Kat Von D Divine Studded Kiss Creme Lipstick Review, Photos, Swatches

Formula Overview

$19.00/0.12 oz. - $158.33 Per Ounce

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.

Browse all of our KVD Beauty Studded Kiss Crème Lipstick swatches.

Ingredients