What I'm Not Buying: Huda Beauty Obsessions Precious Stones Collection

A few days ago, I asked on Instagram stories for readers to choose my next anti-haul post. While ABH Sultry had the most votes (you can see that anti-haul here), the Huda Beauty Obsessions Precious Stones collection came in close second. 

Huda Beauty has expanded their Obsessions line of mini 9-pan palettes with a precious stones collection: Topaz, Sapphire, Emerald, Amethyst, and Ruby. 

And I won't be buying. 

Well, I mostly won't be buying. I did buy one of these palettes—Emerald—but we'll get to that in a bit. 

Unlike the other Huda Beauty Obsessions palettes, these follow a gem/precious stones theme. This is showcased on the packaging, which has a diamond made up of each shade in each palette: 

The main appeal, I think, to most of these palettes is that they follow a pseudo monochromatic color scheme and look different enough when compared to most other palettes on the market. But, for a lot of these palettes, they really aren't all that unique. They just seem to be because most palettes (for the exception of neutral brown palettes) don't follow monochromatic color schemes.

In my opinion, the least interesting of Huda Beauty's new Obsessions palettes is Topaz:

This palette looks slightly more interesting than most neutral palettes, and I appreciate that it is more inclusive than palettes like the Tartelette Toasted:

But it is ultimately still just a normal neutral palette, like Juvia's Place Warrior: 

Colourpop I Think I Love You:

And Jaclyn Hill x Morphe Armed & Gorgeous:

I also think that Ruby is kind of uninteresting: 

Like Topaz, while I find the Ruby color scheme generally better than other red-toned palettes, it is still one that is just too played out at this point. 

There's Jeffree Star Blood Sugar:

Lime Crime Venus:

ABH Modern Renaissance: 

Huda Beauty's own Rose Gold palette:

As well as the Mauve Obsessions:

Lime Crime Venus XL:

Viseart Nuance:

And Viseart Siren:

Among many, many others. 

Chances are, if you're interested in Ruby, you likely already have most, if not all, of these shades already. Ruby is just more red-heavy and doesn't have "filler" neutral shades, so it gives the appearance of being slightly more unique. But so many color schemes over the past few years have centered on red shades, and the market is now just as saturated with them as gold and brown palettes. 

To me, Amethyst is a little more interesting:

Amethyst is the most purple of all the "purple" palettes I've seen recently, which typically tend to be neutral palettes with a few pops of purple colors. But there are still many palettes that follow this color scheme. 

There's Lime Crime Venus II:

Viseart Amethyst (I mean, it even has the same name):

Natasha Denona Lila:

And Jaclyn Hill x Morphe Bling Boss:

Sapphire and Emerald, I think, are when the color schemes become much more unique. 

Sapphire, as the name would suggest, follows a blue color scheme, though it does have random yellow and silver shades, which I think were included to give the palette some variety and depth.

When I first saw Sapphire, I immediately thought of Tarte's fake palette, Icy Betch:

If you're unfamiliar, Icy Betch is something that Tarte put together in Photoshop as an April Fool's joke. Why they thought this was funny or a good joke is unclear, but it completely backfired on them when people thought it was a real palette and loved it. Tarte is known as a brand that caters solely to light skin tones and puts out the same palette multiple times a year, so for them to put out a colorful palette full of blue, green, and teal shades that is slightly inclusive was really exciting for people. But then Tarte had to tell people that this palette was fake and that it was all a bad April Fool's joke (that doesn't even make sense). It was very curious to see a brand clearly have zero concept of what consumers actually wanted. 

So other brands, Huda Beauty included, have come out with similar blue-toned palettes that are more inclusive. Most of the other brands that replicated Icy Betch are indie and I'm not too familiar with them, so I tired to think of more "mainstream" brands that have blue palettes. And I honestly couldn't think of many. 

There's NYX Water:

And NYX Wind:

As well as the very old Wet N Wild Blue Had Me At Hello:

But I couldn't think of many others. 

