion)

I thought this looked a lot better in person, but maybe my light source was playing tricks on me? If so, maybe it's for the better. See how the colors don't blend completely smoothly into each other? Maybe these shadows would be better for a cut crease look?

If you have this palette and aren't having these problems, let me know! I'd love to hear the color combos that everyone has come up with, as well as any tips or tricks for these shadows!

Review: Kat Von D Truth Palette

Hi!

Today I'm going to *finally* review the latest palette offering from Kat Von D, "Truth." With the exception of the purpley-plum shadow, most of the palette consists of spring-appropriate pastels. Honestly, not really what I was expecting, but sometimes surprises are good, right?

All the colors were swatched over Urban Decay's Primer Potion.

L-R:

Sugar Skull pale pastel yellow shimmer(this appeared in last spring's Memento Mori palette)

Long Distance lime green shimmer with gold micro glitter

Snake Eyes apple green with gold pearl

Finland (cream) shimmery teal blue

L-R:

Prague dark plummy purple with reddish plum micro shimmer

Galeano (repeat from the Beethoven palette) shimmery warm-toned lavender

Rehab Ultra shimmery pale taupe

Sister Matte pinky-peach (I'm super fair, so it barely showed up on me)

I'm really on the fence about this palette. There are some really lovely colors (Long Distance, Prague, and Finland are my favorites), but there is one I don't quite know what to do with (Sister- i'm looking at you!). Generally the textures in these shadows aren't as good as previous KvD palettes. They're all REALLY powdery, which in turn causes a lot of fall out (you can even see it in the swatch of Prague!). I've also had problems with blending- especially with Rehab. It pretty much disappears/gets patchy if you try to work with it too much. For now, I would say to skip this, unless you are a complete makeup master. With all this said, I'm clinging to hope I can make these shadows work. They swatched well, but are a bit wonky in practice. Honestly I've only had the time/patience to practice a few looks so I'm going to keep working with these and try to figure out these bad boys. If my feelings change, I'll post a follow up review and beg for KvD's forgiveness haha!

Don't take my word for it-- you can purchase it at Sephora.