What I'm Not Buying: Anastasia Beverly Hills Nicole Guerriero Glow Kit

Anastasia Beverly Hills collaborated with popular YouTube personality Nicole Guerriero on a new six-pan glow kit. 

And I won't be buying. 

I have been an active participant in the cosmetics/beauty community for many years, and have also read blogs/watched videos from many different "influencers." However, I've never watched Nicole Guerriero. From my understanding, she is hugely popular and has been involved in the community for a very long time. 

Because of this collaboration alone, I think this is a really hyped product at the moment. If you took Nicole Guerrero's name off of it, I doubt most people would bat an eye. And that is because it is a highlighter palette filled with shades that are similar to each other and incredibly similar to what is already available and in most people's collections. 

We all know my thoughts on highlighters—once you have one or two, you really have them all. And I think that for almost everyone, this palette will be completely unnecessary. 

Let's look at swatches:

These swatches are, as always incredibly heavy. No one would ever apply this kind of product that intensely on the face for highlight. And even when swatched heavily and unrealistically, the colors STILL look very similar to each other and not very unique. I absolutely think Kitty Kat, Forever Young, Glo Getter, and 143 will look essentially the same when applied onto the face. Daydream and Forever Lit might look a little different, but it will be nominal. 

It's also important to keep in mind that not all of these colors will flatter every skin tone. And on the one hand, I think it's great for a makeup artist, for example, to be able to have colors that work for several skin tones. And I also think it's great that there is at least one color in here that could work for everyone. I think when a popular personality collaborates on a product it's good that the product can work in some way for all people so that no one feels entirely left out. But on the other hand, the people the product is targeted at—Nicole Guerriero supporters—are very likely not makeup artists. And if you're only going to be using this product on yourself, there will definitely be shades in it that don't work for you. 

This Glow Kit, like the other ones from ABH, is $40. That is a lot of money to pay when not every shade is going to work for your skin tone. I've talked about this before, but this palette is a good example of the false value idea. And that's the thinking that this palette is $40 for six highlighters, which is seen as a "good deal."

And I'm sure the buying process for most people will be: "I like Nicole and want to support her and I really like Glo Getter (or Daydream, etc.). Kitty Kat and Forever Young are pretty too. I'm sure I'd wear those. 143 is nice, that will totally get some use. Forever Lit is different, and if it's too light for me, I can probably put it in the inner corner of my eyes. And Daydream is so pretty. If it doesn't work for me, I can always use it as an eyeshadow."

And this is why I think that reasoning is flawed:

• Nicole Guerriero is doing very well for herself. You watch her videos, which directly supports her. You don't need to shell out $40 to buy a product you don't need to "support her" further. 
• If you find one shade in this palette that you really like and that will work for your skin tone, you are better off buying a single of a duplicate highlighter than buying everything in this palette. 
• Just because you can convince yourself that you will use the other highlighters doesn't mean that you actually want them. 
• You very likely will not pull this palette out to use that one shade as an inner corner highlight. 
• Similarly, you are likely not going to use any of these colors as eyeshadow, especially if you already own a lot of eyeshadow. 
• If you would not buy every single color in this palette individually at "full price," this is not a "good deal."

This palette also isn't very unique, even when compared to ABH's other glow kits. 

Nicole Guerriero Glow Kit:

Looks like the Gleam Glow Kit:

And the Sweets Glow Kit:

And remember, when most colors are sheered out onto the skin, most of them just look like a shine. That's it. Most of the color is gone. 

Personally, I have the Gleam Glow Kit, so I really have zero use for the Nicole Guerriero iteration. But also, I just don't want any more highlighters in my collection. I regularly rotate through all of mine, and most days, the difference between each of them is nominal. And when I see people who have entire drawers full of highlighters who say that they just cannot stop buying them, I have to wonder if they are in denial about how they really look when applied onto the face. It's one thing to be a collector or have an affinity for elegant or special packaging (I've discussed this before, and while I am not someone who wants to collect makeup, I don't judge those who do), but it's something else entirely to own a ton of highlighters just because you want to have the latest thing that everyone is talking about. 

For everyone who was dying to get Becca Champagne Pop or Prosecco Pop or Opal or Pearl or MAC Whisper of Gilt or Laura Geller Gilded Honey—do you think that they feel completely satisfied now that they own those products? Or do you think the newness and sparkle has worn off and now they want the next new thing that everyone is talking about?

This will be an endless cycle unless you decide to stop it. Highlighters to me are one of the easiest things to resist. The most "special" one I have in my collection is Estee Lauder Modern Mercury. And while I do feel that highlighter is just a little more sparkly, interesting, and beautiful than the others in my collection, it is not hugely different. And I'm sure that almost everyone who interacts with me won't notice a difference between that and another highlighter, if they notice my highlighter at all. 

Finally, something else to consider is that in collaborations, since the makeup brand and the collaborator are being paid, typically something has to give in terms of price or quality. Meaning, most of the time you can't expect to get the same quality and size of products in the permanent line for the same price. Since the price is $40, like the other Glow Kits, I would not be surprised to find that the formula on these highlighters is different. The Nicole Guerriero Glow Kit has 4.5 grams of product for six shades, and while the Moonchild Glow Kit has 4.2 grams of product for six shades, the Gleam Glow Kit has 7.4 grams of product for four shades. And all Glow Kits are $40. 

There are just way too many highlighters on the market for me to want to add six more that will likely look identical on the skin. And I have too many highlighters in my collection to ever want more. So I won't be buying.