One Week, One Palette: Tarte Tartelette in Bloom

For the fifteenth week of my one week, one palette project, I decided to use the Tarte Tartelette in Bloom palette. For the longest time (and maybe even now) this was the palette I recommended to people when they asked for "one palette to rule them all." While others gave recommendations of the Naked palette or the Chocolate Bar or even Modern Renaissance now (which I definitely do not think is a great palette for the casual makeup wearer), I've said Tartelette in Bloom. 

I think in a lot of ways this palette is perfectly curated. I love that it is primarily matte shades and the three shimmers it does have (unlike Modern Renaissance) are perfect shimmers. There's a classic champagne, taupe, and copper shimmer. They're perfect. I love that there's a cool row, a neutral row, and a warm/rosy row. While certainly far from perfect in terms of being wearable for all skin tones, I think different parts of the palette can be worn by most skin tones. There will never be a neutral palette that just looks amazing on all skin tones, but I think Tartelette in Bloom comes close for a basic palette. 

Top, from left: Charmer, Jetsetter, Rocker, and Smokeshow

Middle: Flower Child, Smarty Pants, Firecracker, and Activist

Bottom: Funny Girl, Sweetheart, Rebel, and Leader

I used every shadow in the palette and only occasionally brought in Make Up For Ever Pearl. 

Below are five looks I did last week. 

Look 1:

Firecracker on the lid, Sweetheart and Rebel blended into the crease, Leader padded onto the outer corner, Funny Girl on the inner corner, and Charmer on the brow bone. Leader on the lower lash line. 

Look 2:

Funny Girl on the lid, Sweetheart blended into the crease, Rebel padded onto the outer corner, Make Up For Ever Pearl on the inner corner, and Charmer on the brow bone. Rebel on the lower lash line. 

Look 3:

Rocker on the lid, Jetsetter blended into the crease, Flower Child blended above the crease, Smokeshow padded onto the outer corner, and Charmer on the brow bone. Jetsetter on the lower lash line. 

Look 4:

Firecracker on the lid, Smarty Pants blended into the crease, Flower Child blended above the crease, Activist padded onto the outer corner, Funny Girl on the inner corner, and Charmer on the brow bone. Rebel and Leader on the lower lash line. 

Look 5:

Rocker on the lid, Sweetheart and Rebel blended into the crease, Leader padded onto the outer corner, Make Up For Ever Pearl on the inner corner, and Charmer on the brow bone. Leader on the lower lash line. 

It might be considered pathetic, but this is probably the palette in my collection that shows the most use. When I first bought it, I actually ignored everything else in my collection for a solid chunk of time. And even then, I only really did one look, which was the one on day 1. Firecracker is one of my favorite shades of all time, and I really contribute falling for rose tones in the crease to my use on this palette. 

With that said, I now have other rosy shades that I prefer for the crease, and I found myself wanting to grab for those throughout the week instead of using the tones in this palette. Furthermore, on camera, the rose shades don't even look rose. They look like a warm brown, which is a little disappointing. 

I  had a fine time using this palette all week. I enjoyed the looks starring Firecracker more than any others, but that's to be expected since it's one of my favorite shades. I also felt like my makeup was very work-appropriate all week, which was nice considering that I used the palette to its full potential. I didn't do six looks this week like I've done in the past simply because I felt like the looks were already more of the same, and I wanted to have a "free" day in my week to wear whatever eyeshadow I wanted. 

Since I had never really used the palette outside of the copper/rosy combination, I decided it could be fun to do a look each day that used the colors the way Tarte/the palette suggests. Meaning, I put the shimmer color on the lid and then created a look using all the shadows in its row. The top row was look 3; the middle row was look 4; and the bottom row was look 2. It's probably not a surprise that my favorite look when using this method was look 2, since it incorporated the rosy tones. For the other two looks, I felt they were fine and nothing was wrong with them, but they were a little boring for my taste. It's probably also not surprising that I really enjoyed look 5 as well, combining the cool-toned taupe shade with the warm-toned rosy shades. 

