Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Remix Eyeshadow Palette (Holiday 2015) - swatches, pics, review (plus a few dupes)

Hello, Beautiful!

In today's post I'm reviewing the Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Remix Eyeshadow Palette, which is her Holiday 2015 palette. This palette is so, so, so pretty to look at. Every inch of it; from the artwork, to the shades, to the layout... it's just so beautiful and perfect!

You can go crazy or stay subtle, all within the same palette. Not many palettes offer that kind of versatility, but that center circle of neutrals really make this palette special. I've been doing a lot of eye looks with this palette on my Instagram. Check them out @ValentineKissesBeauty

And if you're wondering just how much that center circle of neutrals resembles the shades from the Kat Von D Shade & Light Eye Contour Palette... well, some of them really do. Dupe/comparison pics in this post for those that are curious.

Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Remix Eyeshadow Palette Info & Review

Cost: $59.00
Availability: Available at Sephora

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Kisses!

PRODUCT DETAILS & CLAIMS...

An eye shadow palette with 24 highly-bold shades, remixed from Kat Von D's fan favorite Mi Vida Loca palette.

Go crazy for color with 24 new high-pigment eye shadows in a palette inspired by vintage vinyls. With a striking combination of technicolor brights and everyday neutrals, this palette proves that there's no shade too bold or combination too daring. It features an inner wheel of seven nudes and neutrals surrounded by an outer wheel of 17 vivid brights. Discover how to rock three stand-out and insanely vibrant looks on the illustrated insert. Each is named for one of Kat's cult favorite Studded Kiss Lipstick shades.

Each shadow pan is 0.04 oz

Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Remix
Eyeshadow Palette - Holiday 2015

Here is what the front of the palette looks like....

And the back of the palette....

The actual eyeshadows slide out, just like a record.

You will need to slide them back into the box or they won't have anything to protect them from dust or other makeup getting on them.

This palette includes a look sheet, with three different looks.....

Now onto up close shadow pics and swatches....

 Vox is described as a chocolate brown.

 Strutter is described as a taupe.

 Lyric is described as a white pearl.

 Black Metal is described as a matte black.

**** I am missing the close up pic of the shade Skulls. I will try to recover the image or rephotograph and update this post at a later date. *****
Skulls is described as a iridescent pearl.

 Noble is described as a nude.

 Moulder is described as a butter yellow.

 Anthem is described as a purple.

 Muse is described as a lilac purple.

 Echo is described as a purple glitter.

 Dark Wave is described as a deep navy.

 Synth is described as an electric blue.

 Hyperballad is described as a sea blue.

 Lemmy is described as a grass green.

 Misfit is described as a kelly green.

 Vinyl is described as a neon green.

  Legend is described as a golden yellow.

 Fran is described as a deep mustard yellow.

 Analogue is described as a burnt orange.

 Harpsichord is described as a metallic bronze.

  Rewind is described as an aubergine.

 Destroyer is described as a bright strawberry.

 Swoon is described as a fuchsia.

 Love is described as a shimmery rose.

FINAL THOUGHTS...

I had my eye on the Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Remix Eyeshadow palette since I first saw that it was coming for the Holiday 2015 season. When it first launched, I couldn't buy it and had to wait till pay day. Once pay day rolled around the palette was out of stock. I signed up to be notified by email when it came back in stock. I received a "back in stock" alert email, but by the time I opened the email (less than 3 hours later), the palette was sold out again! I kind of stalked the Sephora website by that point, refreshing and just hoping I could catch it. I finally did (and then made an Instagram post to alert everyone else who may have been waiting for it to come back in stock).

After all that build up, did this palette live up to my expectations? Yes!!!

Some of the shades could benefit from an eyeshadow primer and may need a bit more work to get just right, but the overall texture is just what you've come to expect and love from Kat Von D.

I don't wear bright neon shadows on the regular, but I like to have some to play with. I recently did a huge makeup purge and got rid of a lot of neon and bright shades, especially those in loose shadow form. I think this palette is a good replacement for those, as the quality is better than many I had.

As a whole palette, this really does give you a little of everything... you have your neutrals, your more "normal" pops of color, and then some really bold neon shades. You can go crazy or stay subtle, all within the same palette.

This palette has really helped me step out of my eyeshadow comfort zone. I've been having so much fun coming up with looks - from wearable to a bit more out there - this palette is so much fun!

I know this palette isn't for everyone; especially when you only focus on the very bright and vivid shades if you're so used to just neutral looks. If you are the kind of person who enjoys playing with color, or maybe you want to start adding more color to your eye looks, then this is the palette for you. If you only stick to neutrals, I don't think you'll enjoy this palette very much and likely won't get that much use from it, aside from the center circle of neutrals. BUT, you may be surprised with how many wearable looks you can do using this palette. Check out my eye looks on Instagram!


Now, let's shift this blog post slightly in another direction...

Let's continue talking about that center circle of neutrals.... do they look familiar? If you own the Kat Von D Shade & Light Eye Contour Palette (which, I do), then you'll look at the center circle of neutrals and immediately think of the Shade & Light Eye Contour palette. They look very similar.

I decided to see just how many dupes there really were. There are a few, but surprisingly there are still several neutrals that aren't the same. But for the ones that really duped nearly identical, here they are....

I also compared the very bright (most recent) Wet n Wild 8-pan palettes to this Kat Von D palette. I was sure there would be dupes and there wasn't. While you could get similar looks, I wouldn't call them dupes. Many were just too light/too dark or weren't the right finish. To me, a dupe needs to be very spot on. But if you want a cheaper alternative to color, then go for the Wet n Wild 8-pan palettes that recently came out (if you can find them).

Still, I did find a few dupes in my collection that are pretty spot on. I am sure I could find more but I didn't want to completely destroy this palette swatching it to death. Here are a few I found....

Destroyer VS. Wet n Wild 8-Pan Palette in Poster Child. These are pretty much spot on when swatched. Both in pigmentation, finish and look on the eye. Out of all the red shades in my collection (including the reds from the newer 8-pan bright shadows from Wet n Wild), this one from Poster Child was the closest match to Destroyer. 

Synth VS. Black Radiance 8-Pan Palette in Island Blues. These aren't a 100% exact dupe, but the Black Radiance Blue will give you a very similar look on the eye and can be built up. Over a white base, it looks even more spot on.

Dark Wave VS. Black Radiance 8-Pan Palette in Island Blues. This blue was actually pretty hard to get spot on, and this was the closest in my collection that I could come up with. Many other blues were too dark, leaned too purple, were too light, etc.. This one is pretty spot on, especially on the eye.

Vinyl VS. Wet n Wild Trio in I Dream of Greenie. The Wet n Wild shadow is the closest to Vinyl I could get from my collection. It's pretty close, although it leans a bit more yellow than green.. 

Now let me know what you think...

What do you think of this palette? Have you tried this, or would you consider adding this to your beauty wish list? Discuss in the comments below!

xoxo with love & beauty,
Crystal Valentine

Makeup Dupes --- Coming Soon!!! I'm so excited!

Hello, Beautiful!

I'm really excited because I've been working on going through my entire makeup collection to find as many makeup dupes on just about everything I own. I know there are plenty of makeup dupe posts and videos out there, specifically referring to dupes for MAC products, but I don't own a lot of MAC at all so most of my dupes will be for other high-end, department store and specialty brands. If you're looking for MAC dupes I may not be much help at all with that, but if you want dupes for other high-end brands - like NARS, Urban Decay, Too Faced, Smashbox, Make Up For Ever, Stila, Benefit, and many more, then I think you'll find my makeup dupes blog post very helpful.

I've already gone through a bunch of products, but still have plenty more to go through before I'm completely done. I'm having a lot of fun, especially when I find such amazing dupes -- meaning you can save money! Who doesn't love that?! I know I do! The only products I don't plan to go through at this time are primers, concealers, foundations and setting products. Specifically for the concealers and foundations I'd want to do more testing and before/afters, and I just don't have many/if any primers and setting products from the drugstore. I also don't want to waste money and just go out to get drugstore products searching for dupes, so I'm just working with what I currently own (which is a lot on its own).

