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Out of all the more cultural parts of our life, the only one where I feel truly at home at is literature. Ever since I can remember I was reading, lots and lots, and even though it isn´t nearly as much as it used to be, I consider myself a well-read person.

The others, like music and art, are things I enjoy, but don´t really know much about. So when I received the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance palette in a giveaway, it got me thinking.

The renaissance as epoch that celebrated the rediscovery of ancient wisdom, the artists Boticelli, Da Vinci and Dürer, that was what immediately came to my mind. But how did that translate to color scheme and naming of the shadows? Google needed to help.

I am still not one hundred percent sure, but one thing needs addressing: From all the artists and philosophers they could have picked to name the shades, Vermeer was the wrong one. He is, albeit famous, one of the leading painters of the epoch Barock, almost 100 years after the epoch of Renaissance…

Any other flaws I found in the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance palette? Let´s see.

Oh, and if you are unsure how versatile the palette actually is, have a look here (on YouTube and in HD, of course!)

The Facts

14 different eyeshadows. 0,7g each. Which means you get a total of 9,8g of product for 42 $ on the Sephora website here.

It is cardboard packaging, but feels sturdy and has a pink velvet coating. I noticed it gets dirty quickly, but looks and feels very nice.

The Colors

Very warm and very red, the color selection looks intimidating at first. But as shown in the video above, you can actually get a ton of looks out of this palette, ranging from wearable to completely over the top.

Vermeer and Cyprus Umber are the only neutral/slightly cooler tones you will find. Oh, and as a word of warning, Warm Taupe is MUCH darker on the lid than it looks in the pan!

The Application

All shadows are very soft, so be careful with your brush or you´ll end up with a lot of kickback in the pan. Thankfully with one exception (Cyprus Umber. The darkest shade of course) that did not lead to fallout upon application.

One thing that really won me over is that the shade basically blend themselves without loosing their individuality. You can see in the video that I didn´t need to spend much time on blending, but the colors still stayed vibrant.

The Weartime

Again, minor complaints here: I am used to have my eyeshadows, when applied on top of a base last until makeup removal. These shadows stay put for 6 hours without fail, but start to fade afterwards and look quite battered when I take them off around 13 hours after application. Without primer they are gone after five hours.

The Brush

Oh well. It is nice. Can I just leave it like this? Honestly, I don´t have a ton of brushes, but all of them are softer than this one. It is a step up from sponge applicators though.

The Final Verdict

As a self-proclaimed palette despiser, I was surprised how much I love this. And yes, I just said love. It excites me daily, I reach for it over my custom made MAC shadows and would dearly miss it if it was gone. Of course the color selection is very autumnal and I will probably rotate it back into my drawer come January, but until then it stays a firm favorite!