Review| Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette


Anastasia Beverly Hills and her palettes are wildly popular within the blogging community, but I've never found them to have the *best* formulation or combination of colors and tones...until now. The Modern Renaissance ($42 at Sephora, Ulta, Macy's) palette is divine. It really snuck up on me, because I had sworn to myself that I don't really need another palette of warm neutrals. In reality, I definitely only have dupes of maybe 4 or 5 shades of this palette in the form of single pots.





I was a little hesitant about buying blind, but Vermeer and Primavera, two shimmery lid shades, really convinced me to make the in store purchase. There are plenty of matte palettes out there that lean ultra-warm, but I need a bit of shimmer to open up my eyes. Tempera and Golden Ochre are also both excellent for sharpening the brow/lid distinction and carving out definition. 

The palette actually has a great mix of neutral and cool toned shades hidden to the naked eye! You can lean toward soft pinks or go crazy with orange tones. The warm tones also bring great balance to my eyes which are often washed out by cool pinks and taupes.
 
  
There are many ultra buttery blending shades: Buon Fresco, Raw Sienna, Burnt Orange, Red Ochre, Warm Taupe, and Realgar are all very soft and easy to blend. The major complaint for this release is fallout, but I noticed that the blending brush included is stiffer than my natural hair squirrel brushes, so YMMV. I found that they are no softer than LORAC shadows and equally pigmented.


The felt packaging attracts dust, fallout, and especially dusty fallout fingerprints (lulz.)


On to swatches! This was taken indoors, indirect sunlight. When swatched out like this, I can see that there are distinctively two tones in this palette even though it looks too warm for most consumers. Those who are just getting into makeup will find that the price is warranted, as you get to experiment with fool proof colors and textures that complement each other extremely well. As for the veteran collector, you may only enjoy this palette if you cannot put together your own dupes in a portable packaging. 



Here it is under flash. I didn't use a primer and most shades required ONE pass. And the texture!!! Except for Venetian Red, they all felt extremely smooth and glided on. I think that this time, the Modern Ren. very closely resembles Kat Von D's Shade and Light Eye Palette. Pigmentation? Insane. Did I already mention buttery. So buttery. 

The major key? They blend themselves out with a few gentle sweeps without instantly run into one another and create one massive orange blob. 


Here's another look in warmer sunlight. 


And finally, under warm incandescent light. This shot isn't super helpful in showing the palette's true tones, but you'd want to know how the masterpiece on your eye looks under harsh troll dungeon conditions, right? 


Here is my FOTD with the Modern Renaissance

Base: CoverFX Drops in G40 (holy shit, I forgot how wonderful this stuff is!! Another one!)
MUFE Smoothing primer on the t-zone. 
No powder. 
Too Faced Flush Blush in Baby Love. 

Anastasia Brow Wiz in Medium Ash in a thicker shape. 
Lancome Definicils Waterproof. 

Too Faced La Creme in Naughty Nude. 


Details: 

Vermeer (inner corner) and Primavera (lid)
Crease: Raw Sienna mixed with Golden Ochre
Under brows: Tempera
Outer V and under the eyes: Red Ochre and Antique Bronze blended together 


Here's another look with the dusty and bold pinks.


Yes, my liner reaches Jesus.


I'd take ten if it was sent from a PR team, but my plebe self is happy that this one isn't Limited Edition and or over-hyped. The quality has stepped up immensely. You'll absolutely love the endless combinations of warm looks, whether minimalist or over the top. 


xo Be

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