Kat Von D Shade + Light Eye Contour Quad: Rust

This past week was the Sephora VIB sale and we also hit 225,000 total views! (insert cheers and applause) They have 2 sales a year and November is the big one but this one is always nice too. Instead of 20% off it's 15% off for VIB Rouge and then 10% of for VIB and Beauty Insiders, I think. November is the Friends and Family event and it's 20% off for pretty much everyone. So I picked up, surprisingly, not very much. There wasn't much I needed or was interested in, even though companies were dropping new products and lines every day. The one thing I knew I wanted to try though was the Contour Quads from Kat Von D. There are 4 quad options and they are $26. That's actually a really good price in my opinion, especially since Kat Von usually has such great formulas. Plus her Shade+Light Eye Contour palette, which is all matte or mostly matte, was a huge hit so I was really excited for this.

I was going to do a Sephora haul first and show all the things I got but I actually am still waiting on a couple things. Plus, I wanted to try more of the stuff I got from the sale so I could give you a bit of a first impression /mini review before posting about them.

The packaging as always is adorable. It's a coffin style compact and that's just so true to the line. It's not very heavy, it's actually quite light as far as weight goes so it may feel a little cheap or less sturdy but none the less I love it and would still travel with it. It's not super sleek like a small z palette, the Make Up Forever metal quad palette, or the ABH quad you get when you order 4 shadows, which I seen on UIta they're offering the ABH empty quads for $10 which is a good deal. So it could seem bulky and perhaps it is somewhat, but it's still a good size. It's pretty much the size, length wise, of an iPhone.

So I got the quad "Rust". From the name you can probably tell it's gonna be very orangey and warm palette and it is.  It has 4 matte shades in it. 1 larger shade being the "base" for the eye and other shade to contour and highlight the eye socket and brow bone. The smaller shades are still standard size from her other palettes so you still get a normal sized shadows. I got Rust because I knew I would use it and it would be easy for me to travel with and they're my "go to" colors. 

The quads are:
Sage: which is a green pop of color and the some yellow based ivorys and a grayish beige
Plum: which is matte plum shades with a bright purple, muted mauve/plum, and white
Smoke: which is matte cool grays. A grey base, black, blueish grey and white.
Rust: which is matte brownish reds, with a peach base, neutral/wamrer dark brown, orange/rust, and ivory

These quads are getting some mixed reviews, I know the Sage quad, I've heard, is a little difficult to get your pigment to stay on or vibrant and I understand how that could be because these are so INSANELY pigmented and soft they almost don't adhere to the lid or primer because they can be moved and dusted off easily or they almost melt right in to the skin. I HAVEN'T HAD THAT ISSUE THOUGH WITH MINE. I'm just saying that I understand how that is possible and what people are saying makes sense because I've had that happen with other products. Like I said though, I've not had that issue with my quad. 

These are the swatches from the quad and automatically you see that excess dust. I had some people ask if they were chalky. No they aren't, they're very soft. I swatched them kinda hard with my finger but also like I said they're so soft that you pick up so much excess powder, which can be both good and bad. So they're all super pigmented of course, the only one that would be dry, if at all, would be the dark brown. It was not as soft as the other shades especially the light shades but that's fine with me because it's not a lot of fall out of dark brown and it blends just fine. It seems similar to Mocha or maybe Americano from Makeup Geek. I'm not entirely sure though I'd need to see them side by side and I don't have them with me at the moment. The base shade which is the peach shade is a pretty similar color to Peach Smoothie from Makeup Geek which is my favorite blending/transition color. The lightest shade is similar to Foxy from Urban Decay which is my favorite brow bone highlight.

The orange/rust shade is just fantastic and I don't really have anything like it in a matte finish. I didn't notice much fall out from it either to tell you the truth. This is also super pigmented, if you know me you know I love Poppy from Makeup Geek but this is a bit more muddy and I LIVE FOR THIS SHADE. Poppy is definitely brighter and a pop of color while this is more wearable and just insanely warm and like a clay mud type color. It's basically what sold me. I love an orange in the crease as you know. It balances out so many looks for me by having a warm crease (not insanely bright crease just warm) and then having like a blue, purple, green or whatever color on the lid. It's so awesome and it doesn't sound like something you would pair off together but just try it, warm crease and a cool based lid. I recommend trying a purple lid and an warm pale orange or coral in the crease and see how you like it because it's so pretty. Of course this also makes a banging warm smokey eye. I also love using the rust shade as a base for the lower lash line, just really blowing it out and making it super smokey bringing it down lower than normal and then using the dark brown over top or just leaving it as is. I even like working a black lid up to a brown crease and then have a orangey brown upper crease as a gradient effect and a super smokey eye that incorporates black but not gray's really and keeps you from looking punched or bruised.

So that's my thoughts if you wanted to try something from Kat Von but weren't sure if you'd like it, try these. You can add shimmers to it from other palettes or what not but still get a feel for the formula and shades before going all in and buying one of the bigger palettes. They usually are in the mid $40 range. Of course you can return anything you aren't please with to Sephora as always. They have a very nice return policy. 

I'll leave the link for it here. If you're going to shop online then use Ebates and get some cash back for your purchases. I believe by just signing up for Ebates you get a gift card or something but I'm not 100% sure. Also look for promo codes that way you can get some extra samples with your order for free.

Here's a few that I know of:
9 piece fragrance bag (2 choices of bags) "SCENTME"
Bare Minerals Face Trio "BARESERUM"
Deluxe Lip Gloss "GETGLOSSY"
Dr Brandt Needles No More Mask "NNMMASK"
Smashbox XRated Mini Mascara "XRATEDLASH"
7 packets of the Fresh Black Tea Firming Overnight Mask "OVERNIGHT"

**the codes usually have to have no less than a $25 purchase and some have to have a $35. I think all of these were $25 purchases though. You can always use the code "YOURGIFT" as well and see what they have in the Mystery Gifts. Codes go in the "promotional code" box, so you can still use a promo code, redeem points and choose 3 samples at checkout if you want. If it's your birthday month then you can also throw that in there too.

I hope this was helpful in some way and happy shopping!