I know I know, everyone and their mother has already reviewed this and there is no point in adding another one. Well, hear me out. I was never really sucked in by the hype. I realized everyone seemed to love it, but I was just not tempted by it. So time went on and I kept hearing about this being everyone’s ride-or-die palette but still I was a bit indifferent. So how does this palette stand with someone who never really got too excited about it in the first place?

It was more than one year after the release that I decided to try it. Partly because I was curious about why everyone loved this palette so much, and partly because I had actually never tried Anastasia eyeshadows, and every good makeup blogger needs to invest in some product, brand and formula knowledge (that’s what I tall myself when I want something at least). So I picked it up. But since I was never anyone of those hardcore fans I figured, even though there are already millions, I would write a review without those pink stained glasses.

This is actually one of the four eyeshadow palettes I want to pan in 2018. Not completely pan, I just want some of my eyeshadow palettes to show some wear, so my goal is to hit pan in at least one shade in each palette. That still means I need to use it quite a bit, and even though I think hitting pan in this formula is lots easier than many other brand. So not too long ago, I reached my goal and got a tiny little pan in Tempera.

But let’s talk about it then! The formula is good, and overall I like these shadoss. It does have some pros and cons though, so they are not perfect. They are highly pigmented. If that is a pro or a con depends on your preference. I know one beauty guru after the other praise highly pigmented shadows up and beyond, but I know many consumers that finds heavily pigmented shadows a bit hard to control, and that actually prefer more of a medium pigmentation. I personally prefers highly pigmented shadows, but I can really see where the preference for the medium range comes from. It is just so much easier and fool-proof to get ready in a hurry it you don’t have to worry about being overly careful with the shadows.

Let’s talk packaging too, because this is worth a mention. As so many already pointed out the velvet finish on the outside is not the most practical thing to keep clean. I have cleaned mine off with a damp cloth, and that work fairly well to keep it clean. It won’t remove a black spot of eyeliner if you have been that unlucky but it does remove most of the dirt and dust. That means after around one year of ownership mine still looks fairly OK. I am not a big fan of the dusty pink color though, but I am not very big on pink in general, so just my preference. Still, there are tons of better options out there, and in my opinion you could very easily improve the packaging and make it look nice, because I don’t find it very appealing as is. But insides county more off course!

The inside is black with a shiny finish. Significantly easier to keep clean. It has a decent side mirror, which I to be honest never use, and a double sided brush that is actually not that bad. It is no match to my good quality brushes, but better than the average palette-brush.

The inside also reveals the nice selection of eyeshadows. There are 14 shades. Three satins (Tempera, Antique Bronze, Venetian Red), two shimmers (Vermeer, Primavera) and 9 mattes (Golden Ochre, Buon Fresco, Love Letter, Cyprus Umber, Raw Sienna, Burnt Orange, Red Ochre, Warm Taupe, Realgar). All of this is for 42$ which I think is a very reasonable price for 14 high-end shadows.

I don’t want to go through each color one by one like I sometimes do with palettes. For once you are probably already way too familiar with this palette anyway, and secondly the performance of the different formulas are very similar.

For me the shimmer shades are the winner shades of the palette. Both of them gives a nice shine, and are well pigmented and smooth as butter. Vermeer is a perfect inner corner or brow bone shade if you want it to be intense, and Primavera could also work for the same purpose if you want a warmer and slightly darker version. I like this formula so much that I would have love to see a darker shade of that formula in the same palette.

The satins are also good shades. A bit less smooth than the shimmers, but still rich in pigment and great to work with. Tempera is a very nice shade to brush all over the lid, and the shade that shows most wear. Antique Bronze is maybe leaning towards a shimmer and gives a very nice sheen. This is actually way more wearable than I thought and it is gorgeous as a lid color for everyday looks. Venetian Red is slightly less pigmented, but it builds up to full intensity really fast.

The mattes blend like a dream. Even the darker ones like Cyprus Umber and Red Ochre. They are well pigmented. Too pigmented someone would say, and you really need to be careful when dipping hat brush into the product, because this palette is dusty!

And now we get to the issue that some people may find problematic. At least I see a lot of complaints about this in other palettes of other brands, but surprisingly little about the Modern Renaissance considered how dusty it is. Because you do really get a lot of kickback. Not the biggest issue in the world. Just remember to tap off that brush and you will be fine, but it means that those tiny pans run out of product really quick. This palette may not seem as cheap as it once did considering you waist maybe 1/3 of each shadow in dust you have to blow away or kick off the brush.

I am actually a bit puzzled why not more people complain about this. It seems to be forgiven when it comes to the Modern Renaissance. Like you know it is dusty and has a lot of kickback but in just this case it is OK. It is definitely a problem that is easy to work around, and they don’t at all look dusty or chalky on the eyes, but they are for sure very wasteful and in my eyes it does make the palette less perfect than it could be.

I agree that they do perform really good though, and in the end the main thing is how it looks on the eyes, and for being this dusty they do stick very well to eyelids. I think out of all the palettes I have, the Lorac Pro 1 has the most similar shade quality both when it comes to kickback and blend-ability. To compare it to other Anastasia Palettes I found it to be very similar to Soft Glam in formula, but Prism is a tiny bit firmer pressed.

So overall. Is it a good palette? Yes. Would I repurchase it? Yes. Is it my favorite palette? No. Actually, I don’t think it will reach top 10 even. Now, to be fair I have a LOT of palettes, but even though I like it I didn’t fall in love with it the way I expected. The quality is good, but it does not blow my mind.

If you like the color selection, are not frightened by the price tag, and don’t mind a loosely pressed formula then I would say it is worth picking up. Otherwise I think you could skip it because there are plenty of palettes with similar tones after Modern Renaissance being so popular.

XOXO

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