Kat von D True Romance Poetica palette review, swatches

I fell in love with Kat von D makeup last year, after using her High Voltage Eye Primer, reviewed here. But I had not tried any of the eyeshadows from the brand. It was certainly not my intention to buy any palettes this quarter. But the best laid plans et cetera et cetera.
While I still have not managed to get my entire haul together and photograph it - an upset stomach with all the junk food I downed has contributed to the post-travel lethargy - I had swatched this palette within a couple of days of buying it and have loved using it on evenings out.
I had hemmed and hawed between Sinner and Poetica - both contained purple eyeshadows. I have been missing a purple-centric palette in my stash. Poetica won out because it had three eyeshadows from the purple family while Sinner had only two.

Here is my review and swatches of the Kat von D True Romance Eyeshadow Palette in Poetica.

Packaging of the Kat von D True Romance Eyeshadow Palette in Poetica

I love the design - the external box is black and white, and opens out like this:

The palette itself has the design embossed. It feels very fragile to me, though, although it survived my suitcase nicely. It is made of metal and feels heavy enough, but let's just say I must be careful not to drop this palette.
Shade names are printed behind the palette.

No parabens, of course, in any of the eyeshadows.

Formula of the Kat von D True Romance Eyeshadow Palette in Poetica

This palette comes with eight eyeshadows, an Autograph Eye Pencil and a decently sized mirror.  The pencil is  really creamy and stays on nicely. Not quite jet-black, but I like this on me. It will feature in eye looks!

The formula is mixed - some have more fallout than the others (more in-palette, rather than off the eyes), two of these are on the chalky side, one is a bit dry and the rest of these are great, and everything is nicely pigmented, as you will see from the swatches. The shades are:
Forgiveness: A golden-white shimmery shadow. Slightly chalky. Also had the maximum fallout.
Sand Timer: This shimmery neutral highlighter blends into my skintone.
Chandler: Lol, an eyeshadow named Chandler! This is a GORGEOUS burnt orange. Soft, buttery formula.
Tijuana: Yet another black/brown with glitter, you think? NO! Wait till you see the swatches. Not as much fallout as I expected, though there was some.
Wonderland: A gorgeous glittery deep purple.
Shiba: A mauvey purple with grey undertones.
Babe: A lilac purple with blue tones somewhere.
You Alone: Matte off-white eyeshadow. Not my thing at all. Had the second-most quantity of fallout.

Swatches of Kat von D True Romance Palette in Poetica

The eyeliner is swatched on either side with smudging attempted at the right end.
First row: Forgiveness, Sand Timer, Chandler, Tijuana
Second row: Wonderland, Shiba, Babe, You Alone.

Here are finger-swatches of Chandler, Forgiveness, Tijuana and Wonderland. I copied the idea of finger-swatching from Laura of My Newest Addiction. Photo in natural light, like the one above.

Here are finger-swatches in direct sunlight (ignore my recovering nails, please):

Even those do not do justice to Tijuana. Take a look at the close-up shot of the finger-swatch - the first one is in natural light while the second is in direct sunlight.

What say?
Wonderland is quite neat as well.

Chandler is another lovely eyeshadow:

Forgiveness, on the other hand, does not float my boat. Not my favourite texture either:

I'm keeping the close-up of my favourite colour - Babe - for an EOTD look. Almost a duochrome....

Summary
Most of these are good for dramatic or night looks rather than subtle work-wear, but don't you get tired of looking at neutral palettes after a while? I can't wait to show you a couple of looks I have done with some of these shades. Although I will not be using the two off-whites, both of which do not shine formula-wise, I am so glad I bought this palette - it fills a purple-shadow void in my stash.