Glamour with glimmers: The Shade + Light Glimmer eye contour palette by Kat Von D...

 This year I don't think I won't be buying any limited-edition-release-for-Christmas makeup palette releases [except maybe the Kat Von D Saint & Sinner palette] as what I've seen has seen too rinse-and-repeat to things we've had in previous years. So I've decided to go though my current freshly-trimmed-down palette collection and pick out the as-yet-to-be-reviewed ones that are fairly recent non-festive releases, that are available now and may have gotten lost under the onslaught of Christmas releases.

Lets start with the release that I think was most under the radar; the Kat Von D Beauty Instagram page actually said that this palette wouldn't be available on the Debenhams site until November, but it came out at the end of September. As I mentioned above, I am waiting for Saint & Sinner, so that and the fact that I have hooded eyes, meant I wasn't going to bother getting this - a palette with no matte shades is way out of my comfort zone, in terms of both wearing and for spending money on. However Kat Von D makes my favourite shadows so the siren's call of a new release lured me in... 

The Shade + Light Glimmer Eye Contour palette contains the same neutral tones of shadow [set into the same neutral undertone, cool undertone, and warm undertone quads] that are in the Kat Von D permanent Shade + Light Eye Contour palette. The difference being that whilst the original palette is all matte, this LE edition's shadows are in four different finishes. You get; three larger pans of base shades in Porcelain (satin nude), Dusk (satin taupe), and Dune (satin peach). Three contour shades in Copper (metallic fawn), Cinder (metallic chestnut), and Rust (metallic rust). There are three define shades in Bronze (espresso with gold glitter), Onyx (jet black with silver glitter), and Jasper (chocolate with gold glitter). And then there are three 'topcoat' shades in Sterling (white gold special effect glimmer), Glacier (platinum special effect glimmer) and Quartz (rose gold special effect glimmer) for amping up the 'wow' factor - perfect for the upcoming festive season.

The neutral undertones [Porcelain, Copper, Bronze & Sterling]

The cool undertones [Dusk, Cinder, Onyx & Glacier]

The warm undertones [Dune, Rust, Jasper & Quartz]

I'll start by saying that although the layout style of grouping the shadows into quads is handy for the times when you open the palette and don't know where to start, don't feel that you have to stick to matching the undertones together all of the time - see my 'Mix and match' demo, to see how well the shades pair up together. You can tone down the glitz and pigments in the shades by mixing the satin base shades over the glittery shades for a more dialed-back look, like I did in the 'Mix and match' demo using 'Porcelain' (I lightly dusted it over the other shades with a fluffy crease brush).

My palette was bought in America almost two months ago, and so far I've been using it as a complete-look-in-one to test how well everything wears. To date I haven't had any problems with fading pigments, creasing, or transferring with using the non-matte shades anywhere other than my eyelids. The pigmentation on everything other then with the toppers is amazing - but the toppers are meant to be sheer. The fallout on everything [except 'Bronze' & the 'toppers'] is minimal. I've found that using a brush with flat, short and densely packed bristles gives the best results.

My only niggle is with the shade 'Bronze'; it is dryer than the other shadows and is crumbly. When it's applied it looks and wears fine, but I've hardly used it as it is messy with the kick-up and fallout. Not an outright issue as they are designed to be sheer and highly glittery, but the three 'topcoat' shades Sterling, Glacier and Quartz also have fall-out; the microglitter in these shades is very loose and messy, so definitely wear glitter glue under them, even when only using a teensy amount and tapping away excess. When I first got this palette I tried wearing these shades without glitter glue to see how they performed without any 'help', and I looked like I'd been crying tears of glitter. I've found that using a finger for application of the 'toppers' to create less fall-out compared to any type of brush I've got.

In future I'll probably use the Glimmer palette alongside neutral matte shades in my other palettes rather then as a complete-look-in-one palette, as that's more my comfort level, but you can use this palette alone - the results are a lot more wearable then I ever imagined. I wouldn't say that this is a must-have on it's own for us matte lovers, but if you already own the original Shade + Light palette or something similar and are a bit bored with creating matte looks, then this is a lovely companion piece that allows you to get out of the rut, but still use 'safer' shades. . 

I wish that I didn't recently give my original Shade + Light palette away now... 

You can buy the Shade + Light Glimmer palette from the Debenhams site for £37.