I'll be honest in that I seriously considered decluttering this palette last week, and though I ultimately decided to keep the palette, it would not surprise me if I decided to declutter it at a later date. The biggest reason I had for decluttering it was that the majority of shadows in the palette are not unique whatsoever. They are incredibly basic, and there is not a ton of difference between a few of the shades. Rows one and two felt essentially interchangeable to me, and I don't find that to be valuable. 

The reason I decided to keep it, however, is that the palette is really a great neutral workhorse. I didn't have to think about creating a look on three of the five days, and while I felt the looks were a little simple, they were pretty and appropriate for work. That's a valuable trait for many people. I also kept it because Firecracker is one of my favorite shadows and I can't buy it as a single. I also love the rosy shades, and even though I have ones I like better in my collection, I will still use the ones in this palette. And finally, it makes an incredible travel palette. I don't have one designated travel palette, but I most often use my Ciate London Pretty palette with In Bloom as a close second. 

Overall, I do think this is a workhorse palette, and I mainly stand by my recommendation as an easy go-to palette for makeup novices or people who only want one solid neutral palette. If you are like me and have an obscene number of palettes, however, I would say this one is probably easy to skip. I love having the powerhouse neutrals all in one place, but that is just a convenience more than anything. I'm also growing increasingly unimpressed (to say the least) with Tarte's marketing tactics, so I hesitate to fully recommend the brand. With that said, of Tarte's eyeshadow palette offerings, this is my favorite. 

One Week, One Palette: Laura Mercier Eye Art Artist's Palette

For the fourteenth week of my one week, one palette project, I decided to use the Laura Mercier Eye Art Artist's Palette. This is actually an interesting palette purchase for me because it is what I decided to buy when I returned Modern Renaissance. I had an upcoming two-week trip, and I told myself that I was going to bring Modern Renaissance to force myself to use it. When I realized I really, really didn't want to be left with only that palette for two weeks, I knew I had to return it. I bought this palette instead, brought it on my two-week vacation as my only palette, and loved it!

But that was because I basically only did one eye look the entire time. We will get into that at the end of the post. 

I used every shadow in the palette last week and pulled in Make Up For Ever Pearl only two days. 

Below are five looks I did last week. 

Look 1:

African Violet on the lid, Plum Smoke and Kir Royal blended into the crease, Fresco blended above the crease, Violet Ink padded onto the outer corner, MUFE Pearl on the inner corner, and Vanilla Nuts on the brow bone. Violet Ink on the lower lash line. 

Look 2:

Kir Royal on the lid, Truffle blended into the crease, Fresco blended above the crease, Violet Ink padded onto the outer corner, MUFE Pearl on the inner corner, and Vanilla Nuts on the brow bone. Kir Royal and Violet Ink on the lower lash line. 

Look 3:

Guaca on the lid, Fresco blended into the crease, Plum Smoke blended above the crease, Truffle padded onto the outer corner, Sparkling Dew on the inner corner, and Vanilla Nuts on the brow bone. Truffle on the lower lash line. 

Look 4:

Primrose on the lid, Plum Smoke and Kir Royal blended into the crease, Fresco blended above the crease, Violet Ink padded onto the outer corner, Sparkling Dew on the inner corner, and Vanilla Nuts on the brow bone. Kir Royal on the lower lash line. 

Look 5:

Bamboo on the lid, Truffle blended into the crease, Espresso Bean padded onto the outer corner, Sparkling Dew on the inner corner, and Vanilla Nuts on the brow bone. Truffle on the lower lash line. 

As you might have guessed, the look I did on day 1 was the look I wore for that two-week trip and the look that makes me "love" this palette. This is one of my favorite looks I have ever created, full stop. And African Violet is one of my favorite eyeshadows ever. But this is how my week went:

• Day one: Man, I love this palette. This is the prettiest eye look ever. No way would I ever get rid of this palette. 
• Day two: Were these shadows always this hard to work with? I was hoping I would like this better, but maybe this just isn't the right shadow look for me. 
• Day three: These shadows sure do lack pigmentation. Not sure how I feel about this palette. 
• Day four: This shadow looks identical to the one yesterday. I think I might actually declutter this palette. 
• Day five: This look is pretty, but is quite sheer in relation to my other bronzes. It's nothing special. I'm going to declutter this palette. 

