Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Colours of the World

As mentioned in my latest Sephora haul, the Anastasia Beverly Hills Shadow Couture World Traveler Palette was the only eyeshadow palette I bought in the US. I've been testing it out for a good few weeks now and have mixed thoughts. I did see a stack of the palettes at the Sydney Sephora at the weekend (the palette is priced at $51 if I recall correctly), so it's readily available locally at largely the same price as what I paid in America. Overall, there are some standout shades and it's a palette I have been reaching for frequently, but some colours aren't that useful to me (or I'll never touch), and most disappointingly, there are shadows with unexpected texture and application issues.









There are 12 shades altogether, each 0.72g. Like the Urban Decay Naked palettes, it comes with a synthetic double-ended eyeshadow brush. One side is stiffer and flatter (though overall still quite rounded), presumably designed for packing colour onto the lid. The other side is softer and fluffier, with longer, less tightly packed bristles, presumably for blending out the edges of shadows or crease work. Also like the Naked palettes, I've never used the included brush and don't feel any particular desire to. I'm not saying it's a bad brush (I can't really make any judgement since it's still pristine), I just prefer to use my existing brushes and always forget it even exists.

There's four mattes (Soft Peach, Morocco, Fudge and Noir). The rest are a bit more difficult to categorise. I'd say four shades (Bellini, Azure, Intense Gaze and Metallic) are metallic finish and generally nicely pigmented and smooth. Heirloom and Spoiled are primarily glittery shades with a weak base colour (purple and peach respectively). The remaining two shades, Pink Champagne and Chic, are just glitter (i.e. with no base colour), though they can be built up in intensity to form their own colour. Pink Champagne in particular I would define more as a glitter top coat than an actual eyeshadow.

l-r (top row, then bottom row): Soft Peach, Morocco, Heirloom, Bellini, Pink Champagne, Chic, Spoiled, Fudge, Azure, Intense Gaze, Metallic, Noir


Soft Peach is pretty self-explanatory. A pale, pastel matte peach. For me, I rarely get any use out of these kinds of colours as my eyeshadow "looks" just aren't that complex to entail the need for a barely visible "blending out" or base colour.

Morocco is a rich, reddish matte brown. It instantly reminded me of Salted Caramel or Peanut Butter from the Too Faced Chocolate Bar and Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar eyeshadow palettes. This shade is very pigmented and one of my favourites from the palette, though it can be overly intense if not used sparingly and blended out well.

Heirloom is a dark eggplant with pink and gold sparkles. The purple needs to be built up to achieve adequate colour payoff. The base colour is very similar to black and and is more of an inky navy when built up than the royal purple it appears in the pan.

Bellini is a light, peachy bronze. For me, not dark enough to provide the definition I need as an all-over lid colour. It's also not the most unique shade. I feel I have variants of it in countless palettes.

Pink Champagne is an extremely frosted, pink-toned taupe comprised primarily of silver sparkles. Way too much/borderline gritty if applied like an eyeshadow, but striking and very pretty if used as a glitter top coat. I like dabbing it on the centre of my lids as a finishing touch with my finger for added dimension and festivity to any eyeshadow look. Despite its limited use, it is one of my favourite (and most used!) shades in the palette.

Chic is a pale, slightly greeny-gold silver. Like Pink Champagne, it seems to lack any base colour and is mainly just glitter. I tried it as a silvery eyeshadow and found it to be very chunky, almost gritty, and uneven in application. Not a fan. It's probably better as a glitter top coat like Pink Champagne, but for my skin tone and preferences, it's too frosty/silvery/white to be flattering.

Spoiled is like a darker, more brown Soft Peach, but with gold shimmer. It's lighter than Bellini, which is bronzier and more orange in tone. Both Spoiled and Bellini are a bit too light for me to be effective lid colours. A letdown given they seemed promising as possible new staples.

Fudge is a warm, deep cocoa matte. Not a revolutionary colour, but it's well executed and completely necessary in a palette like this. I use it all the time, often mixing it with a bit of Noir to add extra definition to the outer corner or to smoke out the upper lash line.

Azure is a dark but bright metallic blue. Despite how vibrant it looks in the pan, it needs to be layered multiple times to achieve full opacity. I'm quite confident I already have very similar, probably superior blues (Sleek Simbad's Seas from the Arabian Nights i-Divine Eyeshadow Palette comes to mind), which still doesn't change the fact I wear none of them.

Intense Gaze is a shimmery sunset reddish orange. Very smooth and pigmented. It's a bit lighter and on the pinkier side than comparable shades like Makeup Geek Roulette, the middle shade in Rimmel Brixton Brown or Morphe Brushes Mysterious. It's also not as chocolate/bronze as the 'Enhance' shade in the Charlotte Tilbury Dolce Vita quad. Colourpop Sequin is a lot blingier with blinding silver sparkles, but similar in base colour (Sequin is a touch more brown).

Metallic is a metallic finish chartreuse. Bit chunky, dry and difficult to apply evenly, but nowhere near as bad as Chic. Still, undeniable texture and application issues which were surprising, given we seem to just expect shimmery shades to be well-formulated compared with trickier mattes.

Noir is an excellent matte black. One of the best I've encountered, especially as some fall out does happen, but nothing too problematic.