The main the reason I chose not to buy Sapphire, however, is that I actually have quite a few blue eyeshadows, which you can see in an older version of one of my custom palettes:

I also don't wear blue eyeshadow very often, so it didn't make sense to me to have an entire blue-themed palette. I like wearing blue shadow, but I already have more than enough blue shades to satisfy any want I have for a blue look.

And, finally, we have Emerald:

As I mentioned at the top of this post, this was the one palette from this collection that I bought. This is a color scheme that I personally haven't seen before, which felt like an impossible feat. I like that this palette encompasses sea green, royal green, and olive green, and I feel like there are a lot of color combinations that can come from such a monochromatic color scheme. Green is also a color that I really enjoy and wear often, and these are green tones that I didn't already have. 

The only palette that I could think of with a somewhat similar color scheme is Viseart Absinthe:

In terms of my experience with Emerald, I have used it twice and used all shades. Here is my palette:

And here are two looks that I've done.

Look 1:

Inner and outer lid: 3

Center of lid: 1 (applied wet)

Transition: 2

Crease: 6

Inner corner: 9

Lower lash line: 5

I have some complicated feelings about this look. To be blunt, I kind of hated it, but that was solely because of the crease. The mint and royal green shades just completely clashed with my skin tone. And that's interesting to be because I have a shimmer mint from City Color Cosmetics (called Hint of Mint), and it is one of my favorite shadows. 

While I'm not really scared of color or being "too loud," this look was actually too loud for me. I think I would have loved the colors on my lid, inner corner, and lower lash line with a different shadow in the crease, and I honestly don't know of a look where I could incorporate the matte mint and royal green shades in a way that I would like. I personally don't like to wear matte shadows on the lid all that often, and they really didn't flatter me in the crease. I could try the royal green shade on the lower lash line, but I'm not confident that will turn out great. The mint shade also took a while to build up, so I don't think that would be a good lower lash line color either. 

Shade 1 was the color I was most excited for, and I was disappointed to learn that it's a chunky glitter shade. I did not use a glitter glue primer with this look, and I had to wet that shade for it to have any kind of opacity. I enjoyed the other shades in the look. 

Look 2:

Lid: 9

Crease: 7

Outer corner: 8

Lower lash line: 4

This was a much simpler look than the first one I did, and I have to say that I think it looks a lot better in person than it does in pictures. Of the two looks, I much prefer this one, but it's also one that I could have created (mostly) with shadows already in my collection. I have a matte olive shade in my Viseart Dark Matte palette, and I have plenty of gold shadows. I really enjoy the shimmery dark olive that I put on the outer corner of my lid, though it doesn't appear in photos well. 

Overall, since I have only used this palette twice, I don't have a very firm opinion on it, but I am happy that I now have most of these shades. I'm still unsure what to do about the shades that didn't flatter my skin tone, but I'm willing to use them again and see if I can't figure something else out. It might just be a matter of grounding the look with a brown in the transition area. 

Emerald was the most unique palette to me out of the Precious Stones collection, but if you're only semi-interested in green shades, I think this palette can be a pass and you can instead buy some singles. 

To round out this post, I wanted to talk about some palettes that incorporate many of these color schemes and put them together in one place. 

Immediately, a palette that came to mind is The Emily Edit: The Wants. However, if you've read my review of that palette, you know that I don't recommend it because the quality is very poor. Because I loved the color scheme, I duped the palette with shades in my collection, and I think this palette is almost like a highlight reel of the Huda Obsessions Precious Stones collection, minus Sapphire.

This palette has browns (Topaz), reds (Ruby), purples (Amethyst), and greens (Emerald—though the tones are completely different). 

Viseart Dark Matte also has similar colors to all the Precious Stones palettes:

As well as BH Cosmetics Weekend Festival:

And Urban Decay Born to Run:

To end this post I will say that I now own two Huda Obsessions palettes: Emerald and Coral (which is not part of the Precious Stones collection). I think Coral has a better formula, and while I wouldn't say that the formula is bad, I have worked with better ones that are easier to blend. Unless you've been absolutely craving an entire 9-pan palette of different tones of one specific color, I would say it's safe to pass on this entire collection. Instead, buy a few single shadows that you like and use them to complement what you already own. 

