Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette Swatches on Dark Skin/Review

 I've had this palette for a few years now, I think it was one of the biggest palettes of 2016. It was a gift from my lovely friend😁. It really brought pinks and reds to the mainstream. And I was really happy about it because those are some of my favorite shades to wear. I just realized I never did a swatch/review of the palette, and figured I would because the palette is still for sale and it helps distract me a little from always wanting to buy new palettes and really appreciating what I have. 

I was kinda surprised to find the shades are a lot more muted than I thought they would be. It makes it kinda natural/neatural. At least on my skin tone.

Tempera, Golden Ochre, Vermeer, Buon Fresco, Antique Bronze

 

Tempera-First shade is tempera. I have been reading about how Renaissance painters made a tone like this by mixing egg with other stuff to make paint. Quite cool. But I really dislike this shade. It's basically a satin finish ash on me. Now that I have it swatched, I will probably be digging it right out of my palette. 

Golden Ochre- This color definitely goes on a lot more white based than I expected. It's Ok as an inner corner color or a light highlight when I wipe most of it away. It's mostly just not the most flattering color for my coloring. I need to try mixing it with some greens. I don't really think it goes too well with the other colors in this palette and I think it should have been a deeper yellow. 

Vermeer- This was named for the painter Vermeer. I'm not sure where the inspiration for the for the color came from- Maybe from the Girl with the Pear Earring. I really like that painting. Anyway, it seems kinda pearl like, unfortunately for me it doesn't really appear so on my eyelids. It's just too pale and doesn't really flatter my skin tone. I don't even like it as an inner corner color. I tried mixing it or layering it and don't like the finish of the shade I get. I will probably ending up digging this color out too.

Buon Fresco- This is a type of painting, I can see why they chose this shade. I just googled Buon Fresco paintings and this shade showed up in quite a lot of the paintings. It is a very durable type of painting. It's a pretty color but doesn't show up true to pan, it's less of that muted purple to it on my eyes. I like it with Love Letter and brining in a plummy deep purple for an interesting eye look. 

Antique Bronze- This is the easiest go to color for me. I hit pan on it pretty quickly and then just stopped using it. But I don't really like it much. I'm just drawn to mid-tone colors like it that makes an easy go to eye. It's more a burgundy bronze shade. It's not really true to the name if you look at actual antique bronze-thank you Google! I wonder why they went with this particular shade? Anyway it's more a satin (or Pearl?)  finish which I've found are not my favorite finish. I wish this was more shimmery!  Basically it's a little flat. And I find that it muddles with most of the other colors in this palette. I can make really subtle, blah looks with it but I'm never impressed with it. I will probably try to use it up now that I've got this post up. 

Love Letter, Cyprus Umber, Raw Sienna, Burnt Orange, Primavera

Love Letter- Love Letters as we know them today were started during the early Renaissance. And love is the color of pink and red- Valentines Day says so. It's a more muted magenta than I expected it to be, but I do really love the color. It's just I want to use it with colors outside the palette. It's very muted and doesn't stand out. The only thing I'm not a fan of is the way it builds up- it just doesn't really seem to. But overall very muted, extremely wearable for everyday. Ok as a blush but didn't last very long on my face. UPDATE; Hated the color and chucked it 👀

Cyprus Umber- Umber is a natural brown pigment from the earth. There are quite a few paintings that feature it. I think the shade in the pan is quite a bit darker than what I would have expected it to be. Cyprus supplies most of the umber pigment, hence its name. Like most dark browns it tends to go really grey brown on me. I don't really like using it with most of these shadows because of how cool it goes on. I usually like to wear dark browns like this to add a little depth to sparkly brown shimmery shades but there aren't any in this palette. 

Raw Sienna- I like this color, just a subtle light brown shade that shows up very well on me. It's based on the clay sienna pigment that was also used a lot in paintings. I haven't really found a shade I love pairing it with in the palette though-maybe Red Ochre for an everyday basic look. I still need to experiment more with it. 

Burnt Orange- I think Burnt Orange was just an existing color in their line already.  It's a nice brightening lid shade that's more warm than Raw Sienna. It's very similar to Raw Sienna. Pretty interchangeable actually. I do really like it as lid shade though. 

Primavera- I wasn't familiar with this painting but this shade was named for this painting. I read somewhere that in person you can see a subtle golden-ness in the paintings. I would love to see it in person one day to see for myself. So that may be why they went with this shade. It's a good inner corner shade for orange/bronze/brown looks. I don't think there are many looks it goes with it this palette so will likely pull it in to use with other palettes. I do really like this color.