I've already found many great low-cost dupes that are practically identical to some high-end/specialty brand products I own. And for me, dupes must be really spot-on. I know there are some products that are good-enough but aren't spot-on. When I look for a dupe, I'm looking at undertones, the finish, how it looks when I move my hand to show any color/sheen variances, the texture, and the performance of the product. If it's not an almost identical match then it really isn't a dupe to me; it's a "good-enough" product and a good alternative option, but to me it's not a dupe. It's sort of like when you read magazines and you see the fashion "lust" and "must" -- they're rarely ever identical but they're always similar or with the same theme/idea in mind. I always get frustrated when I see that in magazines because I feel like they didn't try hard enough to find a great dupe for the fashion lust. So yeah, because of my way of thinking, lol, you'll see that I'm pretty particular with my dupes and they'll be pretty much spot-on, identical, hard-to-tell-a-difference dupes.

I also found a dupe from the same brand (Mally), of the same product (shadow stick), just a different formula (one is her regular shadow stick, the other is the Age Rebel shadow stick); they have two different shade names, but they're identical in color. And I mean they are I-dent-i-cal! So yeah, can't wait to show you all that one too, and if I find any more like that.

I'll have swatches of all the dupes so you can see how closely matched they are; although not sure how they will appear on camera but I can assure you in real life they are pretty close. I will likely do a video as well.

Anyhow... enough rambling on and on... I'm just very excited and my arm is worn out from swatching like a mad woman. I just wanted to let you all know a makeup dupes post is coming very soon!

Enjoy the start of your week!  : )

The battle of the multi-colored glitters! Comparison of Deborah Lippmann, Milani, Ulta and Wet n Wild!

Hello, Beautiful!

I've wanted to make this post for awhile now but didn't have the time. I'm excited to show these comparisons because I feel like Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday is a shade a lot of people like, but what they don't like is the $18 price tag. I'm happy to show cheaper options!

* UPDATE: I added a new post (on July 23, 2011) comparing 7 different multi-colored glitters. To see the updated multi-colored glitter compare, CLICK HERE

now back to the original post...



The Battle of the Multi-Colored Glitters!

The Line-Up:

[Shown in the photo below from left to right.]

Milani - Gems

Deborah Lippmann - Happy Birthday

Ulta - Pinata-Yada-Yada

Wet n Wild - Party Of Five Glitters

The Swatches:

(all are two coats)

Some More Photos:

Price Compare:

• Milani - Gems: $4.99 on Cherry Culture's website.
• Deborah Lippmann - Happy Birthday: $18 on Deborah Lippmann's website.
• Ulta - Pinata-Yada-Yada: $5 at Ulta (it's sold out online, but used to be found on this page).
• Wet n Wild - Part Of Five Glitters: $1.99 at select drugstores.

My Thoughts:

If you're looking for a dupe to Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday, Milani Gems is the one you want to buy. It's closest in glitter shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the amount of glitter your get using two coats. The only real difference is Milani's version has slightly more silver glitter, while Deborah Lippmann's version has more gold and the base has the slightest yellow tint to it (which you can't see in photos, but makes it looks more gold toned all around compared to Milani's version, which seems more silver toned). The micro glitter shape is different (Deborah Lippmann's version has micro square glitter; Milani's version has micro hex glitter).

Ulta's Pinata-Yada-Yada is another close dupe to Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday. The main difference is Ulta's version is missing the large green hex glitter that Deborah Lippmann's version has. The micro glitter shape is different (Deborah Lippmann's version has micro square glitter; Ulta's version has micro hex glitter).

 
Wet n Wild's Party of Five Glitter is a good multi-colored glitter but not really a full-on dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday. It's missing some key glitter shades - the orange and gold - and the micro glitter shapes are also different (Deborah Lippmann's version has micro square glitter; Wet n Wild's version has micro hex

glitter).

If I had to pick a favorite I would probably pick Ulta's Pinata-Yada-Yada because I don't miss the green glitter that's in it. The shade of green glitter in Deborah Lippmann's and Milani's versions seems a little too Christmas toned to me. I like that Ulta's version is missing that and in Wet n Wild's version the green is a cooler, blue toned. Don't get me wrong, I love Deborah Lippmann's and Milani's versions. But if I'm picking a favorite I'm picking Ulta's version.

What are your thoughts?