Review: Kat Von D True Romance Palette in Ludwig

Aloha fellow makeup lovers~

Right now I'm deciding which is the best way to review this product: through my constant ramblings or with bullet points.  I'm going to try to do a compromise.

Basic info:
Kat Von D Cosmetics are only available at Sephora or Sephora.com.  The palette I will be reviewing today is one of her True Romance Palettes.  Here is how Sephora describes it:

"A smoky eye adds an instant air of mystery—create your own with the True Romance Eyeshadow Palette. Designed by reality television star Kat Von D especially for Sephora, this artistic spectrum of shades brings an edgy-glam creativity to your makeup. The sleek black eyeshadow palette is stenciled with silver roses and arrives packaged in a silk-screened black and silver box that is itself a work of art—and inspired by Kat's favorite tattoo."

Price:
You can purchase this for $34 USD, but if you're lucky, Sephora may put these on sale again for $24 USD.


Packaging: 
As mentioned above, this palette comes in a sleek black case, perfect for travel.  There's a nice honking big mirror which is pretty useful until the eyeshadow dust dirties it up.  The case is fairly sturdy, and the feel of it reminds me a bit of the packaging of NARS cosmetics.  There are 8 eyeshadows, each with 0.05 ounces of product, and 2 double ended mini brushes.  The shades include:

- Lucifer (matte charcoal black)
- Orbi (golden green shimmer)
- Dimebag (metallic lime green)
- Clay (beige with gold glitter)
- Tequila (metallic cornsilk shimmer)
- Downtown (metallic light copper shimmer)
- Baroque (golden bronze shimmer)
- Leather (matte deep chocolate brown sheen)

No flash

With flash

Quality 
Overall, these eyeshadows are soft and blendable.  The pigmentation is decent, but certainly not impressive.  The lighter colors (dimebag, tequila, and clay) are quite sheer, so use a colored or extra sticky base under these colors.  Otherwise, it may end up like this:

Yeah, just bad.  In this picture I used Stila's One Step Primecolor in Kitten, and I didn't really pack the color as I should have.  UDPP actually isn't much better.  You can definitely make the lighter colors work but just takes some effort.  The darker colors are decent, and the black is fabulous, but for the majority of the palette, they probably won't show up on your skin if your complexion is any darker than mine.  I'll let these swatches speak for themselves.  These are swatched on bare skin with no primer.

With flash

No flash

Clay just kinda blends into my skin so you can't really see it that well.

I want to say that the quality is similar to Maybelline eyeshadows.  They're slightly powdery and delivers decent pigment, but again, they're not amazing.


Final Verdict:
If you're looking for a palette with fairly wearable colors, and you want to break into color, this palette is for you.  While the site describes it as "edgy-glam," I honestly don't think the eyeshadows deliver this promise.  I do love the packaging, inside and out, and I will reach for this palette when I want to do a day look.  I don't particularly like the neutral colors in this palette, because they're too shimmy, and I would have much preferred some taupes or rich chocolate browns as opposed to coppers.  Even though my skin is not particularly dark, I think I'll have to use a paint pot under these eyeshadows.  Definitely not worth the $34, and I would not buy it again.




I think one of the best ways to judge a product a product is through application, so look forward to a tutorial using this palette.  Here's a sneak peak:

I've actually heard some pretty positive reviews on the other True Romance Palettes, so maybe Ludwig is just not up to par?  Any thoughts?