Monday, June 1, 2015

Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit vs. Kat Von D Shade+Light Palette

 
Back in January I bought the much talked about and coveted Anastasia Contour kit.  I was so excited to try it!  But...I wasn't that impressed with it to be honest.  The shades were great but the pigmentation was not great.  Two of the shades had great pigmentation, but the rest didn't and went on patchy as a result.  Right after I got this palette I heard about Kat Von D's Shade Light palette that came out and people were RAVING about it.  I couldn't justify buying another palette so I kept giving the ABH one another chance. 
Well a couple weeks ago while in the Downtown Disney Sephora (ha), I splurged and bought the Kat Von D contour palette.  It is amazing!!!!  The pigmentation is crazy good, the packaging is awesome and they are all matte shades.  There are only a couple things I would change about it.


Sorry about the condition of my Anastasia palette..can you tell the ONE shade I actually liked in that kit? :)
 
I'll list my pros and cons for each... (these are all iPhone pics because I'm lazy...as you've probably gathered from my lack of posting on this blog!)
Highlight shades left to right on top: Vanilla, Banana, and Sand.  Contour shades left to right on the bottom: Java, Fawn, and Havana. 

 
Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit: ($40)
Pros:
>The shade colors are on point.  There's a pink-tone, yellow-tone, and subtle shimmer highlight.  Fawn is the perfect grey shade (but went on so patchy with no pigmentation!) for creating natural shadow on the face along with the two other warm shades to add color/bronze to the skin. 
>The pans are removable and you can order refills individually.  Also, on the website there
 are lots more shades so you can custom build your palette  I may try to order an individual of the shade Fawn to see if I just got a bad batch.
>The Vanilla shade was perfect...it went on smooth and had great pigmentation. Same thing with the Havana Shade, I'm not sure why they all seemed different as far as texture.
 
Cons:
>I'm not sure if I got a lemon of a palette but you can see in the above photo the weird texture some of the shades have.  
>The actual shade colors were perfect.  It even included a highlight with a touch of shimmer that would have been perfect for a subtle cheek bone highlight if it went on smoother. 
>I wish the kit had a mirror. 
I had to really rub the product to get these swatches.  As you can see they don't apply the smoothest.
 
 
YES! Look at this beauty.  Highlight shades from left to right on top: Lucid, Lyric, and Levitation.  Contour shades from left to right on bottom: Sombre, Shadowplay, and Subconscious.
Kat Von D Shade+Light Palette: ($46)
 
Pros:
>These are so buttery, smooth and SO pigmented. You really have to be careful because a little goes a long way, which isn't a bad thing!  They blend beautifully.
>The highlight shades are AMAZING.  They brighten up the under eye area incredibly.  I love to mix them to create the perfect shade. 
>It has a great big mirror which is great for traveling. 
>The pans are way bigger than the Anastasia kit. 
 
Cons:
>The pans aren't removable and you can't buy them individually.  This is something that really is a bummer, because if I run out of a shade that I love I'd have to buy a whole new kit.  :(
>I wish there was a little more warmth in one of the contour shades.  They are all pretty cool toned and I find myself using a touch of a warmer bronzer over top of my contour to get a little bit of a summery glow.
 
 
 
These are just one-swipe swatches...so smooth.


I went a little heavy on the cheek contour for the sake of this post. 


 
I'd love to hear every one else's thoughts on these products, which one do you love??