Kat Von D Shade & Light Contour Palette

Welcome back lovely people!

This week's make-up related post is going to be all about Kat Von D's somewhat new Shade & Light Contour Palette!  We all know that Kat is an extremely talented sketch artist and is able to manipulate shadow and light to create dimension in her portraits.  WELL, now we have her very own palette that give us the tools to sculpt our faces through the art of shading and highlighting.

Nowadays, I feel like every brand is coming out with their own rendition of a "contour" type of palette, and with so many on the market it can be quite overwhelming in the stores (speaking from experience).  I walked into Sephora about a month ago and I was on the hunt for a contouring/highlighting type of palette,  The girl that worked there must've given me 8 different options.  I explained to her that I did not want the Anastasia Contour Kit because it was too overrated and everyone and their mother already had it.  On the plus side, it was waaay too warm-toned/orange-looking for my pale skin! 

I stumbled across Kat Von D's palette and after having it tested on me, I fell in love!  Kat created this palette in order to empower us with her artistic knowledge by giving us the tools to sculpt our faces through the art of shading.  

There are three highlighting shades (0.08 oz each) and 3 contouring shades (0.16 oz each).   The kit also comes with an information card where Kat outlines different ways to use the palette and her recommended tips!  The packaging is absolutely beautiful and knowing it was created and designed by Kat, it doesn't surprise me!  The case is very sleek and is perfect for traveling (especially because you can double up the shades as eye shadows!).  In Canada the palette retails for $55.00 and it is $46.00 in the United States.  So the palette IS up there a little in price, but after using drugstore and inexpensive bronzers/contour shades for so long, the splurge was definitely worth it!  

For my fair skin, I find myself gravitating towards the left side of the palette, however, I can still use the super dark shade for my dramatic, night-out looks if I really wanted too.  The only shade I cannot use for my face is the soft peach shade (Levitation); I can use it as an eye shadow though!  Since they are so pigmented, I recommend using a duo-fibre brush with the shades or using a very light hand when applying.  They can also kick up some fall-out when you swirl a brush in there so be careful with that as well!  Below is a small description of each contour and highlight shade in the palette:

Highlighting Shades

 

 Lucid

Pinkish nude shade

Matte finish 

Great for light skin tones 

Lyric

Yellow beige shade

Matte finish

Similar to the other "banana" shades on the market 

Great for all skin tones 

Levitation

Soft peach shade

Matte finish

Great for darker skin tones

Contouring Shades

  Sombre 

A true taupe shade

Matte finish

Great for light to medium skin tones

Shadowplay

Soft, warm brown shade

Matte Finish

Great for all skin tones (either as a bronzer or contour shade) 

Subconscious 

Deep brown shade

Matte finish

Great for medium to deep skin tones

Top Row (Left to right): Lucid, Lyric, Levitation
Bottom Row (Left to right): Sombre, Shadowplay, Subconscious 

So I'll just go over a quick Pros & Cons list:
Pros

•  Compact, sleek case WITH a mirror
• All shades are matte finish
• Different types of shades for different times throughout the year (darker shades for the summer months, lighter shades for the winter months)
• Includes a nice mix of cool and warm shades for both contouring and bronzing 
• Very pigmented and blendable 
• Formulated without parabens, sulfates, and phthalates

Cons

• Price-point ($55 CAN/$46 US)
• Highly pigmented causes some dust to kick up in the palette; must use a light hand
• Some shades may be too light/dark depending on your skin tone

Follow the included inserts—illustrated by Kat herself—and master the art of contouring in three simple ways (Side Note: the brush that you see in the face-charts below is the Shade & Light Contour Brush that Kat Von D also created to go with this palette. I did not purchase it because I find my brushes to work perfectly fine with the palette, but it is there for you at Sephora if you'd like to purchase it): 

1. Define cheekbones: sculpt and chisel your appearance. 

2. Slim your face: slenderize features and define the jawline. 

3. Shape your nose: taper your silhouette.

As you can see, using all three contour shades I was able to slim out my face and define my cheek bones.  By taking the banana-type highlighting shade, I placed it above the contour to really make my cheek bones stand out.  No editing to the photos whatsoever and it looks like I lost 5 pounds in my face haha. 

