Welcome to a new review, this one as you can see will be on the Kat Von D Shade N Light Contour Palette. I purchased this back in June and have been wearing it ever since and I'll start off with packaging, progressing towards the formula of the powders , price breakdown and where you can buy it.
I bought this as a choice over the ABH contour kit as I liked the colour selection in this one better and also feel like the overall layout is better in this one.
This is what the packaging looks like : It's a cardboard black packaging with font designed by Kat herself and it comes with a mirror big enough to do your makeup. It has 6 powders, 3 on top to be used as highlighting or setting powders and 3 bigger ones below for contouring.
The palette is a standard face palette size if not bigger and is a cult favourite among the beauty business. I'll start off by saying , It is not a beginner friendly item. Don't buy this in hopes of an easy breezy contour that will look blended the moment you put it on. The formula of the powders tends to be VERY soft , creamy very silky smooth to the touch, These are very finely milled soft powders that are creamy and very very pigmented, to an extent where blending can be a problem. I've had moments of patchy contour when I went a little more than light handed and ended up with very muddy cheekbones. If you are looking for a contour you can slowly build up and will not end up looking muddy, don't get this. It's good for professionals who know how much product to pickup with the right tools and brushes and how to lay it down and blend the edges. I haven;t had the best luck with these powders but if i go very very light handed, I can blend it but not as well as I expected them to blend out. Also, coming to the colour selection, one criticism I have is the fact that there is only one universal shade range for everyone, which implies that there is going to be a one or a couple shades and you won't end up using depending on your skintones. I personally can because of my mid-range skintone, a lot of medium to tan people can get away with using all these as well, but if you fall in the fair to very light and in the dark-deep spectrum, majority of the palette is a waste for you as you end up using only 2 out of 6 shades. Hence, I do recommend getting refillable single pans of these shades in your perfect match and getting your money's worth. Having said that, all 3 of them work fine for me so I dont see a negative in this palette personally. The first 2 shades called lucid and sombre ( I will mention the highlight-contour shades in pairs) are the lightest of all 3 pairs of shades. Lucid is a pinkish white brightening under-eye setting or highlighting powder. Sombre is a very VERY heavily cool toned powder for sculpting. It looks somewhat muddy on me used on it's own. I mix it with the other 2 shades to warm it up a bit.
The next Lyric and Shadowplay are a little warmer. Lyric is a banana powder best suited for brightening and shadowplay is slightly warmer than sombre but it is also on the neutral to cool toned spectrum.
Levitation and Subconscious are the darkest of the three pairings and levitation is a salmon shade , peachy undertoned powder for cancelling dark circles and setting under-eyes. Subconscious is a dark contour shade which is again, cool toned for contouring.
I do like the shade selection but I wish one out of the bottom three shades was a warm bronzer shade so I wouldnt have to dip into a nice warm bronzer to blend out the contours as all these mixed or on their own give a very cool toned look which is sparingly used is good for contouring but can make me look muddy and too lifeless, I would have preferred a warmer middle toned shade to balance it out. Overall, I reach for this palette over my other contour powers because I do like that you dont have to use a lot to get a nice contour and I do like some aspects of it, but not entirely head over heels swooning over it. If you have some experience in this arena and know your contouring technique, I do recommend it but not if you are beginner. It can get very intense in very less time. Just use it carefully if you're confident. It's makeup and it shouldnt intimidate you or scare you from dipping into it which is why I do hesitate in recommending it to beginners. However, if you're drawn into the shade selection, go ahead the powders are pretty smooth and finely milled smooth to the touch and can be used to get a nice chiseled face if used correctly.
Swatches :
It retails for AUD65 ( Australian $65) at Sephora, online and in-store.
You get 0.72 oz in the product. The highlighters are 0.08 oz each and contours are 0.16oz each.
TYSM for reading
xoxo
I bought this as a choice over the ABH contour kit as I liked the colour selection in this one better and also feel like the overall layout is better in this one.
This is what the packaging looks like : It's a cardboard black packaging with font designed by Kat herself and it comes with a mirror big enough to do your makeup. It has 6 powders, 3 on top to be used as highlighting or setting powders and 3 bigger ones below for contouring.
The palette is a standard face palette size if not bigger and is a cult favourite among the beauty business. I'll start off by saying , It is not a beginner friendly item. Don't buy this in hopes of an easy breezy contour that will look blended the moment you put it on. The formula of the powders tends to be VERY soft , creamy very silky smooth to the touch, These are very finely milled soft powders that are creamy and very very pigmented, to an extent where blending can be a problem. I've had moments of patchy contour when I went a little more than light handed and ended up with very muddy cheekbones. If you are looking for a contour you can slowly build up and will not end up looking muddy, don't get this. It's good for professionals who know how much product to pickup with the right tools and brushes and how to lay it down and blend the edges. I haven;t had the best luck with these powders but if i go very very light handed, I can blend it but not as well as I expected them to blend out. Also, coming to the colour selection, one criticism I have is the fact that there is only one universal shade range for everyone, which implies that there is going to be a one or a couple shades and you won't end up using depending on your skintones. I personally can because of my mid-range skintone, a lot of medium to tan people can get away with using all these as well, but if you fall in the fair to very light and in the dark-deep spectrum, majority of the palette is a waste for you as you end up using only 2 out of 6 shades. Hence, I do recommend getting refillable single pans of these shades in your perfect match and getting your money's worth. Having said that, all 3 of them work fine for me so I dont see a negative in this palette personally. The first 2 shades called lucid and sombre ( I will mention the highlight-contour shades in pairs) are the lightest of all 3 pairs of shades. Lucid is a pinkish white brightening under-eye setting or highlighting powder. Sombre is a very VERY heavily cool toned powder for sculpting. It looks somewhat muddy on me used on it's own. I mix it with the other 2 shades to warm it up a bit.
![]() |
Lucid and Sombre |
The next Lyric and Shadowplay are a little warmer. Lyric is a banana powder best suited for brightening and shadowplay is slightly warmer than sombre but it is also on the neutral to cool toned spectrum.
![]() |
Lyric and Shadowplay |
Levitation and Subconscious are the darkest of the three pairings and levitation is a salmon shade , peachy undertoned powder for cancelling dark circles and setting under-eyes. Subconscious is a dark contour shade which is again, cool toned for contouring.
![]() |
Levitation and Subconscious |
It retails for AUD65 ( Australian $65) at Sephora, online and in-store.
You get 0.72 oz in the product. The highlighters are 0.08 oz each and contours are 0.16oz each.
TYSM for reading
xoxo