Review: Kat Von D Shade and Light Palettes

One of the most exciting brand launches in the UK for a while (maybe since NYX): Kat Von D has landed exclusive to Debenhams. As I type I think it has been a few months now since the launch and Kat Von D should be available both online and in Debanhams stores now.

I was able to get my hands on her Shade and Light Eye Palette on the day of the online launch. It took about 5 days to come including the 3 days it took just to ship out, which I would say is probably due to the high demand at the time. It was £36, which is practically equivalent to the US price,which is great because we often get import related price markups. You get 16 neutral, matte shades in decently sized pans, a mirror in the lid, and no brushes. So it’s £4 for each pan of product and the base shade pans are double the size, too.

The 16 pans are divided into three quads: Neutral, Cool and Warm sections based on skin undertones. I’m a sort-of neutral warm and I can work with the whole palette. The warm tones are very orange/rust brown and are great for brighter, casual looks whilst the cool quad I find great for darker, more dramatic looks. Of course, I like to mix and match them all and there’s so many combinations you can get from the palette.

The colour selection is well thought out to make a palette to suit many people. Makeup Revolution has matte palettes but they turned me off with its abundance of light shades that I simply wouldn’t use.  Kat Von D, however, has a highlight shade in each quad and base shades too. These don’t show up as well as the browns but they do actually show up and in matte form as well. I still don’t use them nearly as much as the browns, though.

(I wrote this post a while ago and as I edit now, MUR have just brought out an exact dupe for this palette! It’s even called Light and Shade, how creative.)

In this set of swatches, I’ve done them in the same order and layout of the palette, using one swipe of my fingers. As you can see, the pigmentation is generally great, but the base and highlight shades don’t really show up on my skin very much (although they do better on my eyes, funnily enough). Personally, I think the fact that they’re light colours, matte and show up at all is pretty good already. I really don’t need to swipe much with my brush to get enough pigment. In fact, I find that with the darker colours I can very easily go overboard, so I have to be careful. They’re not too powdery although I get a teeny bit of fallout if I am too heavy on them with my brushes.  I’m still heavy handed when it comes to makeup!

The black is great as a defining shade – Q has used the one in hers as eyeliner a number of times for the great pigmentation, and I am a total convert – I use it to define or line my outer corner and it doesn’t smudge onto my lower lash line!

Shade and Light [Face] Contour Palette

My mom, on a trip to the US, came back with a pretty random gift from a friend – the Kat Von D Shade and Light [Face] Contour palette. I have since taken ownership of it, although I wasn’t planning on using it for my face – facial contouring is still pretty much a terrifying notion to me. Luckily, I found that the shades also work pretty well as eyeshadow in a pinch.

What forced me to begin using the palette for its intended purposes, actually, was my purchase of the Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation, which is so high coverage it can very easily make my face look pasty and flat. With a bit of swishing with my powder brush under my sucked in cheeks I can look human again without the contour being too noticeable.

I have to say, I know nothing about the properties of contour, but this being a powder, it lasted well on my oily skin and didn’t look dodgy throughout the day even as I got shinier. The contour shades are natural and of course since I’m only using a little at a time I can probably get away with using both warm and cool, and this will last me a long time. I don’t think I would repurchase it solely because contour isn’t my thing, and certainly not the thing I’d spend £30 on.

Cardboard packaging. Matte black, with glossy black for main text. Glossy gold for the eye palette and silver for the contour palette and this is the same on the palettes themselves too.

Both palettes have writing on the side with the palette name. Useful since I store my palettes that way now.

 

I wanted to show the nice design take for ‘Shade & Light’ on the sides too, that I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise!

 

Overall, whilst I am not used to contouring yet and so probably would not have purchased the Contour Palette, I am really happy with the Eye Contour Palette. The range of everyday shades means I have been reaching for it a lot! Would I repurchase it again? We’ll see. I think I really might but that day I hit pan is still far off.

Thanks for reading!

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