Hello!
This week all UK make up lovers are squirming in their seats as Debenhams launch something rather exciting: Kat Von D Beauty! They will be the first high street retailer in the UK to start selling Kat Von D's beauty line. On Tuesday the 13th, UK beauty addicts will FINALLY be able to get hold of Kat's products, without the extortionate shipping.
I took it upon myself to review the one and only KVD palette I own: her Shade and Light Contour Eye Palette, so you can get a glimpse of whether her products are a hit or miss.
Earlier this year I visited Barcelona and took a trip to Sephora. When I went I had no idea what products I wanted, but could not resist trying some of Kat's products, so I picked up this palette and a liquid lipstick.
This palette cost me $45.90, which with today's exchange rates is £38.89 - similar to the price of an Urban Decay Naked Palette, or Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette.
The palette contains 12 shadows in total: 3 larger pans (0.08oz), and 9 smaller pans (0.04oz). The same amount of shadows you'd find in the Naked Palettes (0.05oz per shadow), whereas the Chocolate Bar Palettes tend to have around 16 shadows in (made up of 0.03oz each).
Kat Von D Beauty is also cruelty free, with most of the products being vegan. She is working on her non-vegan products so that the entire brand will be vegan.
This palette does not come with a brush. It has a pretty decent mirror inside, with a gorgeous frame. It comes in a box with the same design on as the palette - this has the shadow names on.
Kat Von D Beauty is also cruelty free, with most of the products being vegan. She is working on her non-vegan products so that the entire brand will be vegan.
This palette does not come with a brush. It has a pretty decent mirror inside, with a gorgeous frame. It comes in a box with the same design on as the palette - this has the shadow names on.
Firstly, the packaging is incredible. It's unique and true to Kat. Of course everyone knows that she is an awfully talented artist; she designed the packaging herself, which I find a really lovely personal touch. It also feels pretty sturdy. I've travelled with this palette and had no issues.
Layout
The layout of the palette is also very unique. It's divided into thirds. The top three shades are designed to be base shades. Underneath these base shades are three shadows that correspond to the colour above. You can see the first third is made up of neutral brown shades, the second third is made up of cool tones, and the final third is made up of very warm shadows. I love the combination of colours that Kat chose for this palette. The first shade underneath the base is the contour shade - to contour the eye. Next to that is the define shade - to further define the crease or lash line. The lighter shades in the palette are the highlight shades which can be used in the inner corner or on the brow bone.
As you can see, all the shadows in the palette are matte - but they're not chalky. They are super smooth and easy to blend out. The pigment in this palette is out of this world - a little bit goes a long way. I find that it's great neutral everyday palette. It can be used to create a simple day look, or a deep night time smokey eye. For me this palette is also multi-functional.
By looking at the state of my palette, you can kind of see that there is quite a bit of kick off from this palette, or excess powder. You do have to tap off your brush, which sucks watching all that spare product go to waste. As I just mentioned though - you only need a little bit of product. The mixture of the layout and kick off of this palette can be inconvenient: the white is placed right next to the black and red in this palette, which means that when I use these shades, the kick off can land in the white, so you have to be careful when picking up the product.
Swatches
This is the first third of the palette. Laetus (base), Samael (contour), Solas (define) and Lucius (highlight).
I love Samael and Solas - these are beautiful shadows! I do find Lucius and Laetus however to be a little bit too similar - Laetus has a hint more yellow in than Lucius.
Here I created a warm toned look using this palette. I used Laetus all over my lid and under the eye. I then used Ludwin in my crease and on the outer third of my eye, kind of to act like a transition shade so I could use Succubus to deepen the crease. These two shades I mixed for the bottom lash line. To add a little more depth I added Sytry in the outer corner. I then added a smokey wing under my eye using shax, and smudged this out.
Here you can see that I used Lazarus to contour my face.
It gives a very subtle contour. As it's cool toned I think it looks very natural. This could be built up as well to make a very strong contour. This works well on me with my light skin tone, but I don't think it could work for people with a darker skin tone. You could always experiment and mix different shades together though.
I have also used Liberatus to set and brighten my under eye area before. It looked nice, however it's quite hard not to pick up the surrounding shades due to it being in a smaller pan.
As you can see, Laetus is slightly lighter in Revolution's palette, and Kat's is more yellow toned. The pigmentation however looks alike.
In the original Shade and Light Palette, Lazarus is much more of a cool toned taupe. Revolution's looks darker and by looking at the swatch, the formula isn't as smooth. This would probably look similar when worn on the eye though.
Revolution's Ludwin is so close to being an exact dupe! Kat's simply looks a hint warmer.
Samael again is very similar. Kat's is just a few shades lighter. This would probably look the same on the eye.
Make Up Revolution's Solas looks quite a bit darker than the original, but with a light hand would look similar on the eye.
Lucius actually looks more pigmented in Revolution's palette. Kat's is more cool toned though.
Saleos is a shade darker in the Revolution palette. Applied with a light hand, it would look the same on the eye.
Shax is definitely not as pigmented in the Revolution palette, to the point where it looks more of a charcoal grey. Kat's is more of a true pitch black. Make Up Revolution's could probably be built up nicely.
Liberatus looks more cream in Revolution's palette when compared to Kat's. It looks like they're equally as pigmented.
Succubus appears to be a decent dupe. Revolution's is just a little darker. It probably wouldn't look any different on the eye.
Sytry is definitely more pigmented in Kat's palette - Revolution's looks a little more patchy. Kat's is also more warm toned.
Finally Latinus: again, these are probably an exact dupe of each other. Even the pigmentation looks the same.
Is Make Up Revolution's palette an exact dupe to the Kat Von D one? It's pretty close.
