Kat Von D Talks About Her New Rainbow Brow Collection

Allure
Updated

It's hard to believe that Kat Von D doesn't offer any brow products in her fan-favorite makeup line. The brand is 10 years old (founded in 2008), and over the years has risen up to become a strong competitor in the beauty industry, finding its way into professional makeup artist's kits next to hero brands like M.A.C., Kryolan, and Make Up For Ever. So you'd easily assume that a company so highly praised by both pros and consumers would have everything you need to create a full face of makeup. But it's 2018 and only now is Von D coming out with brow products, a fact she's been teasing on social media since the middle of 2017.

The wait, however, has been worth it. Von D isn't just coming out with a set of snoozy pencils or another version of tinted brow gel in a tiny tube. The collection includes three different brow-filling formulas as well as two innovative (and cruelty-free, of course) brushes. And sure, one of the products is a retractable brow pencil (that comes in seven shades with a unique tip shape that's never been seen before on the market), but then there's also a shimmery brow powder (available in seven bues) and incredibly long-wearing brow pomades that not only come in seven neutral brow tones, but also seven "artistry colors" including red (Von D's favorite), fuchsia, white, and a beige tone meant for creating a "bleached brow" effect.

In honor of this tremendous occasion, I flew out to Los Angeles to see all the new launches and sit down with Kat. I took the opportunity to chat all things brows, product development, and why the heck she kept us waiting for so damn long, all of which, you can read below.

Allure: Why did you wait until 2018 to launch brow products?

Kat Von D: "For me, like with any product, I want it to be perfect. A lot of times, especially in the formulating part of the development, things take a lot longer than expected. Right now, we're working on a mascara and it's taking us over a year and we're still not there yet. For me, it's better to wait than just to release something for the sake of releasing it. When it comes to brows, there are so many different types of brow [products and brow shapes] that I didn't want to limit myself to one specific formula because I think everybody does their brows differently. We came up with three, plus brushes and the logistics that comes with all of tha meant that it takes a lot more work."

Allure: What were some of the most important factors for you when developing the collection?

KVD: "I'm a stickler when it comes to every aspect of my line. My development team probably hates working with me sometimes...but in a good way. I think that I push them to a certain degree to create something that's going to withstand the test of time. So in the collection, there is Super Brow, which is the potted pomade, the Signature Brow, which is the pencil and then Brow Struck, which is the powdered version. Each of them gives you a different effect. For Brow Struck, I really wanted it to be able to create natural-looking brows. So we found this really innovative formula that has a very specific type of shimmer that has a reflectiveness to it. Eyebrows are not naturally matte, so the point of this formula is to really mirror that. It photographs very naturally and looks very natural in the daylight. It's the one that I use the least because I like dramatic and crazy, weird, ridiculous eyebrows but I know the majority of people don't do their brows like me.

For the pencil, I really wanted for people to be able to create everything from fine line strokes to somebody to a very precise, graphic eyebrow. Our unique oval shape..."

Allure: I was actually going to ask about that...

KVD: "Yeah, that was something that wasn't on the market yet and there's a duality to it. You can use it in so many different ways, not just as a fine line. You can fill in brows too. And then obviously, Super Brow, the pomade, is pretty self-explanatory."

Allure: Yeah, and why did you want to include the rainbow tones in addition to the neutral ones?

KVD: "The idea of bringing color into the Super Brow collection was really inspired by seeing all our fans and followers posting colorful eyebrow pictures using our liquid lipsticks. I think that's really cool because you know the formula, although it's not designed for the eye, it can work on an eyebrow. But over time, it's not going to if you were to wear it all day, it's probably going to flake and crack because the formula's not designed to adhere to hair. It looks good on Instagram but I wanted to make a formula that actually looks great all the time in real life. So the idea of creating the rainbow brow pomades was inspired by our fans and followers."

<cite class="credit">Courtesy of Brand</cite>
Courtesy of Brand

Allure: Speaking of having fun with eyebrows, what are your thoughts on all the crazy brow trends that are popping up all over Instagram?

KVD: "I actually don't really know what most trends are. I don't follow other makeup lines or too many makeup artists other than my artistry collective plus a few others and I do that on purpose. I feel that it can be really easy to fall into creating for the sake of what others think versus what you think. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that there are always trends that come and go. What I do know is that we're in a really exciting time in makeup where what used to be considered crazy — I mean, there was a time where I would do my makeup and people assumed I was going to a Halloween party — but now you see it on the runway and you see it in every day and it's considered beautiful. I think that that's exciting for the world of beauty. Because that means that we're not limited to the same fucking boring brow, you know?"

Allure: For the pomade, what's your best application tip? How do you apply it to yourself?

KVD: "I absolutely love the brush that we designed for [the pomade] because it picks up and distributes the pigment in a specific way. But I've used it with all kinds of other brushes and it works just fine. Again, I think it's going to be a personal preference thing. And the cool things about it is like I said earlier, I like to black out my brows. Most people don't do that so the formula itself lends itself to layering, which I think is great. You can however also get a natural brow using Super Brow."

Allure: What are some of your favorite color combinations?

KVD: "I have been in love with mixing the white one and the bleach one, which creates an off-white shade. I also love using those two as mixing mediums with all the other colors. If you wanted to achieve a pastel lilac, you mix the white with the violet shade. Those are more my favorite color combos but you know I'm a huge fan of red. When I first posted the picture of me with the red eyebrow, everybody was like, "What the fuck?" Red is always a very striking shade. I'm more excited to see what people come up with."

Allure: People have used concealer to cover their brows and it doesn't really always work that well. So how is the bleach shade an effective enough cream to actually conceal hairs?

KVD: "I designed the Super Brow product, in particular, to be completely bulletproof and full coverage. It's more highly pigmented than the other formulas. You will get a dramatic payoff. We developed the bleach color so that instead of you having to buy a white and yellow, you could just have your own perfect bleach shade that gives you that natural bleach look."

Allure: One of your artists was telling me you tested the Super Brow formula at Barry's Bootcamp.

KVD: "I'm not a big fan of people who wear makeup to the gym because I think that's silly. When I do wear it, it's usually just for testing product formulas because if my eyebrows can last through a Barry's Bootcamp workout, which is fucking gnarly, then it can withstand a regular day, right?

The entire Kat Von D Beauty Brow Collection, which includes the 24-Hour Super Brow Long-Wear Pomade ($19), the Brow Struck Dimension Powder ($20), the Signature Brow Precision Pencil ($20), the Powder Brow Brush #75 ($18), and the Pomade Brow Brush #70 ($18), launch on April 20th on sephora.com, katvondbeauty.com, and in Sephora stores.

Keep up on more Kat Von D beauty news below:

Watch what happens when John Cena and Ike Barinholtz narrate a makeup tutorial:

See the video.