Review: Anastasia Beverly Hills Riviera Palette

If you're a longtime reader of my blog, you'll know that I don't post many reviews. And there's a few reasons for that. The first is that my blog isn't really about reviewing new makeup — it's about encouraging smart consumerism and breaking down marketing tactics. Another is that I don't buy a lot of new releases and therefore don't have a lot of content for "new product" reviews. And, finally, I don't want to be yet another person who might convince you to buy something you know you don't need. 

With that said, I still think the occasional review can be helpful, and today I'm talking about the newest Anastasia Beverly Hills palette — Riviera. 

When it comes to ABH, I have to say that I have a pretty unpopular opinion. I hated the Modern Renaissance palette and returned it because the shadows muddied on my eyes and I thought the shimmer color scheme was lacking. After receiving Subculture as a gift, I found that I actually really liked it and didn't think it was as hard to work with as Modern Renaissance — but most people really hated it. Lastly, I thought Prism, Norvina, Soft Glam, and Sultry were all incredibly boring and full of a TON of repeat shades.

In short, when it comes to ABH, I really don't get the hype.

When Riviera was released, I wavered on if I wanted to purchase it or not. I didn't have most of the shades in my collection, but I had shades that seemed close. And I wasn't totally sure how cohesive the color scheme would be for me.

But, I kept being drawn to it. There was something about the shimmers, specifically, that excited me. So, I decided to purchase my first ABH palette since Modern Renaissance.

And here are seven looks that I have done with Riviera.

Look 1: 

Lid: Mediterranean

Crease: Monte Carlo

Outer corner: Cannes

Inner corner: Inheritance

Brow bone: Sails

Lower lash line: Cannes

Mediterranean was one of the shadows that really called to me, and I think it's one of the standouts in this palette. I don't have any other shade like this one, and I find it to be really versatile. It can be colorful or neutral, and I think it's gorgeous. On the whole, I really liked this entire look. I was thrilled with how Monte Carlo and Cannes applied, and I loved how vibrant the gold looked on the inner corner. Sails is a very stark white, which made it a bit difficult to blend out on my skin tone, but I think it's a shadow that a lot of people would like. 

Look 2:

Lid: Seychelles

Transition: Estate

Crease: Cabana

Inner corner: Yacht

Brow bone: Sails

Lower lash line: Palm

I hated this look. In stark comparison to look one, there was little I liked about this one. And that's really disappointing because I was so looking forward to this color combination, and it was a big miss for me. Estate looked like essentially nothing on my skin, and Cabana was quite dull and required several layers to look opaque. Cabana was an especially disappointing shade because, if you've been a reader for a while, you'll know that I love a good mustard. The mustard shade in Subculture (Edge) is my all-time favorite, and I was hoping (expecting) Cabana to be a good alternative. But, nope. Seychelles also required quite a bit of building up, which I didn't like.

Due to my disappointment in Estate, Cabana, and Seychelles, I considered returning Riviera after doing this look. But, I decided to try the rest of the shades first. 

Look 3:

Inner lid: Inheritance

Outer lid: Palermo

Transition: Coastline

Crease: Monte Carlo

Brow bone: Salis

Lower lash line: Cannes

I liked this look. I loved working with the mattes, but I was a little disappointed in the shimmers. The gold, which applied gorgeously to my inner corners on my first look, didn't apply on the lid with the same intensity. It really had to be built up. Palermo was slightly easier to work with, but it also required some building. 

At this point in the week, I was feeling quite a bit of buyer's remorse.

Look 4:

Lid: Seaside

Transition: Monte Carlo

Crease: Cannes

Outer corner: Cannes

Inner corner: Yacht

Brow bone: Sails

Lower lash line: Mediterranean

I started liking the palette again with this look, but I also realized how difficult Cannes is to blend. It looks worse in photos (with the flash) than it did in real life, but I would have preferred a seamless blend instead of what looks like a stripe. With that said, I love the color scheme of this look, and I especially love the shade Seaside. Like Mediterranean, it was one of the shades that really drew me to the palette, and it did not disappoint. The inner corner shade, Yacht, also really surprised me. I thought it was going to be a classic bronze, but it is like a bronze/rose gold. Yacht made me want to do another look with it as the focus.

Look 5:

Lid: Yacht

Transition: Coastline

Crease: Cannes

Inner corner: Seaside

Brow bone: Sails

Lower lash line: Cannes

I loved this look. Yacht was the wildcard shadow in this palette for me. I thought nothing of it at first, didn't really even notice it, and now it is my favorite shadow in the palette. Cannes was still difficult to blend, but I love the color and truly have nothing like it in my collection. At this point, I no longer wanted to return this palette. 

Look 6:

Inner and outer lid: Palm

Center of lid: Yacht

Transition: Estate

Crease: Sydney Grace Cool Brown

Inner corner: Seaside

Brow bone: Sails

Lower lash line: Palm

For this look, I decided to go pretty neutral. I did this for two reasons. One was to use Palm, and the other was to show that even in this "colorful palette," it's possible to get a very neutral look. I liked this look and thought it was dramatic and pretty. It was the only look that required me to bring in another shadow, which was a cool matte brown from Sydney Grace. I could have used Palm in the crease, but I didn't want to go that dark. 