Quite a few of the shades are a little darker than the original palette, but with a light hand and some blending they would give the same effect on the eye. Some shades may need building up a little more as they can be quite patchy, but this is standard for most shadows. The biggest difference is probably the formulation: Make Up Revolution shadows aren't normally as buttery as Kat's, but for this palette they have changed their formula. Perhaps this does feel similar to Kat Von D's.
It's important to note that I haven't bought this Make Up Revolution palette or even swatched it. I've just compared the two based on someone else's swatches. I would say swatch Revolution's palette in store to see if it's a formula you like.
I would definitely say that if Kat Von D's palette is out of your budget, then you really don't need it. Make Up Revolution have come up with a dupe for what could be £30 less.
Thank you so much for reading. Hopefully you can get hold of some of Kat's products when they are released, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Heather ☾
These are the more cool tones in the palette. Lazarus (base), Saleos (contour), Shax (define) and Liberatus (highlight).
Lazarus is one of my favourite shades in the palette as I can use this to contour my face as well, so I'm glad it is one of the bigger pans. Shax is one of the most pigmented blacks I have ever seen in a palette. Lucius can sometimes need a little bit of building up, but it is a true white shadow, so this could be due to the nature of white shadows.
This is my favourite part of the palette, the warm tones. Ludwin (base), Succubus (contour), Sytry (define) and Latinus (highlight).
Every shadow in this third is packed full of pigment. At first I thought Sytry would be too similar to the other browns in the palette, but it is very unique.
Here I created a warm toned look using this palette. I used Laetus all over my lid and under the eye. I then used Ludwin in my crease and on the outer third of my eye, kind of to act like a transition shade so I could use Succubus to deepen the crease. These two shades I mixed for the bottom lash line. To add a little more depth I added Sytry in the outer corner. I then added a smokey wing under my eye using shax, and smudged this out.
Here you can see that I used Lazarus to contour my face.
It gives a very subtle contour. As it's cool toned I think it looks very natural. This could be built up as well to make a very strong contour. This works well on me with my light skin tone, but I don't think it could work for people with a darker skin tone. You could always experiment and mix different shades together though.
I have also used Liberatus to set and brighten my under eye area before. It looked nice, however it's quite hard not to pick up the surrounding shades due to it being in a smaller pan.
Hit or Miss?
I was hesitant purchasing this palette as it is all matte - I love glitter! Actually I've discovered that for a quick everyday look, this palette is ideal because of how simple and matte it is. I'm also a massive fan of warm shadows, so seeing that a third of this palette is completely cool tone worried me. This has allowed me to step out of my comfort zone though, and incorporate some cool toned shadows into my everyday looks.
Overall, this palette is an absolute hit. The shadows are so creamy and pigmented, unlike other matte shadows I've tried. There is a variety of shadows, but not to the point where the palette is over whelming. It would suit a variety of skin tones as well as eye colours, due to the amount of depth in the palette. If Kat's other palettes are this high quality, then I need to try those also.
Comparison
I thought I'd compare Kat Von D's Shade and Light Eye Palette to Make Up Revolution's newest palette: Ultra Eye Contour - Light and Shade. This palette retails for £8.00 and includes a brush. Make Up Revolution are also cruelty free, however I don't think that they are vegan.
Here you can see the Make Up Revolution Ultra Eye Contour.
Right off the bat, the name of the palettes are very similar, revolving around eye contouring.
The layout is identical. The website however does not talk about the pan size. From pictures, they do look slightly smaller. Unlike Kat's palette, this palette is made from plastic - not quite as sturdy as the original Shade and Light Palette.
I decided to compare the swatches of these two palettes. The swatches of the Make Up Revolution palette was taken from their Instagram. The swatches are below. I edited Kat's shade names on top to make for easy comparison.
In the original Shade and Light Palette, Lazarus is much more of a cool toned taupe. Revolution's looks darker and by looking at the swatch, the formula isn't as smooth. This would probably look similar when worn on the eye though.
Revolution's Ludwin is so close to being an exact dupe! Kat's simply looks a hint warmer.
Samael again is very similar. Kat's is just a few shades lighter. This would probably look the same on the eye.
Lucius actually looks more pigmented in Revolution's palette. Kat's is more cool toned though.
Saleos is a shade darker in the Revolution palette. Applied with a light hand, it would look the same on the eye.
Shax is definitely not as pigmented in the Revolution palette, to the point where it looks more of a charcoal grey. Kat's is more of a true pitch black. Make Up Revolution's could probably be built up nicely.
Liberatus looks more cream in Revolution's palette when compared to Kat's. It looks like they're equally as pigmented.
Succubus appears to be a decent dupe. Revolution's is just a little darker. It probably wouldn't look any different on the eye.
Sytry is definitely more pigmented in Kat's palette - Revolution's looks a little more patchy. Kat's is also more warm toned.
Finally Latinus: again, these are probably an exact dupe of each other. Even the pigmentation looks the same.
Is Make Up Revolution's palette an exact dupe to the Kat Von D one? It's pretty close.
Quite a few of the shades are a little darker than the original palette, but with a light hand and some blending they would give the same effect on the eye. Some shades may need building up a little more as they can be quite patchy, but this is standard for most shadows. The biggest difference is probably the formulation: Make Up Revolution shadows aren't normally as buttery as Kat's, but for this palette they have changed their formula. Perhaps this does feel similar to Kat Von D's.
It's important to note that I haven't bought this Make Up Revolution palette or even swatched it. I've just compared the two based on someone else's swatches. I would say swatch Revolution's palette in store to see if it's a formula you like.
I would definitely say that if Kat Von D's palette is out of your budget, then you really don't need it. Make Up Revolution have come up with a dupe for what could be £30 less.
Thank you so much for reading. Hopefully you can get hold of some of Kat's products when they are released, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Heather ☾
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