The photo on the right displays the defined cheek bones and also all three contour shades shades around the perimeter of my face.  Using the shade colours, I'm able to minimize the look of my forehead and defining my jawline/chin.  

 The photo on the right displays all three of Kat's information sheets (Define Cheekbones, Slim Face, and Shape Nose).  As you can see, by using a smaller brush I am able to change the look of my nose by making the bridge more defined and ever so slightly slimming out the ball of my nose. 

 (P.S. I'm not sure what the black dot is on my left eye in the before pictures, so please disregard that. Thank you!)

I hope that if you do check out the palette, you love it just as much as I do.  Like I said previously, it really is a wonderful palette and worth the splurge!  So next time you're in Sephora, get one of the employees to test it out on you!  If you're anything like me, you won't be disappointed! 

Stay tuned for my next blog post and take care,
Glynn

“Strength doesn't necessarily come from resisting fear, weakness, or any other feeling and overcoming it.  Strength comes from looking at those things straight on - and accepting them as they really are." 

Kat Von D

My Make-up Routine

Happy Monday Everyone!

I've decided to start posting some more beauty related things on my blog!  I decided to start my first make-up related post with my actual make-up routine.  This is something I would do when I decide to do my make-up (for school, going out with friends, hitting up the clubs, etc.).  I'm not really a fan of the "no make-up, make-up" because if I'm going to do it... I'm going to do it fully.  Go hard or go home.  So hopefully you guys enjoy this, if you have any requests or want to see anything, let me know and I'll do my best to get it to you.  So without any further ado, here are all the steps I take to do my make-up.... (brace yourself, there's a lot)

1. Cleanse.
Whenever I put on make-up, I always want to make sure that I have a clean face to work with.  With a wet face, I cleanse my face with one full pump of the Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser.  After about a minute of me massaging it into my skin, I wash it off with cold water and pat dry with a towel.

 



2. Tone.
Immediately after I pat my skin dry, I go in with a toner on a cotton pad.  The one I am currently using is the Dickinson's Original Witch Hazel Pore Perfecting Toner.  A Toner helps to balance the pH in your skin so that you don't produce excess oil.
 
 
3. Moisturize.
Once my skin is toned, I go in with my Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion.  This helps to moisturize the skin if the toner left it feeling a little dry.  Also works as a great base for underneath your make-up.  Mixed in with this, I also like to add in some SPF (yes, even in the winter months) and for that I use the Neutrogena Clear Face Sunscreen.  It is important to always use an SPF even if you don't think the sun is out, the rays are very harmful.  It can help prevent premature aging and skin cancer!  And, for acne scar sufferers like me, we don't want those damn scars to get darker, so WEAR YOUR SPF.  Just a side note, I like to let my mositurizer sink into the skin for about 10 minutes.  Then move onto step #4.

4. Prime
This is for all my oily baby's out there, if you notice your foundation not lasting all day on you, I recommend a primer.  There are so many options out there for you from high-end all the way to your local drug stores.  Dry folks can benefit from priming the skin too, because it will help your foundation glide on smoother and look better.  So many stores carry many different primers (hydrating primers, pore filling primers, mattifying primers, colour correcting primers, etc.) so get whatever caters to your skins needs.  Three of my favourite primers (in no particular order) are the e.l.f. Studio Mineral Infused Primer in Clear, the Benefit POREfessional Primer, and the Rimmel London Fix & Perfect Pro Primer.  All three work equally well, the e.l.f. and Benefit primers do a great job at blurring the skin and filling in any pores and/or lines, whereas the Rimmel primer is a little bit more hydrating but still provides the same results.  Just like my moisturizer, I like to let the primer sink into the skin for about 10 minutes. 

5. Conceal Acne Scarring
This is an important step for us acne scar sufferers because sometimes the foundation we use does not cover them up.  In order to ensure that they are covered as best as I can, I apply concealer over any areas where I have a lot of scarring.  This would be areas like my chin/jawline area and my cheeks.  The two concealers I use for this step are the MAC Prolongwear Concealer in NC15 mixed with the Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in 10 Light.  The MAC concealer provides medium to full coverage but is a little light for me, whereas the Maybelline concealer provides a light to medium coverage but is too dark for me.  I mix the two to get my perfect shade. 

