Kat Von D Monarch Palette

Look, it was inevitable that I would buy the Monarch Eyeshadow Palette from Kat Von D. I tried to resist, since I had just recently purchased the Chocolate Bar, but c’mon. There’s a color in there called Entomology. The only way this palette could have been more obviously marketed towards me is if it had been a green beetle themed palette (which Sephora did have a few years ago, but sadly Sephora’s palettes are full of the worst eye shadow ever).

And while it might seem odd for someone who loves crazy colors to buy two neutral palettes back to back, Chocolate Bar and Monarch actually play very well together. No seriously, Liora and I did extensive hand-swatching in the store before I made my purchase decision and found that there was very little color duplication and many colors that looked great together. To prove it, I used both palettes to create my Tribal Fest performance look.

This palette is also good for day time looks, though. On Wednesday I was going out for lunch so I decided to do my face in a nice neutral palette with a POP of metallic turquoise eyeliner, because why not? I used Tiny Death, Killing Jar and Summer Fly together.

This made for a very nice, subtle look that held up pretty well for about 8-9 hours, until I went to hip hop class and troupe practice and got all sweaty, at which point I had some color loss.

The palette itself is made out of nice, sturdy cardboard. It’s attractive, well-constructed and has a strong magnet closure. The mirror is a generous size. It’s probably a little big to fit in most travel pouches, but not so big that it would be unreasonable to throw it into your bag. With just this one palette you could have your day and night time looks. I really like Wrath for performance makeup as it’s a really intense copper and it looks great with my red hair, so other ginger dancers should really give it a look.

But really, I’m serious, I’m not buying any more palettes after this!