PAT McGRATH LABS Dark Star 006 Ultrasuede Brown: Review & Swatches

Every time a new Pat McGrath Labs product kit gets launched I feel suckered into buying it. The hype and the promo pictures suck me into it's pretty artistic realm. I decided to grab the new Dark Star 006 kit in Ultrasuede Brown. It comes packaged in pretty blue zebra stripe sequins. Details per Sephora:

A seven-piece kit with mesmerizing pigments, a transformational eye gloss, black khol liner, and a custom blending brush.  

Straight from the lab, your deepest, darkest beauty desire has materialized: Dark Star UltraSuede Brown or UltraViolet Blue—tech-noir, smoky eye kits for intergalactic-inspired glamour. Featuring lustrous mutational pigments, a clear, holographic cyber gloss and Black SmudgeLiner for the perfect smoky eye. This kit includes a blender brush to capture and project pigment, transforming eyes with radiant, interstellar illumination. Let this set help you get ready to face the future and make eye contact with the next dimension.

At Pat McGrath Labs, products come in luxurious packaging that's inspired by authentic cosmetic lab samples. The products are packed with its signature couture sequins, elevating each and every kit with a subversive sense of opulence, outrageousness, and obsession.

The Kit Contains

- 0.13 oz/ 3.68 g Pigment in UltraSuede Brown
- 3 x 0.14 oz/ 3.96 g Pigment in Astral White, Mercury, Dark Matter
- 0.14 oz/ 4.14 mL Eye Gloss in Cyber (clear)
- 0.05 oz/ 1.41 g Black SmudgeLiner Eye Khol
- Blender Brush

The Ultrasuede Brown Pigment was my favorite item out of the kit. It's a shimmery neutral bronze eyeshadow in a pressed format. It wasn't glittery and was moderately pigmented. I had no issues with it's lasting capabilities. Over primer it wore well for a day. It was smooth and applied evenly.

The Pigment in Astral White is a shimmery iridescent white beige that has a blue teal shift. This is consequentially glittery. The glitter was too much for me for a day look. I can see this working well for night or if you love glitter. If you don't like glitter this shade is not for you. This has a slightly thicker chunkier texture to it.

The Pigment in Mercury is a shimmery light taupe khaki gold. It's neutral to cool in tone. This one is very shimmery and has a hint of very fine glitter, but it's much less than Astral White. It's sheer in coverage. You can layer it over Ultrasuede Brown for an intensified sparkle and it brightens the eye. The texture of this one is thinner and more smooth than Astral White.

The Pigment in Dark Matter is a soft black thin textured powder with a very tiny hint of sheen. It's smooth and applies medium to sheer, you need to build up the intensity.

The Eye Gloss in Cyber is a clear sticky gloss with a blue teal glitter sparkle to it. It's fun for an effect, but too glittery and sticky for me to use on my eyes for an everyday look. This is the art and special occasion only part of the kit.

The Black Smudgeliner Eye Khol is a thick black pencil. It's really smooth and applies really well. It's blends like a dream to smudge easily. Then it sets like iron. It's pretty pigmented but can be smudged out softly.

The Blender Brush is a synthetic fluffy medium sized brush. Its very much the same size as the MAC 217 and Hakuhodo J5523 just synthetic. It's OK. I applied the products with my preferred brushes versus this one.

Overall I find my opinions about this kit similar to other Pat McGrath Labs releases. Same cheap packaging at a high retail cost, $130 for this kit. It contains a bunch of items that require lots of time to apply, precision and gives a look that's very artistic but not really suitable for an everyday look. It's very Instagram in it's style, not for the average working person unless you only want to use a few items out of the kit that are more subtle. If the items were sold separately and not as a kit I would be happy to grab one or two items, like Ultrasuede Brown, and keep as items I can use a lot.

I would love to be able to cherry pick the items I can use versus having to buy them all. There are just too many items in her kits that I can't use on a daily or weekly basis. They're more special occasion items. I think after this kit I'm done with grabbing the Pat McGrath Labs kits. I loved the highlighter one but the last few have been so over the top in their effect I just can't use them on a daily basis to wear to work. I can see why some will love the kits, they're fun but just not for me.

Top to Bottom: Eye Gloss in Cyber; Black Smudgeliner; Pigment in-Dark Matter, Ultrasuede Brown, Mercury, Astral White; Ultrasuede Brown layered with L to R-Eye Gloss in Cyber, Astral White, Mercury:

Closer views, same order: