EDIT: Anastasia Beverley Hills Subculture Palette now available here*
I mentioned in my last post (New Dose of Colors Baked Browns Palette) that there was another exciting eyeshadow palette launch post coming your way and as promised…here it is! So I have to admit that since the leak and subsequent reveal of Anastasia Beverley Hills follow up to the (insanely popular!) Modern Renaissance Palette, I’ve been in constant brain battle with myself as to if I was going to get it or not. It having so many cooler tones I think was my main reasoning. I presumed I’d get my hands on it at some point, but was I really going to cave to the initial hype…I absolutely was of course! Ha ha!
So strong was my absolute mind made up NEED for it when it came to launch day, I put together a meme documenting my craziness (only for my own amusement – see bellow) which was then shared on Instagram by @norvina (daughter of Anastasia herself and president of ABH…she’s the main brain behind the makeup line if you didn’t know already) to her 1.2M followers! Seeing all the likes and comments on her post, I actually loved how so many of us on a global scale were in the same boat/ had the same feels of being so unsure until the actual launch triggered mass have to have it hysteria!
Anyway, here it is…the ABH Subculture Palette in all it’s glory!
It launched on 25th July on both the US and UK ABH sites and sold out the same day as predicted. If you missed out then though, fear not…here are the further US launch details so far/ dates for your diary:
(No word on further UK availability at the mo unfortunately, but keep an eye out on ABH’s social accounts and those of other usual ABH stockists too!)
➕ Online at Sephora, ULTA, Macy’s and Dillards) – 1st August
➕ In Store at the same stores as above – 15th August
The Subculture Palette is also going to be part of their permanent line along side the Modern Renaissance!
Now I’ve seen it in the flesh, the Subculture Palette is more beautiful than I initially thought! It comes in the same velvety packaging that we saw with the MR, but in a rich teal shade with bold mustard lettering. It also comes with the usual dual ended brush which I personally wouldn’t use all that often (I never do really with brushes that come with palettes) but it’s a bonus I guess, especially for travel and touching up. The palette contains 14 shades, mostly super soft mattes and then 2 beautiful duo chromes and a stunning metallic bronze. I really like the variety of textures, but equally that it is mostly matte. It makes for a way more versatile palette. The shade selection is a lot more grungy, she’s the MR’s cool edgier sister. If the MR is day, Subculture is night but designed to compliment the best selling MR perfectly and it does! Where as the MR is mainly warm toned this leans cooler, with some warmer tones too but also more unusual pops of unexpected colour. Let’s take a closer look at the shades…
(Top row L – R)
➕ Cube – duo chrome pink pearl
➕ Dawn – ultra matte sand (perfect initial transition shade!)
➕ Destiny – ultra matte sage green
➕ Adorn – metallic bronze
➕ All Star – ultra matte vintage wine
➕ Mercury – ultra matte slate grey
➕ Axis – ultra matte blue green
(Bottom row L – R)
➕ Roxy – ultra matte muted coral
➕ Electric – duo chrome lime gold
➕ Fudge – ultra matte warm brown
➕ New Wave – ultra matte citron orange
➕ Untamed – ultra matte tarnished green
➕ Edge – ultra matte gold mustard
➕ Rowdy – ultra matte blackened purple
I’m a fan of the ABH eyeshadows anyway, I think they take a lot to beat and the Subculture palette is no exception. Their shadows are known for being highly pigmented and super blendable which these definitely are! There is quite a bit of kick up in the pan (a little more so with this even compared to the MR), but I do find that with a lot of the more pigmented formulas though. There is some fall out too because of this. Tapping off the excess on your brush will help, but I always recommend doing your eye makeup before you do your skin anyway (and would do so when working with darker/ bolder shadows from any brand), that way fall out isn’t an issue and you can concentrate on fearlessly packing that colour on! A wipe will easily remove any fall out and you can get on with perfecting your skin and on with life!
All the shades feel so smooth to the touch and the majority blend like a dream. I have heard other very mixed reviews, but I think a soft hand and little product is the way with this! The only ones I think that need a little extra work are the blue/ green shades Axis and Untamed, these also have the most fall out. That being said if you do work bit by bit slowly building up colour until you get the intensity you want instead of going in with too much product, it’ll work way better for a cleaner more controlled application. The duo chromes and metallic shades can be applied wet or dry, wet makes them so much more intense though and the shades are stunning! I feel like the shade Electric out of the duo chromes is the more pigmented of the 2, but Cube did build up nicely over an extra base (I generally use the NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk).
Anastasia Beverly Hills have done a brilliant job on this palette in my opinion. Especially having to follow in the footsteps of such a massive seller like the MR. I love how different the Subculture palette is and what it has to offer. It’ll definitely get me thinking outside of the box and pushing myself out of my warm shadow comfort zone a bit more. I feel like the palette will come in to it’s own in Autumn/ Winter too with it’s grungy Autumnal feel. I’m glad I didn’t hang around with this one! It’s definitely worth picking up and having in your makeup collection.
If you don’t follow me on Instagram (you can here)…that’s where I post makeup looks using the palette and most other things I talk about on here. Also keep an eye out here (Anastasia Beverly Hills Instagram) and here (@norvina Instagram) for restock updates and you’ll be able to get the Subculture Palette from here in the US and here in the UK/ most of Europe.
Will you be picking the Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture Palette up? Did you grab it already too…what do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Lyd x
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