Look 7:

Lid: Palermo

Transition: Monte Carlo

Crease: Bahamas

Outer corner: Bahamas and Cannes

Inner corner: Inheritance

Brow bone: Sails

Lower lash line: Monte Carlo and Cannes

For the final look, I wanted to use Bahamas — the hot pink. In most of the reviews I had seen of this palette, people heavily featured this shade. I would guess that's because Bahamas is the brightest shade in the palette, and when you're looking at Riviera as a "bright" or "colorful" palette, this will be the shade you use to showcase that. I have a few colorful palettes and several hot pink shades, so I wasn't in a rush to use Bahamas. But, this ended up being one of my favorite looks I did with the palette, and I received a ton of compliments on it. By this point in the week, I was very happy with my purchase.  

Final Thoughts

If you've read through this entire post, you'll see that I really felt conflicted with this palette. Some days I hated it and really regretted my purchase. On others, I was incredibly happy with it. This is generally why I personally don't like "first impressions" review content, because opinions can drastically change the more you use a product. 

There are two shades in the palette that disappointed me — Estate and Cabana — which are the peach and mustard shades. Something that I find in a lot of ABH palettes is that the lighter mattes can be a bit chalky and won't work for skin tones deeper than very light. I have a light to medium skin tone, but because I have a warm olive undertone, a number of shades that are traditionally made for "white skin" don't show up on me. And if these shades are lacking on my skin tone, I imagine that they would be lacking on deeper skin tones as well. This is certainly a palette that is more friendly toward deeper skin tones than most releases from ABH, so I was disappointed in these two shades. 

Additionally, I don't think this palette needed light shades at all. I think it's disappointing how many brands include these "staple" shades for light skin, and it's also disappointing how many reviewers complain when a palette lacks these shades. There are not equivalent shades for deeper skin tones, and I think it's wrong to include "staple" shades for light skin only. 

However, the majority of shades in Riviera can work on a wide spectrum of skin tones, and that is something I appreciate. 

Yacht is the standout for me, and Mediterranean, Seaside, Cannes, and Monte Carlo were my other top shades. Seychelles, Palermo, and Inheritance are all decent shimmers, but they didn't stand out too much among other similar shades in my collection. Bahamas and Palm are solid mattes that work well in the palette, but, again, I have other matte hot pinks and matte browns in my collection. I liked Coastline quite a bit, but I don't know how well that shade would show up on diverse skin tones, so I'm hesitant to praise it. Sails is a very stark white, which isn't something that I personally love, but it's a good shade for what it is, and I used it every day. 

To me, Riviera is not a "colorful" or "bright" palette. I think this is a different take on what is typically considered neutral. Or, it's a "beginner colorful palette" for someone who is curious to try more color, but doesn't want an entire neon rainbow look. Therefore, while Riviera certainly has less brows than most ABH palettes, if you're looking for a really vibrant and colorful palette, this is not the one I would recommend. 

With that said, I personally enjoy the color scheme and find it quite inspiring, and I am ultimately happy with my purchase. I have a sizable eyeshadow collection that I routinely declutter and curate, and there are several shades in this palette that I have never seen before, let alone owned. 

This is a palette that I know I will use and enjoy for a long time. But, I don't think Riviera is for everyone, and I don't think it's so special that anyone who doesn't have it is missing out. 

My (Current) Custom Palettes

If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you probably know how much I love to depot eyeshadows and make custom palettes. One of the reasons I'm not the biggest fan of the current marketing trend of trying to convince consumers to buy more and more is because it is all based on novelty. And, as we all know, novelty wears off pretty quick. But with custom palettes, novelty doesn't matter. Because once that wears off, I can just dismantle the old palette and make a new one. 

I'm often in flux with my custom palettes. I'll think I've finally made a palette that can be a "permanent" fixture in my collection, but then that all goes out the window when a new palette comes out that I want to dupe or I find some other source of inspiration.

Case in point: My Schitt's Creek palette, which I talked about in my last post:

As much as I loved this palette, I felt like it was still a bit too warm to really feel like the show and be an ideal cool-toned palette. I had always wanted to include some smoky, cool shades, but I just didn't have any in my collection. So, I actually purchased some new singles recently precisely to fill this void. 

And here is my new Schitt's Creek palette:

To say that I love this new version of the palette is an understatement. I think it is such a perfect cool-toned palette, and had something like this been created by a brand, I absolutely would have purchased it. But, instead of spending $50 – $130, this palette is mostly repurposed from shadows I already owned. 

I've updated/changed all of my custom palettes, so I thought it could be fun to share where my custom palettes currently stand (knowing that these configurations are only ever temporary).