I would also like to add that if you don't see yourself wearing orange, red, purple, blue, or green looks often, then this collection is also an easy pass. Each of these palettes cost $27 before tax and shipping, and while that is less expensive than other mid-range products, it is still a lot of money to spend on shadows that you feel you will only occasionally wear. 

Added to that, as much as these palettes seem like they are unique, there are still so many palettes that are comparable. And chances are, as with all of the new makeup that is being launched, you likely have something similar enough that you don't really need to add to your collection. 

I certainly have more than enough brown/orange, red, purple, and blue shades, and I don't need to add individual palettes in all of those colors to my collection. In terms of Emerald, I'm mostly happy with the palette and the purchase, though this might end up being more of a companion palette for me than something standalone. With that said, I also won't be surprised if this is a palette that ends up returned or decluttered. The quality is not quite what I hoped and expected it to be, and if I find that it's not quite working for me, I won't hesitate to get rid of it. 

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What I'm Not Buying: Anastasia Beverly Hills Sultry Palette

Yesterday, on my Instagram stories, I asked readers to pick my next anti-haul blog post. I received a tremendous response (thank you!), and while there is certainly interest in an anti-haul post for all of the products I mentioned (stay tuned...) there was one product that stood out from the rest that was either a great source of temptation or anger: Anastasia Beverly Hills Sultry.

Sultry, which is the newest eyeshadow palette by Anastasia Beverly Hills, is a completely neutral palette that we have seen dozens of times over the past seven years. But this time, it has an added coral shade. 

And I won't be buying. 

Does anyone else remember the Anastasia Beverly Hills of the Modern Renaissance days? When every other brand was teasing consumers for months on end about a new product—as though it was a new season of highly anticipated television show—ABH just released Modern Renaissance one day after it was announced. And when all the other brands were trying to outdo each other in terms of recreating the gold, bronze, and brown color scheme better, ABH came out with a palette with some orange and red shades. 

Despite the fact that I have a complicated history with Modern Renaissance (I caved into hype and pressure from a salesperson, hated the palette, accepted that the formula was hard to work with and not my favorite, realized that I already owned all the colors already, and returned it), I liked the way that the brand conducted themselves during the launch, and I've had my eye on them ever since. 

Since then, however, ABH has failed to impress me. The Master Palette by Mario was, in my opinion, really boring and fueled entirely by fear of missing out and a fascination with celebrity culture; Subculture was a PR nightmare as the shadows were so powdery and difficult to work with; and now Soft Glam, Norvina, and Sultry have all been churned out in record time and feel like very boring similar color stories. 

When it felt like all the other brands were coming out with a new palette every month, I liked that ABH only came out with one, maybe two, a year. It made me appreciate the brand more because they weren't saturating the market. But that has since changed, and now ABH—like so many other brands—is looking uninspired and lazy. They know they have a loyal (and, at times, rabid) fanbase, and can therefore release a version of a palette most people already own and throw in one "pop of color" shade and have it be a success. 

Which brings us to Sultry:

When I look at this palette, I feel like it is 2012. Because it reminds me so much of Urban Decay Naked 2:

I can still remember being at work when I learned that the Naked 2 palette released, and I told my coworker (who shared my love of makeup) that we both had to buy it right then and there because it was going to sell out. We didn't have time to think about it; we had to make a decision. So we each bought it. And the palette sold out. And we both felt so lucky that we were able to snag it. 

We didn't really think about the fact that the Naked 2 palette wasn't all that different from the Naked palette. The original was warm-toned! The new one is cool-toned! They are totally different!

I also didn't think about this when I bought the Too Faced Chocolate Bar:

 Or the Make Up For Ever Artist 1 palette:

Or the Lorac Pro 2:

To name just a few. 

I spent so many years and so much money buying the same things over and again. But now I'm older, I've decluttered almost every single neutral palette from my collection, and I write a blog about smart consumerism and recognizing marketing tactics geared at making you buy what you already own. And—somehow—Anastasia Beverly Hills thinks that they can get me to buy the Naked 2 palette all over again? Because they threw in a matte coral and a matte mustard?

