Modern Renaissance by Anastasia Beverly Hills

Disclaimer: I purchased this.

I held off for a long time from buying the Modern Renaissance palette by Anastasia Beverly Hills ($42), but all the glowing reviews finally persuaded me it was time to see what all the fuss was about.  I've owned one palette (Catwalk, review here) from the brand in the past, and while it was nice, I did not reach for it often and ended up decluttering it a while back.

But yeah, Renaissance is special.  The reds and pinks take me outside of my comfort zone, and the neutrals make it a great everyday palette. I love how many matte shades are included in the palette  (11 mattes, 1 satin, 2 shimmers), and find the mattes richly pigmented and easy to blend and work with. The almost 6000 Sephora reviews with an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 are telling the truth.

The first quad of colors are in my wheelhouse and are shades I will be reaching for on a regular basis. I love a neutral eye for days I'm wearing vibrant lip colors and/or have meetings where I need to present a more "professional" image.

If you picked up the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil in Anatomy (review here) from the limited edition Jean-Michel Basquiat collection, it's the perfect complement to Red Ochre. Just saying.

I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoung Buon Fresco, which is a cooler leaning shade that makes for a great transition crease color.

I wasn't sure how easily I would be able to carry off the pinker shades, but I'm pleased with them.  I do find that intensifying the color as opposed to sheering them out helps to keep me from looking like I have pink eye or am coming down with a cold.

I think there is actually a lot more variety of looks you can achieve with this palette than I was expecting. I know that warm neutral palettes have reached (if not exceeded) their saturation point in the market, but the inclusion of Buon Fresco and Warm Taupe give this one some cooler leaning shades that expand your options, IMO.

Yes, these are powdery shadows and kickback is happening. Just tapping my brush into the pans picks up enough shadow to apply and I find building  color in thin layers works best. The brush included in the palette is one I've been using, which is a bonus, as I typically find them to be of subpar quality and end up tossing. I like the white tipped end for smoking out shadows on my lower lash line.

The shimmer shadows (Vermeer, Primavera) are nice but I've been reaching for some baked shadow trios from J Cat Beauty (review coming soon) to amp up the shine, so if I have any complaints about Modern Renaissance, it would be that I wish the shimmers had a bit more oomph.  But, I really don't have it any complaints - it's a great palette :-)  I'm glad it's permanent so that I did not miss out on it, but neither did I have to rush to buy.

Catwalk Eye Shadow Palette by Anastasia Beverly Hills Review and Swatches

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

Catwalk eyeshadow palette from Anastasia Beverly Hills was inspired by Anastasia's early experiences as a makeup artist:

"I got my start in the beauty industry by working on some of the most famous faces to ever walk the runways. Being backstage at a fashion show, working with supermodels, and being surrounded by beautiful clothes, lights, and makeup are still the most exciting parts of my job. That’s why I created Catwalk. Its 10 pigment-rich shadows in warm matte and shimmering neutrals were designed to create bold cat eyes, sleek contoured looks, and ready-to-wear washes of color in minutes that remind me of the energy and excitement of fashion week. Add in a professional blending and lining brush, and it’s the next best thing to being backstage." (Source:  Anastasia Beverly Hills) 

The black and gold leopard print cardboard palette feels sturdy enough and has magnets in the top cover to keep it closed.  The names of the shadows are only on the package enclosing the palette and not on the palette itself, which is a bit inconvenient if you want to refer back to them.  You also get an eyeshadow brush which is not bad, although I haven't been using it.  It will be nice for travel purposes.

This is my first experience with Anastasia eye shadows, and I've got to say I'm impressed.  They definitely come more alive over a primer, but they are soft without being powdery, apply smoothly, and last a good 8 hours over primer on my oily lids.  I always use primer on my eyes but not always when I'm swatching.  However, I noticed these shadows had a harder time adhering when I was swatching.  So, I did a second set of swatches with primer, and wow at the difference! 

No primer

With primer (sun)

With primer (shade)

Wearing over primer definitely brought out the complexity and vibrancy of the shadows and color was much easier to build.  See how much more shimmery the shimmer shades are and how much more depth the matte colors have?

Call Back, Strut, Scout

• Call Back:  Peachy beige colored shimmer - makes for a nice highlighter
• Strut:  Purple with red and gold highlights - complex and lovely.  I've been using Urban Decay's 1999 eye pencil with this as they really complement each other.
• Scout:  Peachy pink with gold duotone shimmer- gorgeous color

Beauty Mark, LBD, Day Rate

• Beauty Mark:  Dark brown matte - needed several layers to build up color and was a bit patchy, but workable
• LDB: Black matte - this is one swipe - very nicely pigmented and smooth
• Day Rate:  Light mauve/nude matte - a surprising favorite of mine, as I like using it to emphasize my crease when I'm wearing a nude eye look.  

Couture, RTW, 10K, Pose

• Couture:  Dark brown with bronze flecks - easy to get strong color
• RTW:  Topaz shimmer - very smooth and nicely pigmented
• 10K:  light gold shimmer - makes for a nice inner eye highlighter
• Pose:  Grayed plum with gold shimmer - needs to be built up for opaque color but is smooth.  Would make a good over coat for other shadows.

A bone colored matte shadow for highlighting my brow would have made this a one stop palette for me, but I've really got no complaints!  Catwalk is reasonably priced at $29 and the quality is on par with palettes that cost much more.  There is also a booklet with different looks you can recreate, which I've managed to misplace somewhere.  Here are a few looks I've done thus far:

Catwalk is an Ulta exclusive, and I purchased mine during their recent 20% off sale, making it even more of a bargain :-)