Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette

Today I’m sharing my review of the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette. I bought this palette quite a while ago because I buy just about every single eyeshadow palette that Anastasia Beverly Hills releases. I loved that it had real reds in it. It also had the color Buon Fresco, which I’d almost pulled the trigger and bought several times.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette Review

Where to Buy
Ulta, Sephora, Macys, Nordstrom

Price
$42 for 14 x 0.02 oz

Anastasia Modern Renaissance Palette Swatches

These are swatched on primer.

Love Letter
raspberry with an ultra-matte finish
Ccool-toned dark red matte.

Venetian Red
crimson with an ultra-matte finish
Deep warm-toned dark red satin-matte.

I like these two as lid colors or to use as a smoky eye base color.

Buon Fresco
antique lavender with an ultra-matte finish
Midtone mauve taupe matte.

Warm Taupe
earthy gray with an ultra-matte finish
Midtone taupe brown matte.

Buon Fresco is an AWESOME transitional shade on my pale skin. I like this on my hood / crease. Warm Taupe could be used as a lid or crease color.

Vermeer
iridescent shell with a metallic finish
Light peach metallic.

Tempera
velvety beige with an ultra-matte finish
Light peachy beige satin-matte.

Tempera makes for a great base shade on pale skin. It’s also good for blending out the edges of other colors or to erase color mistakes. I like Vermeer as an inner lid shade. I used Vermeer as a highlight at the inner corner and under the brows in several looks. It’s not a color I like as a highlight on me but I know that many people love this type of color for just that purpose.

Primavera
shimmery gold dust with a metallic finish
Light peachy gold metallic.

Golden Ocre
earthy yellow with an ultra-matte finish
Midtone yellow khaki matte.

Primavera is a gorgeous lid color. It’s perfect if you want to do a halo eye with one of the reds. Golden Ocre is a fairly unique neutral. I don’t feel like you see this color in a million palettes. It works as a crease color or lid color if you want an all matte look.

Burnt Orange
deep orange with an ultra-matte finish
midtone orangey brown matte

Realgar
brick with an ultra-matte finish
rich dark orangey brown matte

These two colors are very popular right now. I feel like you see them in a lot of palettes. Burn Orange reminds me of Too Faced Peanut Butter. Realgar reminds me a bit of Nuts About U.

Raw Sienna
neutral amber with an ultra-matte finish
Midtone warm brown matte.

Red Ocre
sienna with an ultra-matte finish
Dark red-toned brown matte.

You could do a brown smoky eye with these two. Raw Sienna and Burnt Orange are way too similar for my taste.

Antique Bronze
metallic sable with a satin finish
slightly deeper than midtone warm pearly brown

Cyprus Umber
dark coffee with an ultra-matte finish
deep dark brown matte

Antique Bronze is pretty and I actually used it in a look recently. Cyprus Umber makes for a great liner or to deepen your outer v.

Row 1 – Burnt Orange – Primavera – Vermeer – Buon Fresco – Love Letter
Row 2 – Realgar – Golden Ocre – Tempera – Warm Taupe – Venetian Red

Row 1 – Raw Sienna – Burnt Orange – Primavera – Vermeer
Row 2 – Red Ocre – Realgar – Golden Ocre – Tempera

Row 1 – Antique Bronze – Raw Sienna – Burnt Orange – Primavera – Vermeer
Row 2 – Cyprus Umber – Red Ocre – Realgar – Golden Ocre – Tempera

Row 1 – Antique Bronze – Raw Sienna – Burnt Orange – Primavera – Vermeer – Buon Fresco – Love Letter
Row 2 – Cyprus Umber – Red Ocre – Realgar – Golden Ocre – Tempera – Warm Taupe – Venetian Red

Modern Renaissance Palette Looks

ABH Modern Renaissance Palette Review

First let’s talk about the packaging. I do not like the packaging because the exterior is sort of like a microfiber fabric that picks up dirt like crazy. I’ve only had this for a month and the lid is already dirty. Aside from the exterior picking up dirt, the interior is fine. It has square shaped pans that are easy to fit a brush into.

Now on to the size. You get a VERY small amount of product in this palette. You’re getting 14 eyeshadows that are .02 oz each for $42. That’s not much eyeshadow! For comparison, the Maya Mia palette & Tamanna palette were $29 each for 10 eyeshadows that were .025 oz each.  The Artist palette was $30 for 12 eyeshadows that were .025 oz each. The Catwalk palette was $29 for 10 shades that were .035 oz for the 3 mattes and .03 oz for the 7 shimmer shades. So I don’t feel like this is a good value for price of $42. I’m really glad to see that this is not an LE palette, so there is no need to rush out to buy it.

I’m also going to point out that this has a 6 month shelf life on the box, which I did not notice but several of you let me know about. I think it’s ridiculous for an eyeshadow palette to have such a short shelf life. That’s rather disappointing.

That said, I did play with Antique Bronze, Cyprus Umber, Vermeer, Golden Ocre, Primavera and Warm Taupe a few times. My favorite shades in the palette are Buon Fresco, Love Letter, Venetian Red, and Tempera. These are the shades that I’ve repeatedly used. I feel like the colors have good pigmentation and they’re easy to work with and blend out. I’ve done a lot of diffused eyeshadow looks with them, since that style tends to be very hooded eye friendly.

This is not your average boring neutral palette. I like that Anastasia released a neutral palette with reds and I hope that we’ll see more unique palettes from ABH in the future. I love that it has so many mattes in it! It’s very hooded eye friendly. I also find the colors to be pale girl friendly, especially Buon Fresco. I can’t believe how much I love that color. I will probably end up buying Buon Fresco as a single since it is such a great transitional shade for me.

I really dislike that Raw Sienna and Burnt Orange are so close to each other in color. I don’t think they should both be in this palette, just one or the other. They’re hard to tell apart in my opinion. I would have liked to have seen a true burgundy wine shade instead of one of those.

Overall I’m mixed on this palette. I love a few colors in it but I’m dismayed at the tiny amount of product that you get for the price and the short shelf life. It seems like the ABH palettes are shrinking! I don’t think it’s a palette that you have to have, even though I really love some of the colors in it. While it does have some shades we’ve seen before (those orangey browns), it has other shades you don’t typically find in palettes lately (the reds, Buon Fresco, Golden Ocre). I think if you’re like me, and will only use a few of the shades, you’re better off buying singles and making your own palette with a Z-Palette. If you’re ok with the small amount of product and you like at least 7 of the colors in the palette, definitely consider the palette.

Golden Ocre and Buon Fresco are the only two colors that I don’t have dupes for in my stash. The rest of the colors I do have dupes for.

What do you think of the Anastasia Beverly Hills Renaissance Palette?

More to See

• Anastasia Beverly Hills Moonchild Palette
• The Pale Girl’s Guide to Contouring
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Eyeshadow Singles
• A Rainbow of Eyeshadows with Sugarpill
• Makeup Geek Peach Palette