Kat Von D

Righteous Red Kat Von D Beauty Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Project Chimps

August 25th, 2016 by Karen 18 Comments

NOTE: If you ever wear gorgeous matte red Kat Von D Beauty Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Project Chimps, please try to rein in your compulsive urge to rub your lips together…

Because I wore this limited edition $20 lippie to run some errands yesterday (Target for canned goods and some baby stuff and Trader Joe’s for groceries), and at some point between leaving the house, running my errands and returning home, I must have rubbed my lips together, because I had red smudged all around my pout and effectively looked like the freakin’ Joker.

DUDE! It was like Halloween had arrived waaaaay too early.

But at least I know now why the Target clerk was looking at me funny when I smiled at him… Haha!

The worst part, though, was that El Hub was with me the entire time and didn’t say a damned thing!

I don’t know if he was secretly laughing on the inside, or if he’s just so used to me looking like a crazy person…

The jury’s still out on that one.

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Easy FOTD for Work Featuring the Kat Von D Shade + Light Eye Contour Quad in Plum

June 17th, 2016 by Adia Goss 16 Comments

kat von d shade and light palette — Kat Von D makin’ it a little easier to get ready for work!

The $26 Kat Von D Shade + Light Eye Contour Quad in Plum is really helping me get out the door in the morning. I love eyeshadow quads and palettes and definitely think they’re more convenient than trying to pull together different single eyeshadows to create a look, but there’s always a balance between having a palette that has enough variety to do a lot of different makeup looks (like the Minnie Mouse X Sephora one), and one that has a more edited selection of colors tailored to just one or two looks.

With four coordinating shades and a matte purple vibe, the $26 Kat Von D Shade + Light Eye Contour Quad in Plum is more of the latter.

kat von d eye contour quad — So easy to use…

For my makeup today I used the quad’s four shadows in the way the note on the packaging suggests, but you could also use the darker shades all over (rather than only in the crease) and create a much smokier eye.

The whole point of these Kat Von D quads, and Plum is one of four, is that the four shades all go together, making it easier to do a few simple eye looks. In this case, the colors are purples and plums, and this is supposed to be the best of the four quads for people with green eyes (there’s also a Sage quad for brown eyes, Rust for blue eyes, and Smoke for all eye colors).

These purples are pretty neutral, which makes the quad quite versatile, in my opinion, but based on the pics I saw online, I expected the shades to be cooler toned.

That lid color, in particular, is a bit warmer than I thought. In these pictures, the darkest color looks like a warm reddish plum, but it’s definitely more like a neutral/cool-toned purplish plum color.

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How I Rock Pink Eyeshadow (A Collaboration With Jen and Adia)

May 6th, 2016 by Anna Oh 17 Comments

fotd-pink-makeup2 — Wearing Ardency Inn Rose Gold Eyeshadow, Becca Rose Gold Pressed Eyeshadow, and MAC Finally Free Lipstick

A friend and I recently had a photography date in a charming neighborhood, snacking on amazing salted caramel “cake” donuts (they are as good as they sound). It was a picture perfect weekend, so I decided to take advantage of the amazing weather to wear pink.

This week Jen, Adia and I are showcasing our favorite way to rock pink eyeshadow, and I call this look “Rose Gold Eyeshadow for a Day of Donuts and Photoshoots.”

Here are a few of my favorite pink-toned pieces…

fotd — FOTD Makeup Menu: Nars Concealer, MAC Mascara, Kat Von D Tattoo Liner, MAC Finally Free Lipstick, and Becca Rose Gold

ardency inn rose gold — Ardency Inn “Rose Gold” — the singles pop out from the magnet!

naked 3 palette — Urban Decay Naked 3. I used this palette to blend

What I used:

Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer ($29): I have the shade called Honey, and I’m joining the bandwagon… It’s an awesome concealer. I use it to target my problem areas, and I can skip the foundation step on good days.
MAC Charged Black Mineralize Multi-Effect Lash ($22): From the MAC Future Collection, this mascara is lightweight and lengthening. No crazy volume here. but I have been using this for weeks.
Kat Von D Tattoo Liner ($19): There are 2 types of people in this world — those who love the Tattoo Liner, and those who prefer the Ink Liner. I always come back to the Tattoo because I love the flexible soft brush pen.
MAC x Caitlyn Jenner Finally Free Lipstick ($17): This is with me in my minimal makeup bag, and I can’t recommend this color enough. SO pretty and perfect. I didn’t re-apply after the donuts, though, so it’s not present in the outdoor images.
Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed ($38): As the only Shimmering Skin Perfector I own, this deserves a special place on my vanity. Rose Gold is a highlighting blush or a blush-topper for the lighter skinned girls.
Ardency Inn Modster Manuka Honey Enriched Pigments ($21): The star of my look, Rose Gold is the creamiest, most nuanced rose-taupe eyeshadow I’ve seen. A perfect pick for anyone interested in getting into pinks.
Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette ($54): I use the darker shades in this palette constantly for many of my looks. They blend perfectly, and I love the matte colors in particular. I used some of the darker shades to quickly shade in my eyebrows too.

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Kat Von D Metal Crush “Thunderstruck” Eyeshadow

April 14th, 2016 by Anna Oh 17 Comments

The long-running Unsung Heroes series here on Makeup and Beauty Blog features some of our all-time favorite permanent collection products.

Hi everyone!

Now, as someone who has a weakness for color, eyeshadows are very dangerous territory for me.

I’m a total neutral lover and, as of quite recently, a color lover too…unfortunately for my wallet. I usually try to buy my eyeshadows in palettes or sets (like the Make Up For Ever shadows) to save money, but every now and then, there are some singles that I can’t be alive without.

(Ummm…this would include eyeshadows like Rose Gold by Ardency Inn and Pretentious by Makeup Geek.)

And one of my FAVORITES of those is Kat Von D Metal Crush Eyeshadow in Thunderstruck ($21).

I first found out about it on Kat Von D’s Instagram a couple months ago, because it was the #1 selling item (or maybe it was the #1 eyeshadow?) at Sephora. I honestly didn’t really need any more convincing at that point, but after some research, I saw that people were using it as a highlighter, too, and then I REALLY didn’t need to be convinced anymore.

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The $46 Kat Von D Shade + Light Contour Palette: For Cheeks So Sharp They Could Slice Pizza

February 5th, 2015 by Karen 25 Comments

Because, clearly, the most logical thing to do when you’re fighting a cold is to flick out your eyeliner and contour your cheeks.

Clearly. 🙂

Sniffle-upagus says what now?!

Sorry, I think the cold meds are getting to me… I feel cuckoo for cocoa puffs right now, but at least my cheekbones could slice pizza, thanks to the Kat V D Shade + Light Contour Palette.

Admittedly, I didn’t think I was going to like this palette because of that font on the cover…and yes, that did sound crazier than I thought it would.

I’m not a fan of that lower case “h.”

But regarding the palette, first, I should say that I’m not really big on mega-contouring, and that’s mostly because of the amount of blending. It usually takes a lot of it, and blending seems to be one of those things with very little room for error. When I half-@ss it, I end up looking like I drew all over my face with a Magic Marker.

Not cute.

I’d say that most of the time I’m a “light dusting of golden bronzer” girl, but this palette could change that.

Kat Von D Shade + Light Contour Palette Swatches

I expected Kat Von D’s Shade + Light Contour Palette ($46) to be difficult to use, and I thought I’d need a few tries. But it only took one.

The fluffy, soft powders turned out to be easy to blend. My forearms did NOT get a workout, which in this case was good. 🙂

Note the range of marvelous matte (YES!) colors, including lighter mattes that you can use as highlighting powders (a pinkish nude, a yellowy beige and a soft peach) and three darker mattes good for contouring (a cool-toned taupe, a soft neutral brown and a cool-toned grayish brown).

The matte shades can be used to quickly shape shadows and curves into the skin, and because they aren’t excessively cool (color temp-wise), they don’t appear ashy on my warm-toned skin (and they’re very pore-forgiving).
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