So, yes, I have decided to declutter this palette, and that is the reason I didn't do six looks like I typically do. I had already run the gamut with looks to create, and I had used several shadows multiple times. 

I don't typically discuss palettes shade by shade, but I feel it is useful to share my opinions on each shade. 

Sparking Dew: This was so sheer. It was too light for me to want to wear it all over the lid, but packed no punch or interest whatsoever in the inner corner. 

Vanilla Nuts: This was fine as a brow bone shade, but I have suitable duplicates in spades. 

Guava: This color was also very sheer. It looked like a very light wash of pink on my skin and looked identical to Primrose. 

Primrose: This color was also very sheer and looked identical to Guava. Having both shades in the palette felt like a waste. 

African Violet: The powerhouse shade of this palette. This is one of my favorite eyeshadows I have ever used. It's purple, pink, and gold. I absolutely love it. 

Fresco: This was a pretty crease shade, but I have several alternatives or duplicates in my collection.

Plum Smoke: This was a nice crease shade, but I have several that look like it from Lime Crime Venus, Anastasia Beverly Hills (Buon Fresco), Ciate London, Inglot, Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons, and Becca Ombre Rouge. 

Bamboo: This was also a sheer color. It looks a little more intense in the photos, but it was a sheer bronze. It was a pretty color, and it worked for conservative, professional makeup, but I personally like something that packs more color and payoff. 

Kir Royal: This was pretty to deepen the crease or outer corner, but I felt it was a bit patchy and bruise-like when used on the lid. 

Truffle: This was a pretty crease or outer corner shade, but it tended to skip a little when blended. I like the color, but I have a ton that duplicate it. 

Violet Ink: This was fine to deepen the outer corner. It's not a shade I would use very often and not one that really matters to me.  

Espresso Bean: Like Violet Ink, this was fine to deepen the outer corner. I'm not a huge fan of super dark shadows, and they don't get a ton of use from me, but I have shadows in my collection that perform better than this. 

As you can see, I only really loved one shadow in the entire palette. I liked a few other colors, but really only for how they worked with African Violet. I've heard so many rave reviews of this palette, and I think a lot of that is because of African Violet, to be completely honest. I was extremely disappointed with ALL other possible lid shades; Guava and Primrose are basically the exact shade and both are lacking in pigmentation; Sparkling Dew was a light wash of color; and Bamboo was also sheer. The crease shades were nice, but the quality was not out of this world above others in my collection, and the outer corner shades were nothing special. 

And that is not how I want to feel about any palette in my collection. The way I feel about African Violet is how I want to feel about the entire thing. But I found this palette to be so difficult and uninspiring to work through, and once I had used every color in it, I immediately wanted to stop. 

On the positive side, I think this palette would be great for a makeup beginner who loves purple or for someone who works in an extremely conservative office. I'm still too afraid to wear eyeshadow looks with a little more oomph to them at work (I didn't wear looks one and two to work), and this palette let me pile on the shadow without feeling like I was overdone whatsoever. I know there is certainly an audience for a product like that, but I am not a part of that audience. 

On the negative side, I also have to say that this palette feels very much like it is not only for light skin, but for the fairest of skin tones. I have warm olive undertones, and Sparkling Dew, Guava, and Primrose looked like nothing on me. I imagine someone would need exceptionally fair skin in order to see a distinction in shades. Some of the darker shades would work on medium to deep skin tones, but it's disappointing to see that the majority of the palette is skewed so heavily to extremely fair skin. 

