Kat von D Monarch palette review (with swatches)

Kat von D Monarch palette ($46)

I have done a less thorough review of this before. Click here for an older album with swatches on a sunnier day.

SKIP TO: color descriptions | texture descriptions | swatches | comparison with Ladybird

I was really excited when I saw this palette because I have the Ladybird palette, and I love it to death (I'll do a review later). As far as I've seen, most of Kat von D's products are pretty consistently high quality. The Monarch palette has a sister palette, the Chrysalis palette, which is quite cool and has some lovely purples and blues. I was also really tempted to buy the Chrysalis palette, but didn't because a) I didn't have that much money and b)I would probably only ever use the purples and maybe a couple of the more neutral colors, because the colors don't suit me as well. For me, the Chrysalis palette would be more of an accent palette and not really something I'd wear on its own. 

But seriously, I was so excited for this that when I heard it was coming out, I tried to take the bus to swatch it at my nearest Sephora, because the internet lied to me and told me they had it. Unfortunately, a bus ride, a train ride, and a walk later, I was informed that neither Chrysalis nor Monarch was in stock. These two palettes, as with all of Kat von D's cosmetics, are Sephora exclusives.

Front cover

The entire case is made of sturdy cardboard and has a magnetic clasp. It measures 7.5in. x 3.5in. x 0.5in. (or 19cm x 9 cm x 1.5cm, for those of you who are using the metric system). It's about one and a half times the size of Kat von D's True Romance palettes.

back cover

As with the rest of her palettes, the packaging is very detailed. The case color scheme reflects its contents, and the mirror isn't a generic rectangle. I really appreciate how large the mirror is. Generally palette mirrors are too narrow to do much with. As usual with Kat von D, the names of the shadows are written on the back, a helpful feature. The wings of the butterflies are edged by skulls, and are covered in orange foil (as is the Kat von D logo). The box for this palette is also different from the packaging for the True Romance palettes, which are in a sort of envelope-type box.

Top row(L-R): Entomology, Telepathy, and Tiny Death
Bottom Row (L-R): Wrath, Papilio, Summerfly, Killing Jar, Delaney, Vanish, Disintegration, Shadow Box, and Deadhead
Overall, this palette is what I'd call "adventurous neutral." Because I generally consider orange, muted violets, pinks, and metallics as neutrals, since they're still quite reminiscent of skin and hair colors, though normally neutrals only include beige, taupe, tan, etc.  Monarch is decidedly warm in tone, with a good mix of textures—matte, satin, and sparkly. I like how the colors are sort of grouped together, to make it easier to mix and match when one is feeling indecisive.

Top: Entomology; Bottom: Wrath, Papilio, Summerfly

Entomology is a lovely matte warm cream. Very faintly yellow.
Wrath is one of my favorites, a shimmery burnt orange. Some say that it's just like Cleopatra from the Ladybird palette, but I disagree; Cleopatra is matte and a bit lighter. While they certainly complement each other and are similar, they are not at all the same. If Cleopatra is the color of pumpkin pie filling, Wrath is a sparkling terracotta.
Papilio is a chocolately, sort of plummy pearly brown.
Summerfly is warm gold with gold sparkles. Some of the sparkles are a little coarse/flaky, but the shadow still applies quite smoothly. I like it a lot, though this is the shade that tends to have the most fallout. Not a lot, but more than the others.
Overall, of the three sections of this palette, this is my favorite.

Top: Telepathy; Bottom: Killing Jar, Delaney, Vanish

Telepathy is similar in texture/finish to Papilio. The color is really interesting, sort of a silvery, yet neutral-warm beige-taupe (let's play a game called "How many hypenated adjectives can you use in one description?"). It's more yellow than these pictures might suggest.
Killing Jar is a warm pink in a pearly finish. It has sort of a golden hue to it. On Sephora's website, they call it a copper, but I don't find it to be copper at all. This is another color I really like.
Delaney is a warm silver, a slightly cooler/grayer/darker version of Telepathy
Vanish is warm matte taupe, more brown and less gray.
This section of the palette has some good colors. While someone with lighter skin could probably wear just the colors in this section, I am dark enough that I mostly use these as accents and highlight colors.

