[dropcap]E[/dropcap]yeshadow palettes are one of our favorite makeup products to use since it gives the chance to play around with color and texture, and try fun makeup looks. As makeup connossieurs, we love finding out about new and upcoming palette releases from some of our favorite beauty brands. Recently, we were at the makeup show LA in March, and we’re able to pick up the Kat Von D Shade + Light Eye Contour Palette. After a few weeks of playing around with the eye contour palette, here is an in-depth review at the eye contour palette with swatches as well.
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The sleek palette features 12 Shade + Light eyeshadows said to help create definition, lift and balance to our eye makeup. The eyeshadows are arranged in three quads: Neutral Quad, Cool Quad, and Warm Quad. Each quad has its own base, contour, define and highlight eyeshadows that work with any eye shape or skin tone.
The 12 Eyeshadows
[one_third]Neutral Quad
[Base] “Laetus”
[Contour] “Samael”
[Define] “Solas”
[Highlight] “Lucius”[/one_third]
[one_third]Cool Quad
[Base] “Lazarus”
[Contour] “Saleos”
[Define] “Shax”
[Highlight] “Liberatus”[/one_third]
[one_third_last]Warm Quad
[Base] “Ludwin”
[Contour] “Succubus”
[Define] “Sytry”
[Highlight] “Latinus”[/one_third_last]
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One of the key features of the Kat Von D palette is that all 12 eyeshadows are completely matte. Each quad pays homage to light to dark, and vice versa. Here we showcase each of the eyeshadows, as well as swatches.
We opted for no primer when swatching each individual eye shadow to see the full pigmentation first.
Three of the 12 eyeshadows in the palette serve as the “base” eyeshadows, and therefore larger in size. Again no primer was used to determine pigmentation.
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Here we break down our review in different categories:
Color Payoff/Texture: As you can see from the swatches, the eye contour palette is very pigmented. Again a huge bonus about this palette is that all the eyeshadows are completely matte, and therefore wearable for everyday use, but still able translate to a great night look. While the texture of these eyeshadows are not as buttery as say Too Face eyeshadows, they do have a silkiness to them that allows for easy blending with little to now fall out. Our favorite eyeshadows are Samael, Solas, Lazarus, Succubus, Latinus and Ludwin.
Performance: One of the most important factors when testing a new makeup product is how well it performs. Now we have only ever tried liquid products from Kat Von D, so we were excited to see the quality of the eyeshadows and how they worked on our eyes. With a few weeks playing around with the different eyeshadows, and using different techniques and tools, we are really impressed with the quality and performance of the Shade + Light palette. For those gals who love their nudes and smokey eye looks, this palette is a dream come true. What we loved most about using this palette is how incredibly easy it is to blend and mix and match the eyeshadows together to create a sultry, defined eye makeup look within minutes.
Uniqueness: While we the palette does boast 12 all-matte eyeshadows, the color selection is not as varied as we’d like. Most of the colors on this palette steer towards browns, nudes and beiges with a dark black thrown in the mixture. We would have loved a few color options like purples and navys to play with the dark to light and light to dark mood of the palette. Ludwin and Succubus are the two colors that stand out the most in this Kat Von D palette, and help to add a bit more oomph for our taste.
Packaging: We are suckers for sleek but artsy packaging, and Shade + Light Eye contour palette from Kat Von D hits every note. The palette sports a sleek black scheme with Shade + Light etched with a gold outline and slightly popped out for a fun 3D feel. Unlike some of the palettes we own, this palette has all the eyeshadows conveniently labelled in the back which makes it easy to keep track of which eyeshadow is which. We also love that this palette isn’t bulky so it makes it ideal for traveling. A mirror is a standard in our books when it comes to a good palette and the Shade + Light palette has this in spades with a full length mirror that makes it easy to see our entire makeup look as opposed to just our eye makeup.
Overall: While we would have loved to see a bit more color variation on this palette, we were impressed with the high quality and performance. The matte eyeshadows are incredibly easy to work with, and with the included contouring guide, creating eye-opening looks just got so much easier.
Price: $46.00
Where to Find: Sephora
