When the Anastasia Beverly hills palette was released every makeup artist/enthusiast needed to get their hands on one of these palettes, after months of it being released, surprising enough the hype was still there, I had been wanting one since it was advertised by was scared it was just an overhyped product. My birthday came and my husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday, so I told him I wanted the Anastasia Beverly hills contour palette, I managed to pick one up from Trademe for $85, and to tell you the truth when I first received it I thought it would be a much bigger palette!
The packaging is a lot sturdier than the Australis contour palette and the colours are removable from the palette, once you have used up the colours you can order more to fill your palette again which I thought is an awesome idea.
The contour palette colours are:
Vanilla- A light matte colour (Highlight) Banana- A light yellow matte colour (Highlight) Sand- A shimmery sandy beige colour (Highlight)
Java- Medium brown matte colour (Contour) Fawn- Ash brown matte colour (Contour) Havana- Warm brown matte colour (Contour)
I have a medium skin tone and this is perfect for my skin, all colours I use depending on what kind of look I am going for, The colours are easy to build up and look natural which is what I love. If you want a more intense look you just add more, the colours are pigmented and long lasting, my contour will last all day where as the Australis one wears off. These shades are easy to blend, and its next to impossible to get the "muddy look".
I am happy because Anastasia has also released a new range of colours for woman of colour. I will definitely purchase this again, it is an amazing palette that I have loved since I first used it.
For reference I'm in MAC NC42-44 with oily skin and I've been using this palette for almost a year. I really enjoy it because it doesn't take up too much space in my makeup bag, it's slim and lightweight (palette is made out of cardboard) and it takes the guessing game out of "which shade should I take with me today"?
Highlight = Vanilla, Banana and Sand Contour = Java, Fawn and Havana
I use all of the contour shades and only Sand from the highlight. The powders blend beautifully and are quite pigmented especially Havana! I start my contour with Fawn, it has a greyish undertone which alone looks a bit off on my skintone but I use Java to warm it up and then Havana for definition. Sand is the only highlight powder I can pull off but if I'm not careful it can look frosty on me. The powders last about 4-5 hours before they begin to fade.
I was hoping to use Vanilla and Banana under my eyes but they're too light for me and no matter how much I blend, buff or soften the powders I still look ASHY. I use the 2 to help mattify my lipsticks (over tissue) instead. On me the Banana powder looks the same as Ben Nye's Banana powder just a tad brighter where Ben Nye's slightly more dull/flat.
The palette is designed so you can remove the pans and replace with different shades from the brand - the magnetic board is no joke!
I'm quite happy with this kit, once I've hit pan I can customise it to include highlights that work for my skin tone - highly recommend to others.