Anastasia Beverly Hills Sultry eyeshadow palette

Do you know that feeling when you use an eyeshadow palette and you know it is just right for you? That is how I feel about the palette I am reviewing for you today. Last year I went on a complete ABH kick and purchased all the remainder palettes that were out and I didn’t own yet for Black Friday. One of those purchases was the Sultry palette. This was released for the holidays last year, but is still available. Let’s have a look why this is such a perfect palette for me.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Sultry Eyeshadow Palette // Review, Swatch & 3 Looks

My main reason for buying this palette last year was the color story. This promised to be more cool toned and was inspired by the Sultry shade in the ABH Soft Glam palette. As with any ABH palette, the price point can be quite up there depending on where you buy it. In the US this retails for $45, but over here it retails for €56. I would recommend getting your ABH palettes from the UK as they are not as marked up. At Beauty Bay this retails for €49 which is a little bit cheaper. I definitely got mine a Black Friday deal and I believe I didn’t pay more than €42 for it.

The Packaging

Can we just take a moment to admire this stunning packaging? The Sultry palette comes houses in ABH’s standard sized rectangular palette, but this time rather than a velvet texture it has this fun rose gold glitter number. How festive is that? I was afraid the glitter might transfer or come off, but so far mine is still in pristine condition. The palette also comes with a mirror and a brush which we will have a closer look at below.

The Palette

As any Anastasia palette, the Sultry comes with 14 different shades. The spread between mattes and shimmers is equal: there are 7 mattes and 7 shimmers. Different from the Norvina, this is not laid out with a row or shimmers and a row of mattes, but it does have an equal number and that is something I think is a good thing. Most of this palette is very neutral, but there is one pop of color with a matte coral shade which is a lot more wearable than you might expect.

The Brush

Every one of these ABH palettes comes with a brush. I have several of these by now as I own 7 of these palettes and each comes with a brush. A bit superfluous once you own more than one palette, but these brushes are genuinely good quality and I like pulling them in my travel brush set. Since they are double ended I do not reach for this brush in my day to day routine, but they are great if you’re in a pinch or if you need a brush that you can use to touch things up.

The Color Story

The Sultry eyeshadow palette is known for having a more cool toned color story. This isn’t necessarily true. There are still plenty of warm tones here. Bloom, Birch, Teak, Steam Punk, Cinder, Rose Quartz and Ember stand out as being the warm shades in the palette, which is half of the palette. The other shades are all definitely cool toned. But what is great about this eyeshadow palette is that the warm tones aren’t super warm: even Steampunk which is a gold doesn’t pull super yellow, which means these are warm tones that are wearable and pair nicely with the cool tones in the palette too.

The Swatches

Let’s have a closer look at the swatches. And as you can see, these shades swatch like a dream. The only shade that I had a bit of an issue with was Bloom, but that means you can build it up and it won’t go on as brightly as it might look in the pan. The shimmers are where it is at for this palette though. Like the Norvina, the shimmers are super foiled and metallic. These do not need any wetting to go on this intensely. They are a bit crumbly though (like in Soft Glam and Norvina), but if you use a light hand, you will have no issue with fall out.

3 Look, 1 Palette

Look 1

As usual, I like to try out every shade in the palette. So I created three different eye looks with the Sultry palette. This is look number 1 which is perhaps the warmest one I created. I used Cinder all over the lid, Birch is in the crease and I used Steampunk along the lower lash line. The only shade I want to change in this palette is Birch. Not because it doesn’t perform well: it is too warm for my liking. If that was a similar depth, but more cool toned, I feel this palette would have worked better for me.

Look 2

For the second look I went in with all the cool tones and this has to be my favorite look I did. I used a mix of Twig and Slate in the crease and deepened it up with a touch of Dystopian. Cyborg is what you see all over the lid and I used Noir as a bit of liner. Ember is on the lower lash line and I like how it clashes with the silver of Cyborg. And that latter shade has to be my favorite shade in the palette as it is a stunning silver that isn’t too stark, but still a true silver. Some silvers can pull quite blue or green, but this is a great one that has little other color pigments to it.

Look 3

For the final look I knew I wanted to play with Rose Gold. To tie that into the look, I used Bloom in the crease which worked surprisingly well. It looks less warm tones once applied to the skin than it does in the pan. I paired it with Teak on the lower lash line and Pearl in the inner corner. I also used Dystopian as a bit of liner. Dystopian has to be my other favorite shade, but I also love Teak, Cinder and Ember. Those three shades are different shades of bronzes and they work well with all the other shades in this palette.

My Final Thoughts

The Anastasia Beverly Hills Sultry palette is one that really surprised me. It is up there in price, but it is one that I truly truly love. It is a perfect palette for the holidays as it has so many foiled metallic shades. However, if you want to and only pull in one of the shimmers, you can also make this more wearable for everyday. The fact that is 50% cool and 50% warm means that this is a palette that truly fits my makeup aesthetic. I highly recommend if you are looking for a palette to treat yourself.

What do you think of the ABH Sultry palette?