I'm overcome with happiness, seeing an idol of mine (who's legacy shaped drag and counterculture as we know it) have a makeup collection released in their honor. PROPS to you Kat Von D for bringing Divine to the forefront of the makeup community and it's younger generation. For those of you unfamiliar with Divine, Harris Glenn Milstead (Divine) was born on October 19, 1945 into a wealthier family. After developing an interest in drag and counterculture Divine rejected her family's lifestyle and went on to become a well known drag queen. She starred in a number of films, most of which directed by her childhood friend John Waters, who gave her the name Divine. The films she starred in with John Waters directing, became instantly recognizable for their irreverent and outrageous content, helping to popularize them among the midnight movie circuit. Later in her career Divine went on to perform with Seattle group "The Cockettes" and created a string of hit songs during the 80's. Before Divine passed away in her sleep on March 7, 1988 from an enlarged heart, she was offered a reccurring role on Married with Children to play a character named Uncle Otto, bringing her dreams of being taken as a serious character actor to fruition. A year after her death, Walt Disney released The Little Mermaid. The main villain in the film, Ursula the sea witch bore a stringing resemblance to Divine, later being confirmed that the character was designed in her image.
     The eyeshadow palette features the eyes of Divine on the front and is encased with neon green packaging. The shades have been thoughtfully named after different aspect's of Divine's career; "Hairspray" is named after the movie Hairspray where Divine plays the main character's mother Edna Turnblad, "Female Trouble" is named after another movie Divine starred in where she plays a runaway girl who later turns into a hardened criminal, "Pink Flamingos" is named after the film Divine's most well known for. She play a underground criminal who is challenged by a couple that run an adoption agency for the title "filthiest people alive," "Filthy" is a reference to Pink Flamingos and the title given to Divine's character, "Waters" is named after John Waters, her close childhood friend who cast her in a number of movies he filmed, this includes all the films I've already mentioned, "Baltimore" is named after the city Divine was born in, "Hard Magic" is the name of one of her songs, and "Babs" is the name of her character from Pink Flamingos. The lipstick is aptly named "Divine" and was designed using the new Studded Lipstick formula.
     The palette which costs $38 contains 8 different eyeshadows consisting of mattes and shimmers, the palette weighs 8 x 1.70g/ 8 x 0.06oz for a cost of $4.75 per eyeshadow. The lipstick costs $19 and you're getting 3.4g/ 0.12oz. Both items are vegan and Kat Von D is a cruelty free company.
     When Kat Von D first sneak peaked the palette on her ex-boyfriends Instagram I was bouncing off the walls in excitement. Leave it to Kat Von D to come up with the most interesting collaborations. When I saw the colors in the palette, my excitement dwindled. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, but the palette didn't scream Divine to me. The blue shades were definitely appropriate as Divine would often wear blue when she wasn't wearing neutral colored eyeshadows (in one of Divine's most recognizable scenes that comes from Pink Flamingos, Divine is wearing over the top blue eyeshadow). The black and white eyeshadows definitely have their place in the palette, especially the black which is perfect to fill in a giant wing or cut a crease. What perplexes me the most is the green eyeshadow. I did read a comment on Instagram where someone claimed that the green eyeshadow was created to resemble Divine's bizarre character in color. I can see where they're coming from, but I don't know if I'm sold on that idea and furthermore, why name it "Pink Flamingos" was it because the trailer she was living in was half green, probably not. "Babs" is also another shade that perplexes me. I can't say I've across any photos where Divine is wearing champagne eyeshadow, but perhaps this shade was thrown in to make the color scheme more coherent and wearable. The last two shades "Filthy" and "Hairspray," I feel similarly towards. Divine did wear matte gray eyeshadows, but again, these shades felt as though they were thrown to ground the palette's color scheme. While I do like the color scheme as a whole, I just don't feel as though it completely screams Divine to me. I would have really enjoyed a neutral brown, a purple, or even a bright red eyeshadow, colors more synonymous with colors Divine wore. The lipstick though simple, is quite spot on, when Divine wasn't wearing bright red lips, she often wore beige lipsticks. The last thing that I need to address, is the absence of plus sized models for the campaign. Divine was a confident plus sized diva and to not feature at least one plus sized model felt inappropriate to me. I'm sure it was nothing personal, but being that Divine is an idol of mine, I can't help being overly critical towards every aspect of this collection.

Dupes:

(The shimmer eyeshadows were swatched using my fingers and the matte eyeshadows were swatched using an E.L.F. eyeshadow brush. I used Too Faced's Shadow Insurance as a base)

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     The palette is absolutely stunning! Let me preface this by saying that for the majority this palette will not be travel friendly, while thin it is quite a large palette. I don't believe I'll be getting any use out of the mirrors because they're slim half size mirrors that I get my fingerprints on every time I open the palette. While the shimmery eyeshadows don't particularly need a base to look pigmented, the shade "Exodus" might depending on your preference as this particular shade tends to apply somewhat sheer without any building. I find that the matte shades "Amen" and "Baptism" are not only powdery, but they seem to be the only shades with severe kick up in my opinion (although they all produce a some kick up). The eyeshadows "Absolution" and "Rapture" were the only colors that really gave me fall out. I do recommend a glitter primer when using these colors for the full color payout as well as to battle the fallout, but even then I would start with the eyes first or place a layer of powder under the eyes, because the fallout is quite prevalent throughout the day; I even tried spraying my brush to no avail, perhaps my hooded eyes were rubbing the glitter particles off causing the fallout, but I'm not entirely certain, but I do feel as though the glitter continued to fallout throughout the time I wore it. When it comes to chalky shades I would say the worst offenders are "Amen" and "Baptism" although "Sabbath" is somewhat of a contender, the only reason I'm not including "Sabbath" on my list is because the eyeshadow is not quite as powdery feeling when I pick it up on my brush and apply the shade. For me I was disappointed to find that "Exodus" is more of a lime green than a neon green (I was hoping this shade might compare to that of Sugarpill's eyeshadow "Acidberry.") I was also disappointed that "Ministry" applies as more of a blackish blue than a deep blue shade, I would compare this shade to the eyeshadow "Danger"from my Gwen Stefani Palette. My favorite shade from the palette is "Sacred Heart" from the Saint side, this eyeshadow blends amazingly on any surface it's placed on, primer or not. What I appreciate about the colors in the palette is that while they are pigmented, they're quite build-able which makes it easier to control the color payout.

Final Thoughts 

     Overall I really do enjoy this palette, it's a beautiful piece to look at every time I open it and a wonderful palette for a makeup collector; you could honestly set this palette up as a decorative piece on a vanity. For me the hardest to use shades in this palette would be the two glittery eyeshadows at the top because they produce quite a bit of fallout even when using a glitter primer, knocking off excess product, and even wetting my brush. Don't get me wrong these shades are really pretty, but they're hard to work with and have made a mess of my palette. While the matte shades are slightly chalky, with "Amen" and "Baptism" being the worst offenders, the color payout is build-able, but not quite fully opaque, for beginners or people who just prefer building eyeshadow I believe you'll enjoy these colors, plus they do blend quite well. I don't have any complaints when it comes to the shimmers, they perform just as nice as eyeshadows from other Kat Von D palettes and they can be intensified by wetting the brush.