Welcome back to this space!

Today I bring to you a review of the NEW Master Palette by Mario from Anastasia Beverly Hills. As of 7pm est time on October 9, 2016, the palette is still available on Ulta.com and Sephora.com. The palette did sell out on the Anastasia Beverly Hills website and they said they WILL NOT be restocking as it is limited edition (which I don't know why because it's more beautiful than the Modern Renaissance palette - but that's just my opinion).

 Let me tell you the struggle bus I road to get this palette. I should have just held off because it would have caused less stress. I was so nervous that it would sell out and I wouldn't be able to get this little nugget of perfection.

On September 28th, I got home from work and furiously checked every Anastasia Beverly Hills page and hashtag relating to this palette. I could find ZERO information on the time of the release. Of course, this was strategic by Anastasia Beverly Hill to try and prevent their website from crashing. And even though I knew that since I lived on the east coast and the palette wouldn't go live on their website at midnight on the 29th, I stayed up past midnight. Just past midnight I called it a night and decided to go to bed (with an alarm set for 2:55am - that would be 5 minutes before midnight on the 29th on the west coast). 

In the middle of the night, I woke up. I had slept through my alarm and when I checked my clock through sleep heavy eyes, it was a few minutes after 4am. I thought just for giggles I'll scroll through Instagram. Several Instagram accounts I follow had posted that the palette was live - it went live at 4am est and 1am pst. I never shot out of bed so quickly in my life. I grabbed my laptop and tried to get on the website. The page wouldn't load and in my half asleep state it took me a few minutes to figure out that the site had crashed. Any normal person would go to bed and try again the next day. Nope. Not me. I spent the next hour with four tabs open in my internet browser just to purchase this palette. Just after 5am I had secured my palette. I received my confirmation email that day and figured it would ship by the weekend. 

Monday October 3rd rolled around and I still had not received a shipping email. I thought this may be because the launch was so huge - a slight delay that most companies would address. Anastasia Beverly Hills was silent. I scrolled through several Master Palette by Mario posts on Instagram and saw several comments that echoed my own thoughts along with several alarming comments. Various customers who had purchased the palette and received a confirmation email had had their orders mysteriously cancelled. Needless to say this worried me. I contacted Anastasia Beverly Hills regarding my delayed shipment (I only just received a reply after my palette finally got delivered). That night, just before midnight, I received a shipping confirmation and all my order cancellation worries were vanquished. My palette was delivered a few days later that same week.

Let me tell you, this palette is even more beautiful in person. I love that this palette has some warm tones and cool tones. This palette is so much more accessible for every day looks - more so than the Modern Renaissance Palette (of course I'm not one for red-ish eye shadows). These shadows wear so beautifully. They blend impeccably. I did my eye shadow in the mid morning and it had not budged or smudged 12 hours later (without an eye shadow primer). 

The eye shadow look I chose was one that I saw on a video a YouTuber I follow had posted. Jamie Paige posted her September Favorites video last week and when I saw the eye look she did with the Master Palette by Mario, I just knew I had to recreate it. 

To create this look I followed Jamie's video (go check it out if you prefer watching an eye shadow tutorial). First I used the shade ISABEL as a transition color in my crease and upper crease with a fluffy blending brush. Then I took VIOLETTA into my crease with a more precise blending brush to deepen the crease. I then took BROOKLYN all over my lid with a flat shade-er brush. Then I sprayed MAC's Fix Plus on a clean flat shade-er brush to intensify 5TH AVE and placed it in the center of my lid and blended out the edges with my finger. Next, I took HOLLYWOOD and placed it on my inner corner and brow bone. Finally, I took BROOKLYN on a definer brush on my lower lash line and smudged it out with a bit of ISABEL on a pencil brush. 

I know this sounds like a lot of steps but it is actually super quick and everything blends so easily that anyone could do it (I'm living proof of that sentiment). I cannot wait to try out more looks with this palette, especially for fall! If there are any other products you'd like me to try out, leave a comment below! Until next time...

XOXO

- K