Overall, I like the Anastasia Beverly Hills Shadow Couture World Traveler Palette, but it's a long way from faultless. I think I'm at a stage where because I have so many eyeshadows, I judge new additions to a higher standard. The only truly unique shades to me were Pink Champagne and Metallic. The paler neutrals were generally too light, the more colourful picks I have minimal interest in using and didn't blow me away in terms of quality, Chic was a true dud. Surprisingly, the mattes impressed me the most, though they didn't offer anything new in terms of colour selection. The new Self-Made palette from the brand looks to be more up my alley in terms of the shades. I'm a sucker for pretty colours even if they might be abysmal when applied (Too Faced Naked Eye, anyone?). Hoping it lands at Sephora in Sydney so I can swatch it in person before making up my mind.

20 comments:

  1. Pink Champagne is truly striking! One of my favourite people to watch on YT (Jayde Pierce) loves this palette to bits haha random I know :P

    Wendy xx
    madein97.blogspot.com.au

    ReplyDelete
  2. There are a couple of really gorgeous shades in there, Morocco especially! <3

    ReplyDelete
  3. This particular palette is on my wish list, Morocco, Fudge, and Intense Glaze are the shades that make me want this palette. Beautylish ships to Germany for free and they stock ABH too. But, after reading your review, I think it will need to wait as all 3 are rather dupable I'd say..
    I'm traveling to London in 2 weeks and planning to get my hands on one of SUQQU Eye shadow quad, so I am saving my money for that xD
    Thanks for your review!

    ReplyDelete
  4. A shame about some of the shades but definitely still one on my wishlist! I usually only go for neutrals so I don't have many similar shades to this palette at all.

    Rachel | www.currentlyrachel.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. I wanted this palette but there were a few colors that I knew I would definitely not use which was why I didn't get this. But I really like the morocco and pink champagne shade, I guess I'll wait for the next palette to see if I like the shades better.

    http://perfectshadeofmauve.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  6. The shades look well pigmented and the colors Morocco and Pink Champagne are really beautiful.


    Chaste & Beautiful

    ReplyDelete
  7. Pink Champagne is beautiful! I feel the same way, I'm so used to seeing eyeshadow palettes that my expectations are soooo high.

    Rainy Days & Lattes

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm at the same point as you - nothing seems to top my favourites now because I have such high standards!

    Sarah | More Than Adored

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love the packaging but too bad it isn't up to par. I think for me I would like it seeing as I don't have so many palettes especially one with color. If I ever come across I'll sure have w look but your right pink champagne is such a lovely color.

    Jackie | fashionxfairytale |

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am absolutely dying to get one of these palettes! So many beautiful shades.

    Best wishes,
    Vanessa

    ReplyDelete
  11. It doesn't seem particularly unique for me either because I have so many eyeshadows, but I do like the selection of colors and the mattes they included in it xx

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm on the fence about this palette because I love some of the more unique shades but wouldn't use many of the others. I have so many palettes that I'm becoming pickier about what I buy too. If it isn't something I can duplicate from my collection, I'll put it on a wishlist. Thanks for the swatches and review. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. It's a shame this palette didn't wow you and some of the shades were disappointing , because it looks soooo gorgeous. I really love the selection of shades included. Pink Champagne is stunning!

    The Velvet Black | UK Style & Beauty Blog

    ReplyDelete
  14. great post dear! Have a nice day:)

    irenethayer.com

    ReplyDelete
  15. Interesting palette, the closer I look I really do love the neutral shades especially morocco, bellini and intense gaze! Overall I don't like the colors all together in this palette, I'm pretty much a sucker for palettes with shades that have a theme/or color scheme of some sort so although I love colorful shades I find the purple, blue and gold a bit out of place with the other shades. It's too bad that application and textures aren't consistent, that's always a bummer when it comes to palettes!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I have yet to try something from Anastasia...I wanted to get one of their palettes but the one I liked was a limited edition I believe...
    I like the neutral shades of this palette but...I end up feeling that I own similar shades to it. But it is for sure a gorgeous palette.
    I believe Zoeva made me a more controlled palette hoarder because now I only want things with different types of shades, something that blows my mind...although I will skip this new palette since taupes aren't my thing. I'm waiting for a palette with more warm shades.

    Take care*

    ReplyDelete
  17. for whatever reason, in my blog circles the Anastasia palettes have been toooo big a deal (as compared to say, urban decay or the kat von do) which is too bad b/c whenver i see a look i like, its often been with the anastasia shadows! its too bad though that you didn't really like the texture of some of these...maybe that's why these palettes don't get as much love? idk. sounds like a lot of these colors just arne't up your alley.


    here's a suggestion for Soft Peach. I would actually use that all over the lid and pick a deeper color, maybe heirloom, for the outer corner. that way you can i great day smokey eye w/o being too dark. OR if you do mid town browns on the lid, you can heavily deposit Soft Peach in the inner corner as an interesting highlight.

    Jenn
    A Beautiful Zen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the tips! I'll keep them in mind when next trying out something different :) I never thought to use Soft Peach in the ways you suggested, so I'm keen to experiment and get some use out of it!

      Delete
  18. It looks like a beautiful palette as the shades all appeal to me but it's a shame they're a bit disappointing. For the price, I would have expected more from a brand like Anastasia to be honest x

    Evelyn @ We Were Raised By Wolves

    ReplyDelete
  19. It looks like a beautiful palette, but the swatches I saw on Temptalia really put me off. I'm not a massive fan of their newest one so I kinda wish I'd gotten this instead! xx

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...