Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture Eyeshadow Palette Review

Happy Friday, loves!  I hope you all had a wonderful week.  Today, I’m bringing you my review of the highly controversial Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture Eyeshadow Palette!  Wow, has there ever been this much of an uproar over eyeshadow? ? I am a huge fan of the ABH Eyeshadow Palettes, particularly the cult fave Modern Renaissance Palette (review here) and the Master Palette by Mario (review here).  I’ll admit firsthand, I’ve watched plenty of review videos on the Subculture Palette, ranging from favorable to highly critical.  Still, I’m here to give the palette a fair shot and provide my honest opinions, based on my own experience.What it is: An essential eyeshadow collection with fourteen shades featuring grungy mattes and bold metallics with an underground edge (sephora.com).Price: $42, 14 x 0.02 oz (sephora.com)

Packaging: This has the same suede texture exterior as the Modern Renaissance, except in dark olive with yellow writing.  It is also the same size, includes a mirror, and a great quality dual-ended eyeshadow brush.  I like that it is sturdy, compact, and I have had no issues traveling with it.

Color:  When I first saw the initial release photos, I was not impressed, but I genuinely believe the colors look more beautiful in person.  I personally love the shade selection as they just scream “Fall!” to me.   When I look at these shadows, dark smokey eyes come to mind, but with a colorful twist. Finish:  There are 11 Ultra Matte Shadows (Dawn, Destiny, All Star, Mercury, Axis, Roxy, Fudge, New Wave, Untamed, Edge, Rowdy) and 3 Metallic Shimmer Shadows (Cube, Adorn, Electric).   I appreciate that this is a primarily matte palette as my makeup collection is already saturated with shimmery shadows. Formula:  Whew!  Here we go.  There is no arguing that these eyeshadows are extremely pigmented, despite being on the powdery side.  However, it is also no exaggeration that the matte shades are very, very soft.  I typically don’t mind softer formulas as I always apply my eyeshadow before my face makeup anyway, but there is definitely a significant amount of kick-up and fall out when dipping your brush in the shadows.  Keep in mind that I am very gentle and light-handed with all my eyeshadows (I like to make them last, thank you very much 😉 ).  Certain shades have more substantial kick-up/fall out than others, which I will break down individually below.  I didn’t encounter that issue with the metallic shades, as they were very creamy in texture.Swatches of the Duo Chrome Shades:  Cube (pearly pink) and Electric (lime gold) have a very unique creamy, duo-chrome, iridescent finish.  The finger swatches appear very sheer and lacking in pigmentation, but I find they are quite beautiful in the center of the lid for a bright pop of color.Swatches of the Metallic Shade:  Adorn is very creamy, pigmented metallic bronze shade that has no kick-up or fallout.  It looks stunning as the center shade in a halo smokey eye.Swatches of the Matte Transition Shades:  Dawn (cream), Roxy (peach), New Wave (marigold), and Edge (mustard yellow) are all ultra matte shadows and make lovely warm transition shades.  They have a fair amount of kick-up and fall out, but manageable.Swatches of the Least Used Shades:  Destiny (sage green), Mercury (slate grey), and Untamed (tarnished green) are all ultra matte grey-toned shades.  I tend to stay away from cool-toned shadows as they look muddy against my warm skin tone, so these are my least used shades of the bunch.Swatches of the Deepest Shades:  All Star (wine), Axis (dark teal), Fudge (warm brown), and Rowdy (dark violet) are the deepest matte shades in the palette.  They look stunning in the pan and make for beautiful dark, smokey eyes.  However, I find that you need to pack it on the lid for maximum pigmentation, and to avoid over blending to prevent the color from looking muddy.  These deeper shades have an above average amount of kick-up.  I’ve had this palette less than a month and there is already a notable dip in the All Star shade, which means I will be hitting pan quicker than I’m used to.  The most problematic shade, however, is Rowdy, which applied extremely patchy.  Despite priming my eyelids as usual, the shadow would appear ultra packed on certain areas of the lid and then refuse to adhere to other areas.  I’ve tried multiple times to make this work, but each time, I’ve had to remove my eye makeup completely and start over 🙁 This is the first time I’ve encountered this issue with ABH eyeshadows.Swatches:Application:  To create this makeup look, I blended New Wave in the crease as the transition shade, applied All Star on the lid, added Adorn in the center of the lid, and finished off with Cube in the inner corner of the eyes.Overall Rating:  I was rather let down by the Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture Palette so I award it a rating of 6/10 stars.  In terms of pricing, I feel $42 for 14 eyeshadow pans is a fair price, so no qualms there.  As much as I wanted to make this palette work, I am disappointed in its performance.  I was initially impressed with the pigmentation and shade selection.  However, when it comes to actual application on the lids, most of the shadows are underwhelming 🙁 The formula varies from pan to pan, and lack overall consistency.  Would I recommend this palette for a makeup beginner or average consumer?  Sadly, no.  I recommend saving your money towards another palette that has more consistency and ease of usage, which you would get more mileage out of.  Will I keep this palette?  Yes, for now.  As a makeup collector, I believe there is a place for this in my collection for upcoming fall looks.  However, the minute ABH releases an improved version with better formulation, this bad boy is going back to the store 😉  

Have you tried the Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture Palette?  I would love to hear your thoughts and your personal experience with the product below.

XO,

Mary Dee

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