Beauty Review: Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam Eye Shadow Palette

If you’ve been following my blog in the last few weeks, you might notice that I’ve been on a palette kick and a crazy shopping spree – I’ve purchased a lot of beauty products over the last couple of months, way more than usual. The answer is actually I’ve been feeling a little down and unmotivated at work, and have very low energy; the husband noticed it so he actually set little goals for me and that I would get a little beauty present for every goal that I’ve achieved. I am truly blessed and I definitely am a lot perkier and life is easier to manage, both because I know that I am loved and from all the presents I’ve been getting.

Anyway, today’s review is on the Anastasia Soft Glam Eyeshadow Palette. This was launched a few months back, and I’ve wanted to get it ever since. This cost £43 for 0.28oz of product, or 14 eyeshadows weighing 0.74g each, from Cult Beauty; I got it for about £35 with tax off. It’s a warm tone neutral palette with mostly matte and some shimmer shades.

While I love how the palette looks with its furry cover over the exterior of a sturdy cardboard box, I imagine it will be a dirt magnet with everything sticking to its furry coat and will be impossible to get off. Mine is still in pristine condition after using it for a few weeks though, but I’ve been really careful to dust off anywhere that I put down my palette. This has a reasonable sized long mirror inside, with a duo shadow brush that’s made in the PRC but it’s actually pretty good quality and works really well with the eyeshadows.

There are fourteen shades, so as usual with so many of them I won’t be reviewing each eyeshadow individually but I have tried to describe the colour as best as I can. Apparently there are many shades from the permanent line and previous palettes; I don’t own any other eyeshadows from Anastasia, so I don’t have any overlaps but if you do, you might want to check if it’s worthwhile to pick up this one too.

First row from Left to Right:
Tempera: light peachy beige, matte
Glistening: light to medium gold, shimmer
Orange Soda: light orange with warm, yellow undertones and a matte finish
Rose Pink: medium rose pink, metallic
Sultry: dark chocolate bronze, shimmer
Bronze: warm coppery gold, metallic
Mulberry: deep plummy brown, matte
*Unfortunately for this set of swatches, the colours are slightly off. They are a lot browner and dull in the photo than in real life, and the pink tones are not showing up; the description is closer to the real colour. I’ve taken multiple shots in different areas of my house but this was the best one of them all, but still it looks quite different from real life.

Second row from Left to Right:
Dusty Rose: dusty rosy mauve, matte
Fairy: light gold with yellow undertones, shimmer
Burnt Orange: muted dirty orange, matte
Sienna: medium reddish brick brown, matte
Rustic: medium brown with yellow undertones, matte
Cyprus Umber: dark brown, matte
Noir: black, matte

As someone who already owns a lot of neutral palettes, I still found myself reaching for this one a lot. It has got some really pretty rosy shades, which I have been obsessed about lately, and a lot of very work-friendly shades, and yet many more that could bring a day time look to a night one. In terms of shade range, I really find it to be very versatile and wearable.

Overall, I think the quality is great. Both the mattes and shimmers are incredibly soft, buttery and creamy, and blended beautifully. I don’t have any problems with application, and the shimmers worked really well using brushes and they showed up well even without using fingers to build them up. As I’ve recently reviewed another palette filled with stunning metallics, I would say that the shimmers in this palette is quite muted, but I don’t think it’s something that would change with a different application method – it’s intended to be this way, a more soft shimmer, probably because this palette is called soft glam.

I think the pigmentation is very good – most of them are opaque, and if not, they’re buildable and doesn’t crease. A couple of the mattes are slightly more powdery, such as Tempera and Sienna, but as long as I tap off the excess powder before applying it to my lids, I don’t have any issues. I also did not have any shimmer drop down from any of the shimmer shades, which is great. They lasted well through a night of drinking, without giving me racoon eyes even though I used Noir as eyeliner. I usually hate blacks being included in palettes, because I have a ton of blacks and black is black and you only need a tiny bit but I really like the black in this palette – it’s smooth, intense and stays well for me.

Overall, I really like this palette. I have a lot of neutral palettes, but I’ve been reaching out for this one when I want a softer but still pretty look; I think it’s perfect for date nights when you don’t want to look like some crazy sexy woman but seductively sultry. It’s also a palette that have very complimentary shades that you don’t have to think too much to mix and match, so it’s also one that I reach for during the morning rush. I would recommend this if you’re looking for something beautiful but soft, or just a palette that’s really easy to wear.