Top: Tiny Death; Bottom: Disintegration, Shadowbox, Deadhead

Tiny Death is kind of disappointing. It was a lot more difficult to get the color than it was for the others. It is a sheer matte beige, less yellow than Telepathy, with clear sparkles.
Disintegration is a warm, mid-toned brown pearl. It is similar to Papilio in the depth of the brown, but is more of a straight brown and less chocolately and plummy.
Shadow Box is a matte dark brown. It was a lot like Tiny Death in texture.
Deadhead is a matte black. It was also smooth, but hard and a little difficult to pick up.
This section is the most disappointing, as Tiny Death, Shadow Box, and Deadhead are the least pigmented and least impressive in both color and formula. If I'm lazy or going for a slightly bolder brow, however, I can use Shadow Box and Deadhead to fill my eyebrows in.

Finishes: Entomology, Vanish, Shadow Box, and Deadhead are matte. Papilio,Telepathy, Killing Jar, Delaney, and Disintegration are pearl (shimmery overall, without individual sparkles). Wrath, Summerfly, and Tiny Death are sparkly, though Summerfly has coarser sparkles and Tiny Death has sparkles on a matte base.


Wrath, Summerfly, Delaney, and Killing Jar apply quite well and are very pigmented.Wrath tends to kick up a little bit of extra powder if you touch it too hard.
Papilio, Telepathy, and Disintegration are really nice and buttery, quite smooth to the touch and very rich in color payoff.
Entomology and Vanish are super soft, basically creamy in texture (especially Vanish). A gentle touch goes a long way.
Killing Jar, Shadow Box, and Deadhead all had the same disappointing texture. They were smooth when I touched them, but hard. Unlike the rest of the palette, they were not full opacity, or even close to it, with the first swipe.

 

Shadows are swatched on NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Black Bean, Wet n Wild Fergie Centerstage primer, bare skin, and NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk (from top to bottom). 

From left to right, the shadows are Entomology, Wrath, Papilio, Summerfly, Telepathy, Killing Jar, Delaney, Vanish, Tiny Death, Disintegration, Shadow Box, and Deadhead.

Please note that although these were swatched in daylight, it was a bit rainy so it was cloudy outside. I am medium-to-tan, so the skin that I used for swatching is about a MAC NC 35.

Entomology, Wrath, Papilio, Summerfly

These performed very well on all three bases and without a base.

Telepathy, Killing Jar, Delaney, Vanish

These performed fairly well and consistently on different bases and bare skin as well, although Vanish wasn't quite as pigmented. Also, I'm not sure what happened to Vanish on top of Milk there. It does appear a little darker when it's on Milk instead of other bases, but not with the darkness on the edges of the swatch as seen in the photo. The album I linked at the beginning of this post has a better swatch of it.

Tiny Death, Disintegration, Shadow Box, Deadhead

Ah, hello, most disappointing section. Disintegration has got it together, guys, the rest of you need to shape up. As you can see, Tiny Death is just...kind of sheer overall. Shadowbox and Deadhead are also kind of patchy and not as pigmented as the other shades. They look very similar on top of Black Bean and seem to actually get lighter on top of my primer, which I thought was weird. Maybe because my primer is slightly lighter than my skin and the shadows are a little sheer?

Some people say that Ladybird and Monarch are similar, so here's a comparison of the palettes. I mean, they ARE similar, but I don't feel like having both is redundant at all. Kind of funny that they have opposite arrangements, though, in terms of the similar colors.

I would recommend this palette to people who are warm-toned. Monarch is a good choice for someone looking to start branching out from neutral-neutrals. There's a good variety of colors and finishes, but nothing too scary. It has shades to suit a variety of skin colors. One of my personal pet peeves is when everyone raves about products being suitable for "all skin colors," but the product in question only works for people who are pale (I'm looking at you, Naked Basics). This palette actually has a nice variety of depths. Cool-toned folks, Chrysalis may be more for you. 

Packaging: 9/10
Presentation: 10/10
Quality: 7.5/10
Overall: 8/10


~Lotus