Top Row: Tempera, Golden Ochre, Vermeer, Buon Fresco, Antique Bronze, Love letter, Cyprus Umber
Bottom Row: Raw Sienna, Burnt Orange, Primavera, Red Ochre, Venetian Red, Warm Taupe, Realgar
If you follow me on social media, particularly Instagram you will know that I have recently bagged myself the Anastasia Modern Renaissance Palette. It's honestly the most photogenic palette ever and I've been filling your insta feeds with various snaps of this beauty from all angles! I ran a little poll on Twitter and it seems that lots of you were interested in a First Impressions, so thats exactly what this very long and rambly post is going to be.
I ordered this puppy from Beauty Bay which is by far my favourite online retailer for all of my beauty needs. I ordered this at 7pm on Friday 25th August which was the beginning of the bank holiday weekend, and it arrived on the Sunday morning, so the shipping was fast and also free as this palette cost quite a bit more than £15. It came perfectly packaged and protected which is just as well as no one was home when the parcel arrived and the delivery man threw it over my back gate into a wasps nest, as you can imagine, salvaging this beauty was a bit of a struggle so I sent my boyfriend in to do the job for me.
Starting off with my very first impressions opening the box. The packaging is beautiful, a pretty mauve velvet with gold and white embossed lettering in a slimline, travel friendly size. Whilst the packaging is very aesthetically pleasing, I'm not sure that it's overly practical. Not only is is made from cardboard so it feels cheap and is very delicate, but the outer packaging is velvet which gets dirty with the slightest of touches and I just know will end up completely wrecked as this palette has become a firm staple in my collection. For the price you pay for it (a whopping £41) I think the packaging could do with some re-evaluation, and whilst you may be thinking that the product inside should be the main focus, packaging contributes a lot to the overall quality of the product. Overall I wouldn't say that its overly travel-friendly if you're the sort of person that likes to keep your makeup looking pristine like me, however if you're not bothered about the appearance of your palette then the slimline and compact size complete with a decent mirror and a brush is perfect to take around with you wherever you go. As much as I am dying to use this palette in my kit to use on clients as the shades are stunning, I'm not sure I can bear to see it get ruined just yet so I think I will keep this beauty for just my enjoyment for a while. This palette does come with a brush, one end is more of a flat shader and the other is a fluffy blender. I think the flat shader side is really good and I've been using that one quite frequently but the fluffy blender side is very rough and does not blend the shadows out very well at all, it just leaves me with a stingy eye and muddy, patchy looking eyeshadow so it doesn't really float my boat.
Onto the exciting bit, the eyeshadows themselves! There are 14 shades in this palette which I believe were inspired by paintings, I'm assuming by the name from the Renaissance period. A lot of them are very warm which is right up my street, as you know I swear by the Morphe 35O palette so the second I laid eyes on this when it was released, I knew I needed it in my life. I was also desperate to try the pinks as I had seen so many stunning looks on Instagram with those sorts of shades, I wanted in on the action. The shades are as follows:
Tempera - an off white cream matte, perfect for subtle highlights or setting your base
Golden Ochre - a golden yellow light transition shade
Vermeer - a frosted pink shimmer, amazing for highlighting
Buon Fresco - a very unique lilac/grey shade, perfect as a transition for the pinks
Antique Bronze - a purple brown satin shade, which would look stunning in a smokey eye for brown or green eyes.
Love Letter - a stunning raspberry pink matte
Cyprus Umber - a deep cool toned brown with a hint of plum
Raw Sienna - a neutral light brown matte, perfect as a transition or as a crease shade
Burnt Orange - a stunning pale warm orange matte, perfect as a transition for a really warm look
Primavera - a beautiful pale gold shimmer
Red Ochre - a typical brick red matte
Venetian Red - a deep cranberry satin with a hint of blue iridescence (though this doesnt show up on the skin)
Warm Taupe - a cool toned grey/brown matte
Realgar - the perfect rusty orange matte
The swatches don't pick up quite as true to colour on camera, after experimenting with various lighting and backgrounds this is as close I could get to how they look in real life so I would recommend looking up some more swatches so you can get a really good idea of what the shades look like. The formula of these shades could be controversial, I personally love it but it may not be for everyone. The pigment of these shadows is INSANE, and I mean INSANE. All of the swatches you see pictured above were a dab of my finger into the pan, barely touching them, honestly they are ridiculous. I find to get the best finish you need to apply a small amount, tap off the excess and then apply and build otherwise they can be a little tricky to blend if you apply too much of the darker colours, but I'm willing to work for them as they are so beautiful. As much as this sounds like a proper blogger cliché, they are really buttery they literally feel so soft and creamy to the touch, they're unlike anything I've ever tried before. Once I had got the hang of it and got used to the insane pigmentation, they were a dream to work with and I never want to stop using it. The only issue I do have is the slightest touch of the shadows gives you a huge amount of kickback and fallout, which means all of product gets wasted which is slightly soul destroying when you've spent £41 on it and its just wasting away before your eyes. When these photos were taken I had used the palette only once on my eyes and I had swatched it once, yet it looks like it has been used constantly for months which is a little disappointing, however it is nothing like the sort of thing I've seen with people wrestling with the Subculture Palette. The trick is to barely touch the eyeshadows, that way you get the perfect amount of product and minimise the wastage.
All in all, I think this palette is stunning, however it is very expensive and is definitely a princess product. However, if you want to treat yourself to something more luxury then I highly recommend this! I will have another post coming in a few days time, showing you a few looks that I have done with this palette so you can see it in action, make sure you follow me on Bloglovin' and Social Media to be notified of when that goes live! What are your thoughts on this palette?
Emily xx
