My Two Cents - New Kat Von D Esperanza Eyeshadow Palette

What's Up Gems!!! Welcome to another edition of my two cents.  This installment will be a full review of Kat Von D's new Esperanza Eyeshadow Palette. I purchased the palette from Sephora a few weeks ago.  This is one of many new releases for 2014. The palette is a great intro into spring/summer with it's soft, pastel and earth tone colors.

With being such a big KVD fan, I couldn't wait to get this.  KVD has a large following of beauty enthusiasts that L-O-V-E her palettes.  Some that you may already know and love are: KVD Ladybird True Romance, True Romance Poetica and the Spellbinding Eyeshadow palettes.


First, I'll start off by giving a brief description of each color. Starting (from left to right): Selena, Dayglo, Galore and Placebo. 

Selena - Shimmery Purple color (w/flecks of silver shimmer)
Dayglo - A white iridescent transformer shade (can be used over/with another color to give you a lighter/darker version of that color
Galore - Shimmery Peach
Placebo - Matte Coral

The last four shades in the palette are as follows (from left to right): Santeria, Archangel, South and Dog Roses.

Santeria - A blue-green shimmer 
Archangel - Matte Mint Green
South - Matte beige
Dog Roses - Golden Bronze

Colors I Love....Archangel, South, Dog Roses and Placebo
Colors I Don't Love and Why.....Santeria and Dayglo. Santeria was a HUGE disappointment.  This was the one color in the palette I was most looking forward to trying.  Per KVD reputation, most of the eyeshadows are very pigmented and standout colors (you only need a little to achieve great results). Unfortunately, even with a good eye shadow base, there was very little color payoff.  

Dayglo just didn't do what it claimed. This was supposed to be a shadow that you could layer with other shadows to create dimension. Sorry...this did no such thing. Maybe if this was just a regular matte color it would work, otherwise, it's a miss for me.

Verdict still out on....Selena and Galore

Overall, I can probably estimate that I will only get use of 50% of this palette.  While it's only 8 colors, I can truly see me utilizing only 4 for spring/summer looks.  The mattes shades are my favorite...KVD really does matte shades well. They're easily blendable and stay ALL day without budging.

This palette retails for $36.  The value of this palette, for me, is not great.  I do splurge on high-end palettes because I know the quality is good.  In this instance, the value just is not there for me.

My grade for this palette is a 'B'. If I had to make a recommendation, it would be to purchase one of the other matte palettes from KVD and skip on this. Every palette can't be an "A+".  Again, other products from the KVD line are amazing and you won't be disappointed.

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