Kardashian Beauty: First Impressions

Love them or hate them, the Kardashians are everywhere and in every market. From books, to clothing (and even children’s clothing), to reality TV, online games and beauty. I’m a fan and let me explain why. Yes, they are over-the-top and can be ridiculous, but I think they’re entertaining and they’re brilliant businesswomen for sure. Some may argue that they are famous and rich for nothing, and true they may not be coming up with the next medical breakthrough, but that doesn’t detract from their business savvy ways. They have built an empire that continues to grow.

A few years ago, I think 2, they launched a budget friendly beauty line sold at Ulta and some other drugstores. It makes sense that the girls known for their beauty and super glam looks would come out with a makeup line and I found it really interesting that they decided to start out with a very low-cost, budget friendly line. While I’m sure they regularly use very high-end brands themselves, my initial thought for them would be to either go high-end or at least more middle of the market.

So I first heard of their launch about 2 years ago, but couldn’t find any of their products in store. I saw some reviews and pictures online over time, but still didn’t get a chance to try it out for myself. Then, a few months ago I was putting an order through at Ulta and was reminded of the brand when I saw an ad for a sale they were having on Kardashian Beauty items. Since the items were on sale, a lot of the products were sold out, but I got 1 eyeshadow palette and 1 blush.

The eyeshadow palette is their Touch Tones Gradient Eyeshadow in “Rose” and the blush is the Ombre Cheek Color in “Vivid”. Each retails regularly for $9.99 at Ulta.

I first tried these products out weeks ago, which is when these pictures were taken. I didn’t get a chance to post my review so I had to try the products out again over the weekend to make sure my thoughts were still the same. So technically this is a 2nd impression, but my thoughts remain the same. In short, the blush is nice and the eyeshadow is a wash.

The blush is nice and I really enjoy swirling together ombre blushes. It gives a natural pink flush to the cheeks and is pretty standard. It’s not life changing by any means, but it does a nice job and the pink ombre star looks pretty in the pan so for $9.99 why not?

The eyeshadows though. First of all, palettes that have these strips of eyeshadows are always tough to work with because the strips are so narrow that it’s hard to really get your brush in there. The shadows do not pick up easily on the brush, I needed to rub my brush back and forth on the product to pick up a decent amount. Even then, it is not very pigmented and you’re left with just a wash of color on the eyes. You can definitely get color on the lids, but it does take work. Now you may say, well it’s $9.99 what can you really expect? Well, I say I can expect a lot more! Gone are the days when companies can claim that budget-friendly products equals poor performing products. While I do believe you get what you pay for and I was certainly not expecting these shadows to be comparable to a brand like Bobbi Brown, there are so many drugstore brands these days that are in the same price range or even lower that produce amazing products – ELF and Wet n Wild just to name a couple.

So my final verdict? I’ve only tried two products from the line so perhaps other items are really great, but from what I’ve experienced I’d say that if you really want to try something from this line, try the blush and skip the eyeshadow.

Have any of you tried anything from the Kardashian Beauty Line?