6. Foundation
Once I finished concealing my acne scars and let that sink in for a couple minutes, I move onto my foundation.  The Foundation that I use is the MAC Studio Fix Fluid SPF 15 Foundation in the shade NC15.  This foundation gives a great medium to full coverage, natural matte finish to the skin.  And with the added SPF it's great for if you're going to be outside.  The smell is a little funky but you get used to it after a couple wears.  It is a long-lasting comfortable foundation and looks great in photos!  My preferred way to apply foundation is with a Beauty Blender-like sponge (the dupes are just as good!).  And so I bounce this all over my face, neck, and ears (crucial! You don't want to look like you have red ears and a pale face hehe).

7.  Conceal those dark circles!
Hey, I told you it was a lot of steps! So once I'm done with my foundation application, I move onto concealing any dark circles under my eyes that may have been missed out from the foundation.  For this step, I use the same concealers as mentioned in step #5!  Nine times out of ten I will just use my ring fingers for this step, but the pointy end of the Beauty Blender-like sponge works great as well. 

8. Powder
For me, this step is c r u c i a l .  If I do not set my foundation and concealer with powder, good riddance to all that hard work! I'm an oily babe, so I need my powders!  To set my foundation, I have two favourites which I will use back and fourth (depending on my mood that day) and they are the Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Translucent and the e.l.f. Studio High Definition Powder in Sheer.  Both do not add any extra colour to the skin, rather they provide a matte look to the skin and help the foundation to stay in place.  As for setting my concealer, I use the e.l.f. Studio High Definition Under-eye Setting Powder (that was a mouth-full) in Sheer.  This works great at locking in that concealer and helping to pro-long the creasing under there because ain't nobody like creasing under there!  It also adds a night highlight to the under-eye area!

9. Bronze and Contour
Now I know a lot of people have been taking over the whole contouring thing, but I mean I really don't have any crazy techniques. Just bronze around the perimeter of your face to add a sun-kissed warmth to the skin, then contour the areas that you want to recede (sides of the forehead, nose, cheeks, jawline, etc.).  I just recently discovered the Kat Von D Shade & Light Contour Palette and I absolutely love it!  I use the Sombre shade to contour and the Shadowplay shade to bronze.  

10. Blush
To bring a little bit more life and freshness to the skin, I always gotta add some blush and my oldie-but-a-goodie favourite is the Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso.  This was all the rave a couple years back because everyone claimed that it was a dupe for the ever so popular Nars Orgasm blush.  I, however, have never tried that blush but this one works perfectly fine for me.  Gives a wonderful peachy-pink flush to the face and adds some gold shimmer.  You can skip out on the highlighters if you want, but you know me... I love my glow! The blush, though, really is eye-catching and works great with all skin tones.   

11. Highlight 
One of my faaaavourite steps when doing my make-up is highlighting.  Since contouring recedes the features that you want hidden, highlighting is going to do the opposite.  So it is going to really bring out those areas such as your cheek bones, down the bride of the nose, on the cupid's bow, etc.  Three of my all-time favourite highlighters are (in no particular order) NARS Albatross, MAC Mineralize  Skinfinish in Lightscapade, and Hard Candy's So Baked Bronzer in Tiki.  All of which give a looovely glow/sheen/sparkle/whatever you wanna call it, to the skin.  Another favourite of mine that actually just squeaked by around the holidays in 2014 are the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Spotlights in Pearl, Opal, and Champagne Gold.  These are great to actually put underneath one of the powder highlighters mentioned above.

12.  Eyebrows
Now, I don't know about you guys but I HAVE to get my eyebrows in check before I start playin' around with shadows and liners, anyone else?  I know this may sound a little weird but I have tried a lot of products specifically for eyebrows, but none of them compare to these two shadows in the NYX Be Fierce Palette.  You may be thinking, Glynn how the hell do you use NYX eyeshadows to fill in your brows? WELL, I wet my angled brush with some eye drops, then place my brush in the two shadows (the dark brown and black colours squared off in yellow), mix it in the eye drops on the back of my hand (to get rid of any excess product) and then go to town!  This way I have control over how dark and defined I want my brows to look for the day.  