With all that said, last week might have been my favorite week of this project. Obviously that is not because I enjoyed using the palette, but because it was the week I learned the most. Had I not started this project and forced myself to not only use my palettes for a solid week but to use every shadow in the palette, I probably wouldn't have realized that I don't actually like the Eye Art Artist's Palette. Before this project (and this blog), I would reach for a palette when I was feeling a specific eye look. So, every time I wanted to use African Violet, I grabbed for this palette, thought it was beautiful, and had no way of knowing I actually didn't like it. It reminds me of life before iTunes or Spotify when you would spend upwards of $20 to buy a CD because you liked one song on it. And you would convince yourself that you would listen to the entire album and learn to love it, but you never did. You just played that one song over and over until you got sick of it. 

Fact is, I love African Violet so much that I have ordered it as a single shadow. It cost half the price of the entire Eye Art Artist's Palette, but I'm okay with that. I would rather have the one shadow that I want than an entire palette that I actually really dislike. I feel like I've read some people complain that the African Violet that came in their various Laura Mercier palettes was different from the single shadow, and if that's the case, I might depot African Violet from this palette and put it in one of my custom palettes. 

It feels good to get another palette out of my collection, especially since it wasn't a palette that I really loved. I routinely look at my collection and see if there are any items in it that can be decluttered, and the Eye Art Artist's Palette always got a save. It took actually using it to its fullest for me to realize I only liked a tiny portion of it. And just for that one lesson, this has been an incredibly successful project thus far. 

What I'm Not Buying: Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Volume 2

Photo: Temptalia 

In keeping with Tarte's latest marketing practice to pump as many products out as possible, they have released yet another eyeshadow palette: Rainforest of the Sea Volume 2. 

And I won't be buying. 

I recently used the Rainforest of the Sea (I guess it's considered Volume 1 now?) in my one week, one palette project, and I remarked how those shadows were my favorite from Tarte. After first purchasing and using the Volume 1 palette, I remember saying that if Tarte ever came out with another palette in that same formula that I would buy it no matter what. 

It turns out I was wrong. And I'm happy for that. 

I shouldn't be shocked by the color selection of this palette. I mean, it's coming from Tarte, and Tarte is anything but unique and innovative, but I have to say that I am actually surprised that this palette is so neutral, so—frankly—boring, and so similar in color scheme to the Volume 1 palette:

Photo: Temptalia 

This is something that I really don't understand and also can't get behind. At least five shades from Volume 1 appear to be very similar to shades in Volume 2, which is pretty ridiculous. I think Tarte failed big time on this one. If you're going to make a volume 2 of a palette—even a neutral one—I think it should be markedly different from volume 1. Because (in theory) no one wants to buy the same palette twice. With a name and theme like "Rainforest of the Sea," Tarte could have really gone wild with creativity. They could have had an entire palette themed around water and seaweed with blues and greens. Or they could have taken advantage of the red/orange craze and created a palette that explored gorgeous hues of coral. The colors could have been inspired by sea creatures. Or anything, really, apart from yet another volume that explores... what? Sand? Sea glass? Even that would have been more interesting than this. 

And, let me be clear. I am not disappointed by the color scheme because I was hoping to buy the palette or had made up my own idea of what the palette would be. I'm disappointed because it feels like Tarte—and the cosmetics industry on the whole—believes it is acceptable to continually pump out the same products but market it to consumers as something new and different. And that's where we need to come in as smart shoppers and call them out on that bullshit. 

With the first palette, there seemed to be a disconnect between the theme, packaging, names of the shadows, and the actual colors. Sure, "sand," "seashell," "cove" and "abyss" work for a ridiculously light neutral palette, but names like "mermaid," "starfish," "reef," and "wave" make me think of anything but light shades of brown. The packaging also worked with the theme and was gorgeous:

Photo: Temptalia 

But it seems as though more thought went into making the packaging fit the theme than the actual shadows. And as I mentioned in my one week, one palette post about this palette, if there was ever a palette I would keep solely for the packaging, it would be this one. I find everything about it to be incredibly elegant, and I view this compact like a piece of artwork.

Despite what I perceive as a disconnect between theme and product, I purchased Volume 1 because I knew I would get use out of every shadow and I liked the formula. That remains true today, which is another reason why this palette won't be decluttered. 

