Just when I thought my bank account was finally getting a feeding (aka putting money away) one of my favorite beauty brands, Kat Von D Beauty decides they are going to release another round of lust-worthy items. Inspite of all the pretty colors, (blue and green to be specific) I managed to put a few pennies away by not purchasing the “I am Divine” eyeshadow palette and “Divine” lipstick but I have no doubt that my money will be burning a hole in my pocket on April 20, 2018, when the newest KVD Beauty Brow collection is released. The new collection boasts five items, three types of brow product (pomade, powder, & pencil) as well as two new brow makeup brushes.
On April 20, 2018, the following five items will be available at Sephora, sephora.com, and katvondbeauty.com.
- 24-Hour Super Brow Long-wear Pomade [$19]
- Brow Struck Dimension Powder [$20]
- Signature Brow Precision Pencil [$20]
- Pomade Brow Brush #70 [$18]
- Powder Brow Brush #75 [$18]
24-Hour Super Brow Long-wear Pomade [Full Review]
Pomade is something that fascinates me. I adore watching people magically create brows using this medium but to be honest, I find it to be harder to work with, that is, until I purchased this pomade. My local Sephora had these for sale a week before it’s release date in a limited range of shades (less than half) but luckily for me they had the two shades I was most eager to try, dark brown (the shade that matches my black eyebrows) and aubergine (and artistry color that is both fun but still wearable).
I was immediately struck by the packaging. Packaging is always important in retail but I find that it’s especially important with prestige (high-end & luxury) beauty products. KVD Beauty always delivers so I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I assumed the brow product packaging would be less-than and I was wrong. The artwork on the pomades is similar to the skull-and-flourish design used on the relaunch versions of her Saint and Sinner perfumes and makes the little pots so desirable but the true lust for this product is for the pomade itself. This pomade is extremely lightweight but manages to be highly pigmented making it a very comfortable product to wear and also making me feel that a little goes a long way. The price, $19 per pot is what I expected, given that it’s a high-end product with artful packaging and is comparable to other high-end brands (Anastasia Beverly Hills pomades cost $18, and Benefit Cosmetic’s pomade costs $24).
I found that it was easy to apply, but it dries down very quickly so it’s important for the user to work fast and not make any sudden moves – or they’re a goner! Seriously though, once this pomade dries down it is budge-proof and transfer-proof so you really want to be thoughtful in your application. Also, the KVD artistry team recently introduced this pomade online and they highly recommended that you take a small amount of product onto your hand and quickly put the cap back on to keep it from drying out. Given the nature of this product, I’d advise you to do the same.
In addition to being smudge/transfer proof, the product also claims to be sweat-proof, a property I wasn’t able to test, and water-proof which I inadvertently tested yesterday. I became my own test-subject yesterday morning when I roamed Harvard Square in a full face of makeup in a good old-fashioned New England rainstorm. The winds were whipping hard enough that I chose to abandon my umbrella and ended up completely soaked. My waterproof eyeliner did move on me, but my brows were in-tact so I can totally vouch for the waterproofness of the pomade (that said, I still recommend using an umbrella with a full face of makeup.
I also used my artistry color, aubergine on my brows (over the dark brown) as well as on my eye-lids as an eye-liner and as an eyeshadow and I was very happy with the look, feel, and the products ability to stay put.
Speaking of colors, this product comes in sixteen colors, seven conventional colors…
- graphite
- walnut
- dark brown
- medium brown
- light brown
- taupe
- blonde
… Seven artistry colors…
- Scarlett (red)
- Daffodil (yellow)
- Lemmy Green (emerald green)
- Satellite Blue (electric blue)
- Roxy Purple (bright grape)
- Magenta (vibrant pink/purple)
- Aubergine (deep plum)
… And two additional artistry colors that can be used for mixing and customizing
- Bleach (bleached look)
- White Out (white)
- the same concept as the White Out Lipstick.
Overall, I was thrilled with the look, feel, and play of this product and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a lighter-feeling (yet still very pigmented) pomade.
- Additional packaging note. The pomade is in round glass containers, with hard plastic covers which correlate with the color of pomade they house. Each cover has a KVD logo and the skull-and-flourish artwork I described above, which matches the Saint and Sinner perfume bottles.
Brow Struck Dimension Powder
I was only able to get my hands on this product for a moment during a KVD event at my local Sephora, but there were two things that made me very excited about this product. First, the packaging was even prettier on this powder than it is on the pomade. The powder is housed in this tiny squarish compact, with the same skulls-and-flourishes mentioned above. Absolutely beautiful. The second thing is that this powder that intrigues me is that it is said to be “infused with 3-D light-catching pigments” which are supposed to give dimension (natural sheen) to your brows which is sometimes lacking when powders are applied to hair (think Madison Reed hair powders or lesser quality brow products). I’m excited to see how this works. This product is also supposed to be waterproof, which I’m anxious to test out.
The brow powder comes in six conventional shades and costs $20:
- Graphite
- Walnut
- Dark Brown
- Medium Brown
- Light Brown
- Taupe
- Blonde
Signature Brow Precision Pencil [First Impression]
Of all of the brow-color products, I’m most excited about the pencil. I am in fact, a powder user, but when I played with this pencil, during the Sephora KVD event I was BLOWN away by the formulation and shape of this pencil. Unlike many brands who have successfully created brow products in a fine tip and teardrop/triangular shapes, KVD has created a pencil that looks like it is topped with a micro blade. It is a fine, clean sharp line that mimics hair with no effort and I think this is going to be a real winner for folks looking to create the look or natural eyebrows or people who need merely to fill in a few strands of hair. The pencil costs $20 and comes in the same seven conventional colors as the powder.
- Graphite
- Walnut
- Dark Brown
- Medium Brown
- Light Brown
- Taupe
- Blonde
Pomade Brow Brush #70
I’m a great believer in using makeup brushes for makeup application and I’ve learned that there is a world of difference between professional-grade tools and cheap tools. In my adventures, I’ve owned and used many brushes and the KVD Beauty brushes are the best-of-the-best in my opinion. Sure, they are some of the most aesthetically pleasing brushes out there, but their true value comes in their design. Each brush is designed with a specific purpose and it’s clear that they were designed by an artist (for those of you who don’t know Kat Von D is a well-known tattoo artist and often shares other forms of artwork on her social-media proving that she is a talented artist). This synthetic brush is angled and stiff and is meant to be used with the pomade and will cost $18.
Powder Brow Brush #75
This synthetic brush is meant to be used with the powder pomade. It has an innovative “comb” design (think cut-outs) which is supposed to “deposit and blend” while it grooms and costs $18. I’m most excited about this brush because of the innovative look and I’m excited to see if the notches or “comb” style will work better than a more conventional slanted eyebrow brush. It should be noted that neither of these brushes has a spoolie (or mascara wand) at the other end and I wonder if they will be missed.
If you’d like to see my video review on my Foodie Beauty Life channel on YouTube, click here. You’ll get to see me modeling the 24-Hour Super Brow Long-wear Pomade in the color dark brown.
Stay tuned for my next KVD Brow posting and video where I will do an in-depth review of the brow-pencil, powder, and powder brow brush.