13. Prime & Eyeshadow
Similar to our face, we want to also prime our eyelids for a number of reasons.  One, they get oily too you know, so we gotta make sure we keep those babies under control.  Two, a primer will help to cancel out any darkness/veins/etc. so that you have a clean surface to work with.  Three, primers will also help to amp up the pigmentation in your eyeshadows, etc. etc. etc. You know the drill. Prime those bad boys.  My favourite primers are (in no particular order) the Lorac Pro Behind the Scenes Eye Primer (which comes with the Lorac Pro Palette), the Mac Pro Longwear Paintpot in Painterly, and the Milani Eyeshadow Primer.  Now here comes the tricky part.... my eyeshadow looks obviously change from day to night, school to a club, etc., so the look that I will be showing you today is just my average day eyeshadow look.  Super simple, super easy. 

 1.  Cream shadow all over eye lid space.

2.  White shadow on brow bone and inner corner.

3.  Cool-toned brown blended in the crease.

4.  Two darker browns to deepen up the crease/outer-v.

 

Of course the same sort of look can be created using the Lorac Pro Palette, but since I already have the NYX palette out to do my brows, I just use that one instead.  I like to save my Lorac palette for nights out or special occasions.  You know, to make me feel extra fancy ;)

14.  Eyeliner 
Personally, my favourite step!  I've been doing winged eyeliner for about 5-6 years now so you can imagine all the practice I've had.  I hate to toot my own horn but *beep beep* I'm pretty good at my winged liner.  And it's all thanks to L'Oreal's Lineur Intense Felt Tip Liquid Eyeliner in Black Mica.  This was my very first liquid eyeliner I ever bought and since then I haven't found the need to try anything else.  This literally is the easiest way to apply liquid liner like a pro.  The felt tip isn't super flimsy nor is it super hard on the skin; it is perfect.  Glides on so smooth with no skips.  Give it a good shake before you use it and you'll be golden.  

15.  Mascara (stick with me we're almost there)
First was eyeliner, and in for a close second is mascara.  The difference that mascara alone makes is absolutely incredible.  I love putting on mascara mostly because I already have great lashes to work with.  I was blessed with some decent lashes if I do say so myself, BUT I do have a secret home remedy that has helped my lashes to grow longer, fuller, and thicker! (keep an eye out for it coming soon!).  My dream team for mascara is the tried and true Covergirl Lash Blast Volume Mascara in Very Black and L'Oreal's Telescopic Mascara in Black.  I also curl my lashes prior to mascara application with my e.l.f. Eyelash Curler but it isn't the one that you can buy separately.  It was offered in a kit a little while back and they don't seem to have it on their website but I'll insert a picture of it.  If you can get your hands on it, it really is a great curler (PS: I've heard horror stories of the $3.00 one cutting people's lashes off that you can buy separately on their website, so I'd stay clear of that one!)

16.  Lipstick
Usually I don't wear any lipstick, I'll just wipe off whatever foundation is on my lips, chuck on some Vaseline Cocoa Butter Lip Therapy and head out the door.  However, every now and then I looove to rock a bold and daring lip.  My favourite lipsticks have to be the Wet N' Wild Mega Last Colour Lipsticks and here I decided to put on Cinnamon Spice since it's Winter here in Canada! 

17. Lock it all in place
I really hope you all are still there :( I know, I know.. It's a lot BUT to be fair I did warn you so........
Alright I'm going to wrap this up as fast as I can.
Set your make-up so it doesn't move.  Lock it in place. Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray. Amazing. Done.

 Step-by-step Pictures

Steps 1, 2, and 3: Cleanse, Tone, Moisturize

Step #4: Prime

Step #5: Conceal Acne Scarring

Step #6: Foundation

Step #7: Concealing Dark Circles

Step #8: Powder

Step #9: Bronze & Contour

Step #10: Blush

Step #11: Highlight

Step #12: Eyebrows

Step #13: Prime & Eyeshadow

Step #14: Eyeliner

Step #15: Curl Eyelashes & Apply Mascara

Step #16: Lipstick

Step #17: Lock it all in place!

 ♥ THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GETTING THROUGH THIS WITH ME! ♥

Stay tuned for my next blog post and take care,
Glynn

“I'm not saying that putting on makeup will change the world or even your life, but it can be a first step in learning things about yourself you may never have discovered otherwise. At worst, you could make a big mess and have a good laugh." 

Kevyn Aucoin