Kat Von D Shade + Light Eye Contour Palette Review + Swatches

Matte neutral palettes have been invading  my makeup collection for... Pretty much the whole spring season. While I have plenty of palettes to go around, I immediately felt the need to have the Kat Von D Shade + Light Eye Contour Palette, which retails at $46.00 and is sold exclusively at Sephora. I thought, "Do I really need an EYE contouring palette?" and well, yes I do.

The Kat Von D Shade + Light Eye Contour Palette worked up a quiet storm on Instagram. Not many well-known beauty gurus made a fuss about it but as soon as it stocked on Sephora's website, the palette sold out... It took awhile but it did sell out. In the mean time, I was leisurely playing with my palette. 

Unlike other matte neutral palettes, the Kat Von D Shade + Light Eye Contour is carefully constructed to be grouped by undertones. The first section has a selection of neutral shadows, followed by cool-toned, then warm-toned shadows. The clever design not only allows you to better create looks, but also allows you to really evaluate what kinds of shadow undertones you prefer.

The large pans are meant to be base shades, the darkest of each section is meant to define your eye, and the lightest of the sections are meant to highlight the peaks of the eyes. The palette also comes with an instructional handbook with pictorials on how to create looks for each of the different undertones.

The names of the shadows have become a bit tricky for me. They all emit a sense of Latin-origin and I can never quite remember which shades I'm using. The one I do remember is Sytry because I use it so often, but also because I don't know how I should pronounce it, "sai-try? sai-tree?" was basically my response throughout my review video. Ha ha. Someone help. xP

All the swatches were done without primer, with my fingers, and in 3 swipes. I am highly impressed with how the palette performs. They're pigmented and long-lasting, while being easy to blend. The shadows themselves do have some kick-up, as they're powdery, but it adds to the blendability and doesn't take away from the quality of the shadows. I really like the idea of sorting out the shades by undertone, because it's different but also because it helps to educate the user in subtle ways.

Overall, I love this palette! It's probably my favorite matte neutral palette thus far. Blendable matte shadows are tough to come by and this is definitely one of the best ones I've used. I would recommend this palette over and over! What do you think?