Anastasia Beverly Hills Riviera Palette
Oh this feels so good to be sat down, writing about makeup after spending time photographing everything. It’s been some time since I let life get in the way but now I’m making time to do what I love – blogging about makeup. Gosh, I have missed this! After being on a beauty buying ban since the new year, it does feel like I have missed out on being at the forefront of the latest beauty releases. To be fair, nothing has really tickled my pickle when it has come to the new releases until I saw the Spring collection by Anastasia Beverly Hills. Although I have a lot of eye shadow palettes, Riviera immediately caught my eye with its beautifully vibrant shades and glossy shimmers. Snapping it up, alongside one of the new loose highlighters, I’m still in shock that I managed to keep my Selfridges vouchers that I got for Christmas until March!
I do own all of the Anastasia Beverly Hills palettes since Modern Renaissance was released and with each palette, I find something in each one that I love. Recently, the effort I’ve been making has been minimal so a pop of shimmer from my Norvina palette is the most I’ve been wearing. I’ve needed something to grab my attention so I can get back into the makeup game before I start to forget how to blend. When I saw the brights in Riviera, I immediately thought of festivals, glitter and jumping out of my comfort zone.
The palette itself is in the same format as its predecessors. Fourteen shadows, a mixture of mattes, shimmers and glitters with a large mirror and dual ended shadow brush. The outer palette is covered in a nautical blue and white striped fabric, embossed with gold writing. So very pretty but I will need to keep it in the box so it doesn’t get filthy!
Inside the palette, the shades are absolutely stunning. Again, another palette has been created with a selection of cohesive shades that can be used to make several different looks. I think that with the ABH palettes, I find that I settle with 1 or 2 combinations when in fact there are so many more options that I could do. This is why Riviera is the perfect palette for me as it really is pushing me to try something different.
Three of the shades within the palette; Bahamas, Cannes and Palm are pressed pigment and come with a warning to not use them directly near your eye. After seeing how pigmented they are I would avoid the inner corner and waterline for sure. Everywhere else I haven’t had any issues with and whilst staining is expected for shades such as Bahamas, I didn’t find this particularly troublesome or too difficult to remove. Using an oil remover seems to do the trick when it comes to tackling the more intense shades. Even after the swatching, a cleansing oil took everything off with ease.
The shimmer shades seem to be even softer than previous palettes and they look quite disturbed in the palette after use. I do find that using my finger to apply them helps with the intensity. I’ve tried the shades with a brush, both wet and dry and each way seems to work well. They press into the skin easily, and as you can see from the swatch, the colour shift in some of the shades is just blinding. I do think that my favourite colour has to be Seychelles. I mean, just look at that stunning turquoise blue. I could dive into it!
Compared to the previous ABH palettes, I think that Riviera won’t be as popular as the others due to the colours within it but it really is a truly beautiful part of a collection. For the sheer fact that the colours have peaked my interest and it makes me want to jump out of my comfort zone in favour for bright, glossy and shiny eyes that are several shades of neutral, I applaud Norvina for creating a palette like Riviera. I do wonder what she will come up with next?