Volume 2, however, doesn't get as much slack from me. On the most basic level, I'm not a huge fan of the packaging: 

Photo: Temptalia 

And I feel like the packaging is even more disappointing/disconnected because, again, the colors could have been inspired by hues of coral. Instead, the colors were inspired by the Urban Decay Naked palette and the packaging got all the attention. 

This palette also doesn't get much slack from me is because I've read that the quality is not quite as good as Volume 1. The formula is the same (or at least similar) and differs from the brand's Amazonian Clay formula, but the colors don't apply as nicely as they did in Volume 1. This tells me that a corner was cut somewhere, likely to save money, and the product suffered as a result. I'd like to note that I've read the quality is far from terrible, I just think it's worth noting that it is not as great as the original. 

A positive that I can give this palette is that it appears Volume 2 would work better (perhaps only slightly) on medium and deep skin tones. I've read that the color payoff is lighter than what appears in the pan (the same is true for Volume 1), so I'm not sure how well they would actually perform on darker skin tones. Nonetheless, I think it is positive that Tarte is moving in a more inclusive direction. 

Still, the color scheme of this palette remains a mystery to me. I can't understand why Tarte would go in what feels like a dated direction when reds and oranges are hot right now. And that's not to say that they should go in that direction; the market is already saturated with those colors. But it seems like going along with what's hot right now is Tarte's modus operandi. 

Instead, they presented a palette with the most basic neutral color scheme. 

It looks like Urban Decay Naked:

Naked Smoky:

Stila In the Light:

Lorac Pro:

Photo: Shameless Fripperies

NYX Smokey Eyes:

And most recently, Anastasia Beverly Hills Master Palette by Mario:

Photo: Temptalia 

What's tricky about this color scheme is that it is both classic and dated. It's classic in the sense that Naked, Stila in the Light, and Lorac Pro are staples in many people's collections and continue to be loved and celebrated. But it is also dated in the sense that the Naked palette has been around for six or seven years, and most people want to see product releases that present something new to the table. In the entire context of the cosmetics industry, I don't think Volume 2 presents anything new, but more than that, I don't think it presents anything new to Rainforest of the Sea. 

It's frustrating for me to see brands churn out product after product, especially when the products are limited edition, because it feels like little thought went into it. If a brand is expecting me to pay upwards of $40 or $50 on an item, I would at least like there to have been some thought and inspiration behind it. I honestly think that's part of the reason people are falling all over Modern Renaissance. Because at the time of its release, only Lime Crime Venus was really similar, and most people either weren't aware of Venus or were boycotting Lime Crime. The color scheme feels inspired, and it was something a little different for most people. But releasing an item that looks so similar to many existing popular palettes and bares a striking resemblance to its predecessor just feels like you want me to collect the Rainforest of the Sea line and give you more money. That's another reason why I'm not a huge fan of serializing makeup items. Because it plays directly into some people's "need" or desire to complete collections. And if you know people will buy something just to complete their collection no matter the quality or how inspired it was, what's the incentive to put effort into making a great item?

Rainforest of the Sea Volume 2 just doesn't do it for me in any way. And Tarte on the whole has become a very unattractive brand to me as it seems they care more about whisking away internet famous people in their twenties to an exotic island in the hopes that they will shill their products than actually producing good quality makeup. This palette feels lame to me and like Tarte didn't even try, and I won't be buying. 

What I'm Not Buying: Kat Von D Pastel Goth

On January 10, Kat Von D will release her newest eyeshadow palette, Pastel Goth. 

And I won't be buying. 

Typically, I like to wait until a palette releases and has garnered some reviews before I make these posts, but on the other hand, because of the current consumerist climate of "buy now, evaluate your purchases later," I think it's important to get my thoughts out there and put things into perspective before products some hyped products are even available. 

Kat Von D is an interesting brand in that pretty much all of her products are ridiculously hyped and the performance is either hit or miss. She has had some huge hits, such as:

• Shade and Light Eye palette
• Metal Crush eyeshadows
• Mi Vida Loca Remix palette
• Tattoo liner
• Liquid lipsticks*

And some notable misses, such as:

• Shade and Light blushes
• Serpentina palette
• Liquid lipsticks* 

*There have been serious quality control issues with liquid lipstick batches.

