Kat Von D I Am Divine Spring 2018 Eyeshadow Palette ($38.00 for 0.48 oz.) is a new, limited edition palette featuring eight eyeshadows with a mix of mattes and shimmers. It’s certainly a fun color scheme that isn’t something we’ve seen over and over again, but the execution of some of the shades here (like Hard Magic, the matte black, and Female Trouble, the matte white) was tragic.
Kat Von D Divine Studded Kiss Crème Lipstick ($19.00 for 0.12 oz.) is a muted, medium pink-beige with warm undertones and a satin finish. It had opaque pigmentation that applied evenly and smoothly across my lips without tugging. I was surprised as I just finished reviewing the range in the new formula, but this particular shade was creamier, smoother, and more velvety with a thicker texture that still felt lightweight and was comfortable to wear. On me, it lasted for five hours and was neither drying nor hydrating over time.
Per the brand, the new formula is supposed to be "the creamiest, most cushiony and unbelievably pigmented lipstick to ever cross your lips" that is "comfortable" to wear. I don't know if the brand has actually tried the plethora of other lipsticks on the market, because I can tell you that after swatching all 40 shades back-to-back, these are nowhere near "the creamiest" or "most cushiony" or even "unbelievably pigmented." They were, on average, much creamier than the original formula, but a fair number of shades were firm and dense enough that short strokes was better for application otherwise there was noticeable tugging. Some shades were pigmented, some shades were uneven or sheer. The mid-tone shades seemed to be the best overall in terms of application, pigmentation, and how they looked on the lips, whereas the shimmery shades were often sheerer, gritty, and drying while the deeper, vampy shades were lacking pigmentation and could apply streakily.
They seemed to have longer wear than most lipsticks (five to eight hours) but have been lightly to intensely drying, depending on the shade, and I found that wearing them back-to-back made the drying aspect more pronounced. They had a strong, sweet, burnt sugar kind of scent that was noticeable when initially applied, but I didn't detect during wear.
I did not review all shades in the original Studded Kiss formula as it wasn't feasible for me to purchase all of those at the time, and after trying what I did purchase, they weren't promising (often very dry, stiff, and painful to use with a drying formula). From what I can tell, some are better (see: LUV (Original) vs. LUV (New); Coven (Original) vs. Coven (New)), some are worse (see: Gold Blooded (Original) vs. Gold Blooded (New); Poe (Original) vs. Poe (New)). The shimmery shades seemed worse for the reformulation, and the glittery shades are like the grittiest sandpaper across one's lips; I felt like I was ripping my lips off when applying both Gold Blooded and Piaf with Poe not being far behind.
Kat Von D Studded Kiss Crème Lipstick ($19.00 for 0.12 oz.) is a new, 40-shade deep range and is supposed to be “the creamiest, most cushiony and unbelievably pigmented lipstick to ever cross your lips” that is “comfortable” to wear. I don’t know if the brand has actually tried the plethora of other lipsticks on the market, because I can tell you that after swatching all 40 shades back-to-back, these are nowhere near “the creamiest” or “most cushiony” or even “unbelievably pigmented.”
They were, on average, much creamier than the original formula, but a fair number of shades were firm and dense enough that short strokes was better for application otherwise there was noticeable tugging. Some shades were pigmented, some shades were uneven or sheer. The mid-tone shades seemed to be the best overall in terms of application, pigmentation, and how they looked on the lips, whereas the shimmery shades were often sheerer, gritty, and drying while the deeper, vampy shades were lacking pigmentation and could apply streakily.
They seemed to have longer wear than most lipsticks (five to eight hours) but have been lightly to intensely drying, depending on the shade, and I found that wearing them back-to-back made the drying aspect more pronounced. They had a strong, sweet, burnt sugar kind of scent that was noticeable when initially applied, but I didn’t detect during wear.
I did not review all shades in the original Studded Kiss formula as it wasn’t feasible for me to purchase all of those at the time, and after trying what I did purchase, they weren’t promising (often very dry, stiff, and painful to use with a drying formula). From what I can tell, some are better (see: LUV (Original) vs. LUV (New); Coven (Original) vs. Coven (New)), some are worse (see: Gold Blooded (Original) vs. Gold Blooded (New); Poe (Original) vs. Poe (New)). The shimmery shades seemed worse for the reformulation, and the glittery shades are like the grittiest sandpaper across one’s lips; I felt like I was ripping my lips off when applying both Gold Blooded and Piaf with Poe not being far behind.
