Kat Von D Memento Mori Eyeshadow Palette Review, Photos, Swatches
Kat Von D True Romance Eyeshadow Palette: Memento Mori
Kat Von D Memento Mori Eyeshadow Palette ($34.00 for 8 x 0.05 oz. eyeshadows) has been on my radar for awhile, but I’ve only now been able to really try it out! It contains eight eyeshadows, each pretty much the equivalent of a full-size eyeshadow (MAC eyeshadows are 0.05 oz., for reference), so it’s a great affordable palette. It’s also a rather colorful selection, so it’s very fun to play around with and apropos for summer.
- True is a violet-blue cream shadow that goes on glossy but seems to dry down to a nearly matte finish. I found the surface of mine a bit dry, but once I got deeper, it was fine. I thought it was an eyeliner at first, actually!
- Solitude is an iridescent lilac purple with a soft sheen. It’s the least shimmery shade of the bunch.
- Meditation is a light bronze with a little copper in it. It has a frosty finish.
- Agatha Pink is a pale peach with a shimmery/frosty finish.
- Sugar Skull is a shimmery white-gold.
- Peggy is a true teal base with flecks of white-gold sheen/shimmer. Almost strikes me as a duochrome. It’s so pretty, but I found that this shade seemed to fade a little when worn.
- Hard Luck is a deep forest green mixed with gray.
- Tijuana is a darkened black-brown base with flecks of gold and copper glitter-shimmer. This shade at ridiculous fall out, even when used sparingly. It’s a beautiful shade, but clean-up seems to be a must. Use less rather than more, too, and tap brush against your wrist to avoid excess fall out.
I thought the box the palette comes in was beautiful, and I was a bit let down by the cheap, white plastic palette inside. It just looked and felt like something I’d buy for $10 at the drugstore–not something that’s $34 and from Sephora. The included dual-ended brushes are actually bristled brushes, but they’re rather flimsy. They just kind of flop and make it a pain to really pack on color–plus they’re so tiny, I don’t have the patience to use ’em myself!
All of the shades have a very smooth texture, and they go on evenly and are richly pigmented. I do find that they’re a little on the powdery side, and may even work best with sponge applicators–at least with some of the shades (like Peggy and Tijuana). Tijuana was the troublemaker of the group, which frustrated me as it was also the prettiest (to me), so I really wanted it to be as beautiful on as it was swatched!
Overall, though, I think these are solid eyeshadows worth taking a look at if a particular palette color scheme grabs you. It took some getting used to using these before I was able to minimize the fall out with these. They also blend very easily, which is nice, but it means use softer strokes and feather rather than sweep for most of the work! I have heard that the Beethoven palette is one of her best palettes, so I might check that out next.
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- Product: 25/30
- Value: 9/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 3/5
RECOMMENDATION: I like the palette overall, and I’m impressed at the level of pigmentation of the shadows. I think it’s a great option for a palette of colorful eyeshadows, especially if you’re on a budget.
AVAILABILITY: Sephora
Ive been waiting for you to do a review on this and I finally just bought it. lol glad to see a review though.
grrrr…. 🙁 I live in Germany and there is no sephora 🙁 and no Kat von D stuff 🙁 but I love it 🙂
Oh I love this. So pigmented and such beautiful shades
Oh Yes. This is exactly what I would wear. I love it. Thanks for the swatches and gorgeous pics, Christine!
I actually picked this up 3 days ago along with Beethoven and the texture feels really soft i was wondering if you could a look please cause i don’t know what to do with this pallete and i don’t wanna leave it lying around
it looks great!! are they as pigmented as they seem?
Yep, they’re pretty pigmented!
This has been on my radar too. I have the Beethoven palette and looooove it! The shades in that one are so buttery and pigmented. I would definately reccomend giving it a try!
I have this palette and I really like it, the colors are so pretty. I managed to get it for $12 on a girls blog sale, and it was almost like new, it was just missing the little brushes. So for $12 I’m very happy. =)
Gotta admit, I have this palette and I absolutely love it. I skipped on shimmermoss and humid from TTB because I felt like I already had similar shades from this. I LOVE the color “Meditation”, and use it every day…I’ve already hit pan on it! [and agatha pink too lol]…So my question is, do you know of a good dupe for meditation? I would buy the palette again, but…for only one color right now would be pretty silly.
Also, the one down side I will say that I have with it, is that Tijuana broke, and little bits keep falling out of the pan. I have about half left, and I’m worried soon that it’ll all break and fall out! It’s such a pretty color and I’ve barely been able to use it. Argh!!
Meditation reminds me of a lighter UD Free Love, a pinker MAC Naked Lunch/Gleam/Jest.
Thank you so much!! I’ll def be picking one of those up soon!
i did a swatch of meditation next to urban decay’s primer potion in sin, and its an almost exact match! hope that helps!
This is one of my favorite palettes, based on color selection and the texture…sugar skull & peggy are my favorites… I have been using this for months now and have been waiting for the line to come out with something new to top this…I saw a new box the same shape at sephora, then got bummed when I realized it was only bronzer! The “true color” makes a good cream base, still need a primer, but it changes the color a bit if you layer the other colors over this, I have been experimenting with looks using that as a base color!!! I really hate the fallout too, I feel like no matter how eye use it, I always get a big poof of eyeshadow dust in my eyeball!!!
this is one of my favorite makeup items i own. I absolutely LOVE sugar skull. it’s my favorite in the whole palette. i could however do without the stupid cream shadow. totally a waste of space.
Anyone familiar with the phrase Memento Mori? It means “Remember you must/will die.”
Thanks Kat… gorg colors though.
I kind of feel that these palettes are a bit hit-or-miss, IMO. I have Ludwig and True Love. I love Ludwig. It’s perfect and almost all the colors (with the exception of Clay) apply smoothly and are very pigmented. True Love is just okay for me. I don’t like the cream shadow, and some of the textures felt off to me. But I do love the packaging. The box, the tissue paper and sticker…it’s so nice! I don’t know if they put less effort into the packaging on the LE palettes, but I certainly notice a difference in thickness and quality between the permanent Ludwig and the LE True Love.
I wanted to add that I use the little brushes to apply eyeliner or to wing out my liner. Sometimes I use them to apply lipgloss or lipstick in palettes. But otherwise, they are pretty useless!
Memento Mori . . . hmmmm . . . Looking at the actual palette, I wonder if Kat Von D even knows what that means let alone anything about the historical and cultural significance of memento mori. The name is completely at odds with the color selection as is the beautiful eye look you created. Memento mori=remember you must die
Yeah, I know what it translates to, though I don’t the history myself.
Memento mori have been around for ages, but they were particulary popular during the Victorian age when it was common to have keepsakes to remind people of their own mortality and/or the death of loved ones. They often took the form of rings, lockets, etc. In the 1800’s, as photography became more common place, pictures of the deceased all laid out in their finery were often a part of a grieving families “memento mori”.
As for a relationship to Mexico’s Dia de Los Muertos, could be, but the palette doesn’t use the vibrant colors and stark black and white that are associated with that holiday, either About as close as this palette gets to that holiday is the color named Tijuana–and that’s in name only.
No, Kat needs to get her act together.
Yes she does!
I think I’ve heard this described as her “day of the dead” palette so maybe that is what she was thinking when she named it juxtaposing a morbid name with bright happy colors
since Kat does say she is Latina (she was born in Mexico) this palette was supposed to be something that went with Day of the Dead. i read it in some story in a mag or online
I have been LUSTING over this palette for so long! LOL. So glad you did a review on it, I may not buy it after all, or maybe buy another instead, I’m gonna swatch them all again at Sephora!
Great review. This isn’t one of my favorite palettes of hers so I never picked it up but I do own the Beethoven one and love it and plan to pick up the Ludwig one. I am curios how the new Adora one is however that one has 3 cream shadows so that makes me iffy.
I love Kat Von D’s palettes. This one isn’t my favorite of the bunch but they all seem to end up being worth it because the colors mix together and with other brands’ colors so well. The cream shadow is alwasy the sore spot with any of her limited edition palettes. I don’t know why she overlooked the consistency of those so much!
HAHA – I just read this now right after I wrote that I would buy this thing. Yeah, I guess I’d really have to test it out before committing to it!
Ahhh I LOVE this pallet! I got it as a birthday gift 🙂 So happy to see it made it on here!
I really want that palette!!
i love kat von d palettes! i have all the le ones. pigmented colors. the only ones i dont like are when theirs a cream e/s in it , bc they always dry out ! but the rest are good
Not bad, but I don’t think I’d use enough of the colors to make it worth the purchase tbh.
I thought the cream shadow was supposed to be used as a base.
Or you could use it as a liner or not use it at all 🙂
The Beethoven pallet is awesome. You should definitely try it.
I’ve had this palette for quite a while now (i got it as soon as it was on sephora) and I agree with your review about Tijauna and fallout. I found I used the tiny brushes that came with it for that shade, as an eyeliner! it seemed to work ok. I actually do like the packaging though. It’s a nice freshening up from the black. I am really sad I missed the Gypsy palette – I really loved the greens and yellows 🙁
I don’t mind the white packaging, but it has a very cheap feel to me 🙁
I’m so getting this palette. I’ve been wanting it for a while but I had no job…but now I do. This is gonna one of the first things i’m gonna add to my makeup collection.
I wish I could afford this palette…
I, too want this palette badly but only have seen it on ebay for a rediculous price; i will have to check again and see if there are others available for a more reasonable price. Can anyone recommend a good dupe for sugar skull & tijuana?
Sugar Skull is in the Truth palette, which is half off on Sephora’s website right now.
I can’t find this palette on the sephora website! Has it been discontinued already?!