Kat Von D Innerstellar Palette

Purchased item.

So at this point I pretty much auto-buy anything Kat Von D. There have been some misses, certainly (the mediocre Holiday palette, the underwhelming lipstick re-launch), but more often than not, I dig it. And honestly, KVD herself is growing on me, even though she has had some equally unfortunate missteps (see: her gross affair with Jesse James, the "Celebutard" controversy). She just seems so grounded and actually sweet in her tutorials, and genuinely passionate about her brand. Her instagram is also chock-full of interesting bits about art and literature, which is not at all what I had in my head about her.

ANYWAY.

On to the Interstellar palette (55$ CAD at Sephora).

Pretty, right? I love the groovy packaging design, and I was drawn to the cool-toned, neutral-leaning shades, balanced by a glimmery lilac and vibrant eggplant purple.

Performance-wise, most of the shades are spot-on with the quality I've come to generally expect: soft, creamy, not overly dense, but well-pigmented and blendable, lasting a work day over primer without fading. But there are a few exceptions.

The most iffy shades are actually in the first "quad" in the palette. The ice pink being a bit sheer and powdery, so while it's not a shade that I'd apply over a larger area, it works for the tear duct area, and has enough iridescence to add a duochrome flash to a colour layered underneath. The cool taupey/plummy brown is great, an easy satin-finish shade that's perfect for the crease. The shark-grey is maybe a bit sheer as well, but otherwise lovely.

The purple, however, was my biggest disappointment. It has super choppy payoff, and fades out like you wouldn't believe. To get it to show up on the eyelid, I had to use primer AND concealer AND a setting spray to wet the brush, and it still showed up more ashy than it does in this swatch. If you're buying the palette with this shade in mind, don't. There are definitely better options out there.

But then if you're in it for the cool neutrals, you have some great ones in the middle quad. All of these are beautifully textured. LOOK AT THAT PEWTER. The lilac is gorgeous as well, especially layered over the gray.

The final quad is good too, with the vanilla satin being the weakest, but for a brow bone shade it's actually just right, as it blends out the transition shade without adding extra frosting. The shimmery taupe is perfect, and the silver is out-of-control pigmented, definitely the richest feeling shade as well. The black is about average, pigmented but a touch choppy, but nothing daunting.

The purple fail and a couple of quibbles aside, this is a sweet little palette that could fill a hole in your collection if you need cooler tones, especially those mid-toned crease and transition shades (seriously, FOUR taupe/medium brown shades here, albeit all with different textures and finishes).

It's probably not one I'd recommend as a starter palette (not quite enough variation, since everything leans to one side of the spectrum, and heavily favours the medium shade range), nor would I urge the serious makeup aficionado to prioritize it, since they'd probably have these types of colours already. If you're a KVD collector, on the other hand....well, I don't have to convince you, since you probably already do have it.

My personal feeling is that I probably loved it a lot more initially, but that bust up with the purple broke my heart a bit. That said, I do find myself reaching for it quite a bit when I'm looking for that perfect crease colour.

I have a couple of looks here to show you how it applies. The one on the left is a typical cool-toned, work-appropriate, classic eye look, which this palette is perfectly suited to. (I've also rocked out a fantastic grungy, silver smoky eye with it.)

The picture on the right was my attempt to get the purple to show up with some kind of vibrancy (with grey contact lenses for some added contrast). I'm sure someone with more skills could put together a more flattering look, but it doesn't change the fact that's it's a righteous mess to work with, and actually started looking grey and faded within a couple of hours. (No such issues with the rest of the palette.)

Have you guys tried Interstellar or any of the other KVD palettes? What do you think of her line in general?

(I purchased this item. This post is not sponsored or otherwise compensated.)