One of the most hated palettes to come out within the last year is the Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture palette. And even though Anastasia Beverly Hills claims to have reformulated the palette, it still remains something beauty gurus compare palettes to if they are failures. As far as fall out, shadows not blending well into each other, and overall just a flop. Initially wanted this palette, it’s dark and edgy which is typically what I reach for when I’m going my makeup, but after so many negative reviews I added it onto my anti-haul list. The palette was removed from Ulta and only sold on Anastasia Beverly Hills’ website. And after trying my sister’s palettes for Soft Glam, Modern Renaissance, and Norvina I decided to just get the Subculture Eye Shadow Palette for myself and see if it’s still as terrible as everyone claimed.

This palette contains 14 eye shadow shades in muted tones with matte, duo chrome, and metallic formula. You also receive a dual-ended brush and a large mirror inside the ABH signature velvet covered packaging. Like the other palettes this one costs $42. Another thing to note is the velvet packaging is not going to stay clean and nice forever. It’s going to grab any fall out and cling to it. So while it looks stunning all together, it’s going to get grimy and gross not too long afterwards. With no way to really clean off the packaging. So if you don’t like palettes looking dirty, this isn’t the packaging for you. So either depot it, don’t get it, or deal with it.

Now as I mentioned in my Modern Renaissance review, I am going to get the entire collection. I have already gotten my own Modern Renaissance after my sister accidently smashed my Wet n Wild Rose in the Air Palette, which was a dupe for that palette. But now I’m super excited that I have the Modern Renaissance palette, and wore that every single day last week along with one of the ColourPop Jelly Much shadows.

Shade Descriptions and Swatches:

• Cube (Duo chrome pink pearl)
• Dawn (Ultra-matte sand)
• Destiny (Ultra-matte sage green)
• Adorn (Metallic bronze)
• All Star (Ultra-matte vintage wine)
• Mercury (Ultra-matte slate grey)
• Axis (Ultra-matte blue-green)
• Rowdy (Ultra-matte blackened purple)
• Edge (Ultra-matte gold mustard)
• Untamed (Ultra-matte tarnished green)
• New Wave (Ultra-matte citron orange)
• Fudge (Ultra-matte warm bronze)
• Electric (Duo chrome lime-gold)
• Roxy (Ultra-matte muted coral)

Now I’ve been wearing this palette for the last three days so I have a good opinion on Subculture at this point. And how my palette works for me. And I swear I’m not just saying any of this with the hopes of getting featured by ABH. I mean, that would be nice but will most likely never happen. I make reviews because I want to share my experience with everyone not for anything else. So here is my experience of the palette:

• Kickback: I didn’t notice any kick back crazy than that of the Modern Renaissance palette or any of their other palettes that I’ve tried in the past. Of course this is after the “re-formulation” or “re-pressing” that I believe they did. However, I do notice there is major difference if you swirl the brush in the pan as this causes major kickback. Now Modern Renaissance does correct a good amount but no where near Subculture if you swirl the brush. As long as you avoid that there is no issue from what I could find. So in short, just TAP your brush in the pan then apply. Which is how I normally pick up product, but I tried it due to all of the controversy around this palette.
• Fall Out: A few shades had a little fall out but nothing out of the ordinary compared to the other ABH palettes. Fall out happens with a lot of pigamented shadows, and I don’t mind it. The only thing that truly matters is whether it blends on the eyes and looks nice at the end of the day.
• Shades Changing Colors: I did not experience this issue. I know Jeffree Star and I believe Tati experienced this when they tried the palette. Some shades did appear darker on the lids than they did on the pan, but they didn’t change over time. And the only time they get “muddy” is if you mix opposite colors together but that’s going to happen with any palette with colors opposite to each other.
• Blending: I had no issues at all. They blended like a dream and I was able to create really nice looks from this palette.

Overall, I actually liked this palette a lot and wish I had gotten the palette sooner. But I’m glad I also waited so I could get the corrected palette. I don’t know if I would have the same opinion or experience if I had gotten the palette when it first came out. Due to all of the inconsistencies that I was seeing across YouTube. These shadows are highly pigmented and easy to blend.

Here’s one of my favorite looks that I created using this palette, where I used a good majority of the shades in the Subculture Palette. If you want to see how I created it check out the video in the beginning of this post.

What do you think of the Subculture palette? Would you give the palette a second chance after a year or so has past since it’s initial release?

Love ya,

Mae Polzine

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