Anastasia Beverly Hills Mini Angled/Spooley 7 Brush

One of the items I made sure to pick up from the recent Sephora VIB sale is this wonderful tool from Anastasia Beverly Hills.

I received a mini version of this with the Anastasia Beverly Hills Bold and the Beautiful Kit, and it's become a staple in my morning routine.

At $18, it may seem a bit pricey but I find it to be useful. My Anastasia tools have all held up well to normal care and cleaning.  They don't shed, and pick up color evenly.  This is a key tool for keeping your brows in top shape.

Pricing/Availability: $18 via Sephora, Ulta, or Anastasia Beverly Hills

Anastasia Beverly Hills Illumin8 Palette #3- Milky Way

Today, a very quick look at one of the Anastasia Beverly Hills Illumin8 Eyeshadow Palettes- #3, MilkyWay.

These originally retailed for $30, but are available at Nordstrom Rack on clearance. I picked mine up for $6 plus tax- a real deal!

Milky Way is palette #3 of 5.  They are net weight 1.8g/0.063oz each and come with a double-ended brush.

Outside, in natural light (no direct sun)

Inside, with flash

Shade 1 is a shimmering greige.  I don't have anything quite like it in my stash and I find it stunning.

Shade 2 is a glittering gunmetal grey similar to Laura Mercier's gunmetal greys.

Shade 3 is a metallic peacock green/turquoise

Shade 4 is a rich yet sheer magenta without shimmer.

Shade 5 is a saturated, glittering dark grey with heavy silver sparkle.


Swatched, in order:

Outside

Inside, with flash

Bottom Line: I love the formula of Anastasia Beverly Hills (see my other reviews), and this is a true steal.  Check your local Nordstrom Rack- you won't be sorry!

Anastasia Beverly Hills Illumin8 Eyeshadow Palette #2 Cafe Americano

Today, a very quick look at one of the Anastasia Beverly Hills Illumin8 Eyeshadow Palettes- #2, Cafe Americano.

These originally retailed for $30, but are available at Nordstrom Rack on clearance. I picked mine up for $6 plus tax- a real deal!

Cafe Americano is palette #2 of 5.  They are net weight 1.8g/0.063oz each and come with a double-ended brush.

Outside, in natural light

Inside, with flash

Shade 1 is a matte tan shade slightly off of my skintone (Bobbi Brown Alabaster).

Shade 2 is a matte milk chocolate brown.

Shade 3 is a metallic olive green.

Shade 4 is a metallic, glittering brown slightly lighter than Shade 2.

Shade 5 is a rich matte charcoal.


Swatched, in order:

Outside, in natural light

Inside, with flash

Bottom Line: I love the formula of Anastasia Beverly Hills (see my other reviews), and this is a true steal.  Check your local Nordstrom Rack- you won't be sorry!

Anastasia Brow Powder Duo- Caramel

My new obsession with Anastasia Beverly Hills products has led me to testing out one of the famous Brow Powder Duos.

Us ginger-locked beauties usually have a hard time finding hair and eyebrow products geared for us.  Typically, brands offer a blonde line, a light brown, dark brown, and a black.  Where's the love for the redheads?  Luckily, Anastasia Beverly Hills has us covered.

Anastasia Beverly Hills offers a choice of two red-hued Brow Powder Duos: Caramel and Auburn.  I selected Caramel after a significant amount of deliberation.  Auburn is much richer and darker; I highly recommend all redheads to swatch the two in person.  Caramel is likely to suit the ultra fair much better though.

Anastasia Brow Powder Duos include 2 shades and have a net weight of 2 x 0.8g/ 0.030 oz.  They're described as "smudge proof, long-wearing powder features a light and dark shade for dimension and perfect color matching."

The compact itself is beautiful. It has the Anastasia Beverly Hills logo in rose gold on top and full product information on the bottom. Inside, there's a mirror along with the two shades.

I've been wearing this on a daily basis since I bought it.  The lighter/redder of the two shades is my perfect color match.  I use an Ulta Professional Angled Eyebrow brush to carefully apply the powder to my brows; apply carefully because it doesn't want to budge once you apply it.

I set the brows with Anastastia Brow Gel (review here), and I have to use makeup removing wipes at the end of the day to remove the product.

Swatches:

Outside, in indirect light

Inside, with flash

Inside, no flash

Bottom Line: I highly recommend finding your color match in Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duos.  They retail for $23 each and there are 7 shades for your perfect match at Sephora, Ulta, Nordstrom, and Anastasia's website among other places.

Anastasia Brow Gel

After falling in love with the Anastasia Bold & Beautiful Kit, this brand jumped on my radar in a major way.  It was perfect timing that Ulta was offering Anastasia Brow Gel as one of its daily Beauty Steals during the 21 Days of Beauty promotion.  I tested this for the past five days.