Generally speaking, Kat Von D has more hits than misses, but the brand also has a habit of releasing "permanent" items only to discontinue them at a later date. This includes pretty much all of her eyeshadow palettes, most notably Monarch and Chrysalis. Because of this, it doesn't feel to me personally that Kat Von D is an exceptionally stable brand. But, I think they are trying to move toward that. It was important to Kat Von D that her brand reflect her own vegan beliefs and lifestyle, and she has been working toward making the entire line vegan for over a year now. This could be why the brand has lacked permanent products, but that is only my guess. 

What's intriguing about Kat Von D is that the brand's releases are traditionally really interesting in concept. Kat also does all of the product artwork herself, which gives the brand an additional level of unique and "cool." I find that I am rarely uninterested in the latest launch from Kat Von D, especially when it's an eyeshadow palette. I've mentioned many times that eyeshadow and palettes specifically are my weakness, and Kat Von D releases will always get consideration from me. 

I am, however, getting a little concerned that Kat Von D could be turning into the next Too Faced or Tarte in pumping out products at an alarming pace. Just within the last year, and only in terms of eyeshadow palettes, Kat Von D has released:

• Shade and Light Eye quads
• Serpentina
• Metal Matte
• Alchemist
• Pastel Goth 

That's a lot of releases for a brand that traditionally takes a while to develop and release a product, and I'll talk more about why this is a larger problem in a moment. 

I'm disappointed to say that Pastel Goth does not interest me whatsoever, and I feel the entire release is a missed opportunity for the brand. Kat Von D notoriously teases her latest products comically far in advance, so I'm not entirely sure when the concept of Pastel Goth was first introduced, but this was the fist image people were given:

I remember reading when this image was first released that people couldn't wait to buy the palette. And every time I read that kind of sentiment, I have to laugh. We are so well conditioned into wanting to get the latest and greatest that we make up our minds about something without even seeing the product or knowing the price. 

But then we saw the actual palette:

As well as the official "swatches" by Kat Von D:

I'll just say it—these swatches are garbage and clearly not an accurate depiction of the product. This is something that really, really frustrates me about a lot of brands, and Kat Von D in particular. At best these swatches have a ton of product piled onto the skin—far more than would be realistic to apply to one's eyelid—and at worst these swatches look straight-up photoshopped. They especially seem photoshopped since the colors look essentially the same on all three skin tones. And that's the point of swatching colors on multiple skin tones—to give an accurate depiction of how the product will look. 

Because the swatches are so heavy and unrealistic, I honestly don't have an idea of what these colors will look like on the eye. What I can say is that these colors don't look pastel. They actually look quite neon. And I get that a black and white shade fit the aesthetic of "pastel goth," but I also think that the person likely buying this palette already has black and white shadows in droves. I also expected this palette to be heavy on nuanced pastel pink, purple and blue shades, but that very well could be that my knowledge on the pastel goth aesthetic is limited. 

But for a themed palette, these colors seem to be quite... ordinary? Redone? Really, it reminded me most of the matte shades in the Kat Von D 2016 holiday palette, Metal Matte:

Even the ridiculous swatches look similar:

I mean, really, the only difference between Pastel Goth and Metal Matte is that Pastel Goth has a neon blue shade. Other than that, every shade is in the Metal Matte palette. And I'm not actually okay with that. If they were gonna make similar/repeat, why not just make the Metal Matte palette permanent? Or make separate mini metal and matte palettes? Why release a brand new palette with nearly the the exact shades as in a palette released just months earlier, stick a neon blue shade in it, and call it something new?

No, Kat Von D. No. This is dumb. You're selling snake oil at this point. 

And this is what I wanted to talk about before, in how I'm afraid that Kat Von D is the next Too Faced and Tarte in terms of releasing product after product that don't seem to have too much thought behind them and have subpar quality. My thought is—and this is pure speculation—that the bar has been raised in terms of brands needing to have something new to bring to beauty community every few months just to keep up with competitors. When I first started this blog, I didn't think there would be enough new products releasing for me to realistically keep things going on a regular basis, but I was surely proven wrong. And I don't even go looking for products! So far I've only written about items that have popped up in my everyday life and involvement within this community. 