Red Ochre, Venetian Red, Warm Taupe, Realgar

Red Ochre is another pigment of the earth. It can be found as is or made by heating yellow ochre. That explains it's more muted tones. There are quite a few examples of it in Renaissance paintings. This red is very muted/sheer even when built up which makes it a very low key red. A good red for those that don't want to jump into too much color. I do like it, although sometimes I wish it could go more opaque. 

Venetian Red- From my quick search, this was used quite a lot in Italian Renaissance paintings-and the best pigment comes from Turkey. It pulls up quite a number of beautiful paintings. It's more red than the Red Ochre shade but still very similar. Feels kinda gritty as some do but I never find it to affect application. It is semi opaque. It really sheers out and doesn't truly build up. This makes it more wearable as well but I always find myself wanting more punch. I found it harder to control the blend, but it still blend with other colors easily. I think I need to really start small but I tend to like a pigment punch in shades like this. 

Venetian Red dye was one of the cheaper dyes and was the dye of the British Army from the 15th to the 19th century-hence the "Redcoats".

Warm Taupe- I don't think this shade is significant to the Renaissance. I think it's another that's an existing shade. These types of shades are tricky- too light and grey and they don't do anything for me. This is more wearable than most. It's not completely grey and cool, maybe even slightly warm. Anyway, it's one I can wear. I wore it with a black from another palette the other day and had a really cool toned statement eye that I liked.It's alright. 

Realgar- Realgar is a toxic arsenic compound. It's definitely more reddish. Didn't look like the dark fall orange in the palette at all until I looked up pictures of it ground.  Not a pigment you would actually want in your makeup. But still fun to learn about. I like this one because it shows up on my eyes. Some oranges get lost- or maybe it was just the one shade in that dud Too Faced palette that was not pigmented. It's a burnt orange. Adds real warmth to an eyeshadow look. I think it's actually my favorite shade in the palette. I think now I have a pretty close dupe though so if I used it up, I wouldn't be to torn up about it.

I do think the palette would have benefitted from a purple, but back in those times-even now-  true purple pigment was exceptionally rare. Hence, why purple is considered royal I guess. It took the killing of thousands of snails (that's where the pigment/dye came from) for barely even a gram of the stuff. Therefore only the wealthiest and highest of society wore that that type of purple. So it wasn't available to painters and probably wouldn't have been true to the theme of the palette to include one- although they did still mix blue and red pigments to get purple in clothing and as a painting pigment.  Luckily, I have quite a few purple in my collection so I just pull from those as I want.

Overall, the shades are a different texture than most of the other shadows in my collection. I was used to hard pressed eyeshadows and these are quite soft and powdery. They are easier to use up and the palette will look pretty used in only a few uses.  Also, compared to some other brands, the price per gram can be kinda high.

What I do love about the formula is how blende-able it is. Some of them are pigmented, others have too much white base or don't build up to be opaque (which is fine but some shades I wanted that option.)

The packaging is pretty- but prone to get dirty very quickly. And I did remember liking the brush (I lost it). I remember the bristles breaking off sometimes on my face, I wanted to note that but overall it was nice. I usually took it with me traveling which is probably when I lost it.

I don't really feel like it makes looks I just love and can't get enough off- they are just kinda OK. I do like certain colors quite a lot but I always want to use them with other palettes instead of with other shades in the palette. I think some of the shades weren't necessary because they are so close- Burnt Orange and Raw Sienna, Red Ochre and Venetian Red. Sometimes I do feel it can kinda muddle together as well. The shades don't usually stand out from one another. 

As for lasting power, I do find they last pretty well with a primer. Some of the reds do fade after a little while but I kinda expected that. They are still present at the end of the day. 

Overall, I had the most fun reviewing this palette and really learned quite a bit.  And I truly do appreciate it (I treasure it as a gift and love that I was able to try out the most hyped palette of 2016). 

If I used it up, I probably wouldn't replace it or buy anything from the brand for that matter. Mostly because of this and this. I debated scrapping this post but figured since I had been working on it for weeks, may as well just post it for reference. However in 2022, I would say spend your money with other brands. The Viseart Milieu Palette has a similar vibe and is available in a mini version now. Some of the shades really suit my skin-tone a lot better as well! 

I think that's everything...I have to say about this palette. Until the next one...