I was used to using a setting gel with my CK One brow duo, so this wasn't an entirely new type of product to me.

The only downside to this product is the applicator- a spoolie wand.

Why is that a downer?  Product can be picked up and mixed with the clear gel.

I tested this with both the CK brow pencil and the Anastasia brow powder.  It works equally well with either- and it holds your brows all day long.  The hairs will remain in place until you wash your face, so work quickly!  This exceeded my expectations.  It wasn't love at first sight like the Bold & Beautiful Kit, but I'm quickly learning to appreciate this brand.




Pricing/Availability: $22, at Anastasia Beverly Hills, Ulta, Sephora, Nordstrom, and others.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Bold & Beautiful Kit

Like most people, I'm familiar with Anastasia Beverly Hills as the brow gurus.  Admittedly, it's not a brand I've explored before, and I wouldn't have picked up this kit on my own.  I won this item recently, and have been spending some time exploring it.  When I won the item, I was obviously happy that I did so- but I've come to appreciate what a real gem this kit actually is.

The Bold & Beautiful Kit consists of two palettes housed in a beautiful cardboard case.

Volume 1 is devoted to Bold Brows, what Anastasia is known for.  This kit contains a brow powder, brow pomade, a mini tweezer, and a mini double-sided brush.

Here's a look at the colors in direct sun:

Lets take a look at the pomade and brow powder both outside:

And inside:

Although these shades are too dark and cool for my brows, they would be great for most brunettes.  I tested the combo out and loved the look. It just didn't work for a redhead.  However, I've got some ideas on how to use these products (keep reading).  I'd recommend this volume for most brunette beauties- and if you're not, the mini tools are pro quality and worth the palette alone.


Volume 2 is devoted to Beautiful Eyes, and contains a mini shadow palette of 4 (unnamed) shades, and a mini shadow brush.

Let's look at the palette in the bright sun.  These 4 neutrals are stunning.

Unfortunately the 4 shades aren't named.

Shade 1 is a light nude matte eyeshadow.  It's a perfect shade for finishing off any eye looks.

Full sun

Indirect sun, outside

Shade 2 is a beautiful, shimmering peachy-pink that is a beautiful lid and crease color, or part of a modern, daytime smoky eye.

In full sun

Outside, indirect light

Shade 3 is a lovely light fawn brown matte color that's appropriate in all situations.

In full sun

Outside, in indirect light

Shade 4 is almost beyond description. It's a rich brown-black laden with gold glitter that just shines.  This shade would be a show-stopper in a bold smoky eye for nighttime, or as I tried it, along the lash line.  It's one of the most beautiful eyeliners I've seen in awhile.

In full sun- look at the glitter!

In indirect light, outside.

The Anastasia website suggests dipping an angled eye brush into the brow pomade, then picking up Shade 4 as an eyeliner.  I hadn't thought about using the brow products like that, but I'll be giving it a try in the coming days.  I loved Shade 4 as an eyeliner without the pomade.


Here are swatches of the eyeshadows, in order.

First, outside:

And inside, with the flash turned on:

Bottom Line: This is an amazing palette that, at this price ($28-Ulta, Anastasia/ $36- Sephora) every beauty lover should have in their stash.


My favorite look when testing included the following products and tools:

• Brows: Lighter shade, Anastasia Bold Brows
• Eyeshadow: Brown smokey eye- Anastasia Beautiful Eyes (Lightest shade- to brow bone, Peachey/pink- crease to halfway to brows,   light brown- layered on lid, Glittery brown/black- along lashline)

• Primers: Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer, Nars Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base
• Foundation: Marc Jacobs Genius Gel Foundation- 10 Ivory Light (testing)
• Powder: Chanel Les Beiges No. 10
• Concealer: Benefit Boi-ing 01 Light
• Blush: Benefit Rockateur
• Bonzer: Tarte Park Avenue Princess
• Stila Smudge Stick- Kitten
• Eyeliner: MAC Pearlglide Eyeliner- Molasses (LE, no longer available) as winged liner
• Mascara: Dior Diorshow Extase
• Lips: Make Up For Ever Lip Line Perfector, Sugar Fresh Lip Treatment, Chanel Rouge Coco Shine #87 Rendez-Vous
• Brushes: Sephora Professional Powder brush, Sephora IT Foundation brush, Sephora IT Medium Shader (x2), Sephora Professional Angled Eyeshadow brush, Estee Lauder Powder brush

Pricing/Availability: $28, available online via Sephora, in-store at Nordstrom, Ulta, or via Anastasia Beverly Hills

Disclaimer: I won this kit as a giveaway available to the general public at a beauty event.  I believe in letting you know if I didn't purchase the item myself.