Kat Von D Misfit Studded Kiss Crème Lipstick ($19.00 for 0.12 oz.) is a rich, coppery red with warm undertones and a satin finish. The pigmentation was good, though not quite opaque in a single layer. The lipstick had a smooth consistency, but it was rather dense, which resulted in some tugging during application. It did not feel clingy, and it only started to feel uncomfortable after four hours of wear, as it felt drying at that point. The color stayed on nicely for six hours.
Per the brand, the new formula is supposed to be "the creamiest, most cushiony and unbelievably pigmented lipstick to ever cross your lips" that is "comfortable" to wear. I don't know if the brand has actually tried the plethora of other lipsticks on the market, because I can tell you that after swatching all 40 shades back-to-back, these are nowhere near "the creamiest" or "most cushiony" or even "unbelievably pigmented." They were, on average, much creamier than the original formula, but a fair number of shades were firm and dense enough that short strokes was better for application otherwise there was noticeable tugging. Some shades were pigmented, some shades were uneven or sheer. The mid-tone shades seemed to be the best overall in terms of application, pigmentation, and how they looked on the lips, whereas the shimmery shades were often sheerer, gritty, and drying while the deeper, vampy shades were lacking pigmentation and could apply streakily.
They seemed to have longer wear than most lipsticks (five to eight hours) but have been lightly to intensely drying, depending on the shade, and I found that wearing them back-to-back made the drying aspect more pronounced. They had a strong, sweet, burnt sugar kind of scent that was noticeable when initially applied, but I didn't detect during wear.
I did not review all shades in the original Studded Kiss formula as it wasn't feasible for me to purchase all of those at the time, and after trying what I did purchase, they weren't promising (often very dry, stiff, and painful to use with a drying formula). From what I can tell, some are better (see: LUV (Original) vs. LUV (New); Coven (Original) vs. Coven (New)), some are worse (see: Gold Blooded (Original) vs. Gold Blooded (New); Poe (Original) vs. Poe (New)). The shimmery shades seemed worse for the reformulation, and the glittery shades are like the grittiest sandpaper across one's lips; I felt like I was ripping my lips off when applying both Gold Blooded and Piaf with Poe not being far behind.
Kat Von D Crush Studded Kiss Crème Lipstick ($19.00 for 0.12 oz.) is a bright, medium magenta with cool, blue undertones and a cream finish. The lipstick was just a touch creamy, so it didn’t tug on my lips like a lot of other shades did in this formula, though it was nowhere near “the creamiest” of textures. It had good pigmentation that covered my lips evenly for the most part with slight visible streaking along the edges of my lips (but it wasn’t noticeable from a normal viewing distance). It wore well for six hours but was somewhat drying over time.
Per the brand, the new formula is supposed to be "the creamiest, most cushiony and unbelievably pigmented lipstick to ever cross your lips" that is "comfortable" to wear. I don't know if the brand has actually tried the plethora of other lipsticks on the market, because I can tell you that after swatching all 40 shades back-to-back, these are nowhere near "the creamiest" or "most cushiony" or even "unbelievably pigmented." They were, on average, much creamier than the original formula, but a fair number of shades were firm and dense enough that short strokes was better for application otherwise there was noticeable tugging. Some shades were pigmented, some shades were uneven or sheer. The mid-tone shades seemed to be the best overall in terms of application, pigmentation, and how they looked on the lips, whereas the shimmery shades were often sheerer, gritty, and drying while the deeper, vampy shades were lacking pigmentation and could apply streakily.
They seemed to have longer wear than most lipsticks (five to eight hours) but have been lightly to intensely drying, depending on the shade, and I found that wearing them back-to-back made the drying aspect more pronounced. They had a strong, sweet, burnt sugar kind of scent that was noticeable when initially applied, but I didn't detect during wear.
I did not review all shades in the original Studded Kiss formula as it wasn't feasible for me to purchase all of those at the time, and after trying what I did purchase, they weren't promising (often very dry, stiff, and painful to use with a drying formula). From what I can tell, some are better (see: LUV (Original) vs. LUV (New); Coven (Original) vs. Coven (New)), some are worse (see: Gold Blooded (Original) vs. Gold Blooded (New); Poe (Original) vs. Poe (New)). The shimmery shades seemed worse for the reformulation, and the glittery shades are like the grittiest sandpaper across one's lips; I felt like I was ripping my lips off when applying both Gold Blooded and Piaf with Poe not being far behind.
