Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam eyeshadow palette review

Wow how long can a gal take to review an eyeshadow palette? Apparently this one, because I have owned this palette for more than a year and we are only doing this right now. Don’t worry, I have massive plans to remedy my backlog of eyeshadow palette reviews this summer. However, in the mean time, we will soldier on with these weekly reviews. This week we are focusing on a great neutral palette: Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam.

Review: Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam

So before we get to the actual review, we need to talk specifics. This palette retails for different price points depending on where you live. In the US this retails for $45. Over here, the exact same same palette retails for €56. That is nearly $60. So I would definitely recommend looking out for sales if you are not located in the US. I feel that for the amount of product you get, Anastasia can be a bit expensive so it pays off to wait around for sales and coupons to make sure you get your money’s worth.

What does the palette have to offer?

The Soft Glam by ABH was one that instantly hit cult status. And I was skeptical at first. For a palette that is called Soft Glam I had two issues: it looked dark and it featured three shades that I already owned in the Modern Renaissance. It is also quite warm toned but what I didn’t know is that this is mainly a rose toned palette. It may not look like it at first glance, but many of these shades pull more berry/ pink on the eyes and I love rosy tones! It features 14 pans with 9 mattes and 5 shimmers.

What is the color story like?

So I mentioned those rosy tones and that took me by surprise. Because it definitely looked a bit boring to me when I first saw this. It wasn’t until I played around with this that I felt I truly started to understand how gorgeous this is. It has a good range of depth but the undertone is definitely warm toned. I feel it is very much rosy gold and different variations on that type of shade in different textures and intensities. My favorite shades in the palette? Dusty Rose, Sultry and Fairy.

What does this palette swatch like?

Boom! Doesn’t the swatches look amazing on this? Anastasia is known for a more powdery formula that has some kick up and is easy to pan. In a finger swatch these shades go on with a punch and I think this also shows you nicely what all the undertones look like. The shimmers all have a bit of texture to them and they feel quite flaky. But on the eye they apply very well. The mattes are smooth and buttery and they blend easily. I think this is by far some of the best quality Anastasia Beverly Hills palettes that is easy to work with, contrary to my favorite ABH palette, Subculture.

3 Looks, 1 Palette

But swatches and close ups only get us so far. Let’s have a look at three looks I made with this palette. I did three different looks featuring all the shades in the palette.

I knew I had to pick the rosy tones for my first look. So I went in with Rose Gold all over the lid and Dusty Rose in the crease. I used a bit of Mulberry to deepen things up and that shade really surprised me. It seemed like it may be a bit dark for my taste, but it ended up working very well. The minute I created this look I knew why this palette was called Soft Glam: is this not the prettiest, easy, soft glam great for every day look?

After using all my favorite shades in the palette, I knew I had a bunch of the darker shades left. So I centered this second look around perhaps what can be called the standout shade in the palette: Sultry. I mean, ABH ended up naming another palette after this shade, so you know it has to be good. So I put Sultry all over the lid and finished off the look with some more of the warm tones. It worked surprisingly well. Yes it is dark and smoey but this is still very wearable for the day time as well.

And then we were left with golds: my least favorite shade this palette has to offer. But again, when I put this on I felt it worked really well. I like how Cyprus Umber frames the golden tones and almost makes them look less warm and stark. I love how Fairy looks in the inner corner and overally it is a look that really came together. Where I thought this palette would have a bunch of shades that I might not like, I ended up liking every single one.

My final thoughts

I completely understand the hype on the ABH Soft Glam eyeshadow palette. It is a great basic neutral palette. However, if you already own ABH’s Modern Renaissance you may not necessarily need this in your life. I feel that both palettes do something similarly. However, if you want something even more neutral and wearable than Modern Renaissance than Soft Glam is a great palette to look into. Because I feel this is more wearable and better for everyday than the OG.

Would I recommend the Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam eyeshadow palette?

Yes! All the way! This is one of the best neutral eyeshadow palettes to have come out in recent years. It has everything you need for a day time look but you can also easily amp it up to a night time look. Not a single shade in this palette is a dud and all shades perform excellently and are easy to apply. The undertone is warm toned, which is not my favorite, but I was surprised by how wearable it still was on my neutral to cool undertone.

Have you tried the soft glam by anastasia beverly hills?