I remember years ago when MAC was queen of the makeup world. People would get excited about MAC's special collections, sure, but most people were mainly talking about MAC's permanent line. And MAC didn't really release new permanent products often, so what people were talking about were products that essentially stood the test of time. And then the culture shifted, and now it is all about having these ridiculous collections, using giant IKEA Alex drawers to store said ridiculous collections, having an entire "beauty room" in one's house, and buying everything that every brand releases. And if the spending culture is to buy literally anything new, the incentive is high for companies to churn out new products at a rapid rate. And when brands are put under pressure to come out with something new as soon as possible every few months, innovation and quality are bound to decline. 

I believe it's ColourPop and Kylie Cosmetics' parent company—Seed Beauty—who essentially said they value rapid production over quality. They were praised in the industry for their marketing and business model, which they said was to churn out as much as possible as quickly as possible—without perfecting formulas—and see after the fact how well products sell and general consumer opinions. So to basically throw everything at the wall and see what sticks (or in this case, sells). They blatantly say they value rapid-fire releases over product quality, and I feel that is a huge middle finger to consumers. 

So now we are in a cycle where brands are churning out a ton of new products and we want to get the new thing everyone is talking about, so we end up spending and spending and amassing these enormous collections that we couldn't even begin to realistically work our way through. And to top it off, these products aren't even that good anymore. And I have to say that it's really disheartening. It's fun to look at new products and get excited by different color combinations and trends—that's how the fashion industry operates—but it takes the fun out of it when the market is flooded and all the products are subpar because production was rushed. 

Getting back to a point I made earlier, from the (likely highly edited) pictures of Pastel Goth that are available, the colors don't look very pastel. In fact, the swatches remind me quite a bit of the Urban Decay Electric Palette:

Photo: Temptalia

Only a little more subdued. 

For other actual pastel options, there's MAC Pastel Times Nine:

And MUA Pretty Pastels:

Photo: FleurdeForce

Overall, I'm really disappointed in this release. I'm disappointed in the color selection, the "pastel" nature of the shades, the similarity/repetition in Metal Matte, the ridiculous and unhelpful swatches, and the general marketing. And I really like Kat Von D as a brand! But this year...

• The Shade and Light Eye quads underwhelmed me 
• The Shade and Light blushes were pulled from shelves because of immensely poor quality 
• Serpentina seemed to have extreme quality control issues with most reviews leaning negative
• Metal Matte was too large and filled with colors I wouldn't use, and again reviews largely said the matte shades weren't up to other KVD quality
• Alchemist was exactly like ABH Moonchild except with a fraction of product
• And Pastel Goth doesn't spark intrigue or joy for me in any way

I'll be curious to see what actual swatches of Pastel Goth look like, especially since pastel shadows are notoriously difficult to work with. Even if the swatches are great (which, honestly, I would be surprised if they were), it wouldn't deter me from my decision to not buy. Maybe the actual colors won't look quite so similar to those in the Metal Matte palette, but on the eye, I assume the difference would be negligible. For $38, I think Pastel Goth just isn't interesting enough. If you look at it as a different take on an all-matte palette, then I suppose there is something intriguing there. Still, there just isn't enough to generate interest from me. 

I'll also be interested in reading reviews of this palette and seeing if the quality is up to par or not. It would be a shame if Kat Von D is the next brand to bite the dust of quality in favor of needing to play the rapid release game. Maybe it's time that consumers change the game a bit and stop playing by companies' rules. If you want me to buy something, it needs to be of fantastic quality and add something more to my comprehensive collection. If you want to throw mediocre crap at me every few months and expect me to buy, you'll lose me as a customer. But who knows, maybe the quality of Pastel Goth is fantastic. Even still, the shades are uninspiring to me and a repetition of shades in Metal Matte. I didn't buy Metal Matte, so there's no reason for me to think differently about Pastel Goth.