Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture Palette, a lot has been said about this much awaited palette already. Honestly, I had been procrastinating on this post for a long time now as I couldn’t decide on where to begin and where to end.So, I have decided to keep this post really simple and to the point. If you are interested in my thoughts on the palette and the whole drama around the palette then I you suggest you to watch my YouTube video on this palette which I have linked below the post.

The much awaited and much hyped palette of the year was definitely the Subculture Palette by Anastasia Beverly Hills. When I came to know that such a palette is releasing, I knew I had to get my hands on it since I love its “sister” (I think we all know, why the air quotes) palette, The Modern Renaissance, so much.  To think about it, I don’t know if it would be right to call this – a much awaited palette since, other than a leaked picture of the palette, there was no word on it for quite some time. Suddenly, one day ABH drops this palette on us saying that it’s releasing in 2-3 weeks! (I don’t quite remember the actual waiting period, frankly)

Anyways, the palette released and then we all witnessed something which I haven’t seen on social media before. The contrasting opinions on this palette was just mindboggling. That’s when I decided to just bite the bullet and get the palette for myself. I was initially planning to wait and get it later in the year since it’s a permanent palette anyways.

PACKAGING

The packaging is the same as that of the Modern Renaissance palette and needless to say I love it. I keep my palettes in their outer boxes while storing them so even my pink velvet Modern Renaissance palette looks pretty pristine. I love the colour scheme of the Subculture palette and it has the same velvet cover which is so luxurious.

An essential eye shadow collection, Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture Palette features 14 shades that range from grungy mattes to bold metallics with an underground edge.

One thing to note about both the palettes is that they do have an expiry of 6 months, which is such a bummer.

QUANTITY

There are 14 eyeshadows in the palette and each pan weighs 0.7 g / 0.02 oz.

PRICE

This palette retails for USD 42 (same as its counterpart) and I got this from CultBeauty at GBP 34.17 (outside EU price).

FINISH

The 14 shades are in ultra-matte, duo chrome and metallic finishes. The colours which are present in this palette are definitely very unique to an eyeshadow palette. The trend nowadays is a warm eyeshadow palette and I am glad ABH came out with something different, although a warm eyeshadow palette is still my go-to.

The colours in this palette and their finish (as per ABH website) :-

Cube – Duo chrome pink pearl
Dawn – Ultra-matte sand
Destiny – Ultra-matte sage green
Adorn – Metallic bronze
All Star – Ultra-matte vintage wine
Mercury – Ultra-matte slate grey
Axis – Ultra-matte blue-green
Roxy – Ultra matte muted coral
Electric – Duo chrome lime-gold
Fudge – Ultra-matte warm bronze
New Wave – Ultra-matte citron orange
Untamed – Ultra-matte tarnished green
Edge – Ultra-matte gold mustard
Rowdy – Ultra-matte blackened purple

PIGMENTATION

I think after using this palette, the term ‘pigmentation’ of a palette has taken a whole new meaning. Earlier, makeup lovers would crave pigmentation but with this palette many are saying “Ok! We don’t need that much pigmentation”. This palette is HIGHLY (I can’t stress that word enough) pigmented, even more pigmented than the Modern Renaissance. You just barely have to touch the shadows with the brush and you have enough pigment for the whole eye look. So, if pigmentation is a big factor in deciding on an eyeshadow palette for you, you might be very happy.

But, I think I need to address two more points here itself which is a result of amazing pigmentation – fallout and blend ability.

Fallout – Almost all the matte shades have quite a lot of kickback in the pan itself, some have more and some have less but this factor is common. As a result, you might experience some fall out as well when you are doing your eye look. I did experience some fall out with some of the deeper shades but not all of them. I did not experience a ton of kickback in the pan because I do gently tap on the shadows anyways, as a matter of habit. If you swirl your brush in the shadows, I am 100% sure you will hit pan very quickly since the shadows are super soft.

Blend ability – Now, this is where a ton of social media influencers were having a lot of issue. These shadows are so pigmented that if you have too much on the brush it is going to be task to blend them out. The formula of these shadows is totally different from that of Modern Renaissance. Modern Renaissance shadows are effortless to blend, but the shadows in the Subculture Palette are quite tricky. On the brighter side, I personally did not have too much of an issue blending the eyeshadows. As already mentioned, I do take very small amount and build up my eye looks as a matter of habit. So, you do have to tap your brush very slightly on the shadows, specially the deeper shades, and build up the colours. I think it works best that way. I would say I did face some blending issues with the two green shadows but overall not much with the other shades.

Also, if you are using an eyeshadow primer then you have to set your primer without fail if it’s a sticky or tacky primer. In my opinion, this works very well without any kind of eye primer.

The shadows are so soft and pigmented that you also run the risk of over blending the shadows and creating a muddy mess. The colour scheme of the palette is such that it’s quite possible to get a muddy eye look. So, you have to mindful of that fact.

Now, coming to the non-matte shades. There is one true shimmer shade called “Adorn”, which is absolutely beautiful and very good quality. No complains.

But, there are two duo-chrome shades in the palette, “Cube” and “Electric”, which to me are more like eyeshadow toppers. The colours are very pretty and I did manage to put them on my eyelids but honestly I am not a big fan of these two shades. I feel ABH could have included some shimmers instead. They are quite difficult to work with and I still haven’t figured out how to apply them easily. It takes quite a long time to build up the colour for the duo-chrome shades and I don’t think the final result is that mind blowing that it feels like it was worth spending that time.

SWATCHES

Now, let’s take a look at the swatches. Here you can see how the shades look against my skin tone.

Row 1 :

Row 2:

FINAL THOUGHTS

So, here are my final thoughts. Is this palette for everyone – NO, I don’t think so. The colours are so unique that a beginner is bound to face issues creating decent eye looks. But, I would also say that if you are an eyeshadow palette lover and you really want to give this one a try then go for it. You would not know whether you like this or not, if you don’t try it for yourself. The shadows are superbly pigmented and the colours are unique and there is a definite learning curve with this palette. But, if you manage to figure out how to work with this palette, I think you will have a lot of fun.

As for me, I do really like the palette. It has challenged me to look at colours and eyeshadows differently and forced me to create some very fun looks. I personally did not have too many issues but I won’t be repurchasing the palette if I run out of the colours.

For some more analysis, just check out my video below.

That’s all for today everyone. I have been slacking a bit this month but I want to catch up with a lot more new posts. So, stay tuned!

Cheers.