Oh, I don't think so. 

Let's look at the shadows in Sultry as just pigments:

When I look at this line of crushed pigments, do you know what I see? Colors that are so nondescript that they can only be called neutrals, plus one coral shade and a mustard. 

Let's look at the swatches:

If you cover up the coral shade in the above photo, I actually think the color scheme of this palette is  pretty and smoky. It's unoriginal and stale, but pretty. But the inclusion of the coral feels out of place and like the palette doesn't understand its own color scheme. To me, the coral seems to almost clash with the rest of the colors, which makes the entire thing feel less like this was an intentional ABH color story and more like ABH wanted to throw in one bright color to disorient people from thinking they already own this exact palette. 

Taking away the coral, Sultry looks just like every other neutral palette. 

It looks like the Viseart Theory palettes in Cashmere:

And Chroma:

It also looks like Lorac Pro:

Tartelette Toasted:

Colourpop I Think I Love You:

Juvia's Place Warrior:

And Makeup Geek In the Nude:

But Sultry also looks like so many other palettes from Anastasia Beverly Hills. Like the Master Palette by Mario:

Norvina (if you cover up the one shimmery purple and matte periwinkle): 

And Soft Glam:

It's no surprise to learn that brands want consumers to buy the same thing endlessly. Once brands saw the success Urban Decay had with serializing the Naked palettes, they all started either serializing their own products (i.e. Chocolate Bars, Lorac Pros, Tartelettes, etc.) or making them collectible in some other way, like ABH has with their velvet packaging. 

I watched a declutter video recently where someone acknowledged that she did not like the ABH formula, but had collected all of the palettes with the velvet packaging and wasn't ready to let that collection go. And this is exactly what ABH and every other brand is counting on when they make these similar-looking products. They want people to feel like these products are collector's items, and they want you to buy them all. 

And, frankly, Sultry just isn't a palette that anyone asked for or needs. When you look at the gaping holes in the makeup industry or necessary areas of improvement, I don't think anyone is under the impression that we need more neutral palettes. We need inclusive products. And while Sultry looks to be more inclusive than a typical neutral palette with a cream brow bone shade and light brown transition shade, this palette still feels like it leans closer to the light end of the spectrum than the dark. And when there are quite literally countless options of neutral eyeshadow palettes geared toward light skin tones, there is just zero reasoning for brands to continue producing them. 

I have purchased some version of Sultry more times than I care to remember. Over the many years of being a makeup lover, a member of the beauty community, and finally someone who had a shopping/makeup addiction, I continued to buy the same items, never really learning that they were all the same or that I didn't need to buy them just because they were new and the "influencers" were talking about them. 

And now, a few years into my shifted perspective on consumerism, I can say without hesitation that I have every shade in Sultry, and I have zero need to add the Anastasia Beverly Hills version of it. This palette would add nothing to my collection other than another palette that would eventually be decluttered. 

If you are lusting after Sultry and have been thinking about trying to dupe a palette from singles in your collection or shades that you have depotted, I think this would a great palette to start with. Chances are, if you find yourself drawn to this palette, you likely already pwn shimmery whites, champagnes, golds, bronzes, and taupes, and duping this palette from your own collection could be quite easy. 

Even though ABH has never been my personal favorite brand, I have always found them intriguing and have been excited to see what new product or color scheme they were going to bring to the makeup industry. And it would be disappointing for ABH go down the same path as brands like Too Faced and Tarte, where the main objective is to pump out new, typically non-inclusive releases as quickly as possible that are just repackaged versions of something we have already seen.  

But, it seems like ABH may be heading in this direction. With the releases of Soft Glam, Norvina, and now Sultry, it seems like ABH cares less about the color story and inspiration and more about an easy color scheme they know will sell. And as a consumer, that is a major turnoff for me. 

I have zero need for a palette like this, and more than that, I have zero want for it. So I won't be buying. 

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In my next post, I will write an anti-haul on the product that received the second-most votes on my Instagram stories. Stay tuned. 

For notifications on my latest posts and to vote on future posts, follow me on Instagram: @antihaulblog