Longtime readers will also know how much I loved my duped/reimagined Too Faced Peachy Mattes palette:

This was a favorite palette for a long time, but I didn't use it much last year. This was largely because I wasn't as interested in creating pink eyeshadow looks (I might have burnt myself out with that in 2017) and because it was mainly a companion palette, and I just don't reach for those very often. 

So, I changed/upgraded it:

I've included some of my favorite shimmer shadows to use with the "peachy" mattes and removed the shades that didn't get as much use from me. I think this now has a really great balance of finishes and shades, and it has reinvigorated my desire to use it. 

I'm still loving my duped Emily Edit: The Wants palette:

I've slightly altered the color scheme, but not in any considerable way. My feelings on the original palette by Makeup Revolution have not changed (it was my biggest fail of the entire year), and neither has my love of Emily's color selection. I still think she curated a fantastic color scheme, and I'm so glad that my collection could mostly duplicate the shades.

My next custom palette contains most of my duochrome shadows:

And I've incorporated other complementary shades. I love looking at so many duochromes all in one place, and I quite like the selection of matte shadows as well. I think this has a really fun color scheme while still being mostly neutral. 

My final palette was inspired by the new Coloured Raine Safari palette:

It includes a dupe of this palette as well as an expansion of the color scheme:

The Safari dupe can be found in the first three columns, excluding the fourth row. I was finally brave enough to depot my beloved Viseart Dark Matte palette, and I couldn't be happier that I did. Dark Matte was the one Viseart palette I could never bring myself to depot, but, much like my duped Peachy Matte palette, I found that I wasn't using it because it wasn't depotted. I cannot express how excited I am about this custom palette. Much like my Schitt's Creek palette, if this was a palette a brand would have created, I would have purchased it. To me, this palette feels unique, which is hard to do when the makeup community is as saturated as it is. But I love the earth tones in this palette, and I find it quite inspiring. What's even more exciting is that this palette gives me ALL the excitement of a new purchase, but these are all shadows I've owned for a while. On top of that, I recently purchased a new palette, and I haven't even used it yet because this one has been too exciting. 

So, that's it for this post. I just wanted to show my "new" custom palettes. In a way, I suppose this is like a haul, because all of these feel like new products to me, but it's more of a "shop my collection" post. I know depotting isn't for everyone, and there are certainly palettes that I would never depot (like Pat McGrath Mothership IV, my Natasha Denona palettes, and BH Cosmetics Zodiac), but when you start to look at shades in a palette as colors instead of part of the whole of a palette, it really opens up quite a bit of creative freedom. 

Hopefully my "new" custom palettes will inspire you to look into your own collections if you're feeling bored or stagnant instead of buying something new. 

My Schitt's Creek Palette

I recently saw a video on the Leesha YouTube channel called "My Kingdom Hearts III Eyeshadow Palette," which is part of her "fantasy palette series." In the video, Leesha created her own custom eyeshadow palette based on one of her favorite video game series. She chose the color scheme based on characters and items in the games, and she also created names for the shadows that related to Kingdom Hearts. 

It was a video that I really enjoyed for multiple reasons. I loved that she was using shadows she already had in a new and creative way. And I enjoyed that she took inspiration from something she loved. It's a really clever idea to encourage people look at their own shadows in a new way, and as soon as I saw the video, I knew this was something I wanted to try as well. 

When I thought of what movie or television show I loved enough to try and replicate this project, one immediately stood out: Schitt's Creek.

I was introduced to this show by a close friend when I was going through a bit of a tough time. The show brought me immense joy, and I have probably rewatched it more than any other show. Every time I just want to feel good and laugh, I turn to Shitt's Creek. It has become quite important to me, so I figured having an eyeshadow palette full of colors that reminded me of it could only be a positive. 

Unlike Leesha, I didn't rename the shadows or pick colors for specific characters or moments from the show. (Had I done so, I would have ended up with an orange shadow that I would have lovingly called "Fold In the Cheese" and a blackened brown that would have been called "What Does Burning Smell Like?" And I didn't necessarily want those colors in this palette.)

Instead, I selected colors from my collection that reminded me of the Rose family (the protagonists of the show):

And this is the palette I made:

Row 1: Colourpop Glass Bull, Jouer Magic Hour (from Skinny Dip), Jouer Star Light (from Skinny Dip), Viseart matte cool-toned brown, Touch of Glam Beauty Merlin's Wand, and Looki Beauty Stiletto.

Row 2: Natasha Denona Glam Green, MAC Haux, ABH Pink Champagne, ABH Dusty Rose, Urban Decay Chase, Natasha Denona Industrial, and Ardency Inn Rose Gold. 

Row 3: Jouer Skinny Dip (from Skinny Dip), MAC Satin Taupe, Natasha Denona Antique Olive, Coloured Raine Duchess, Jouer Midnight Swim (from Skinny Dip), Looxi Beauty Foxy Lady, and Touch of Glam Beauty Dark Knight. 

I chose these colors because they felt luxurious to me. When I imagine the show and these characters, I think of decadent shades of gold and silver, and, of course, black. Interestingly, I don't own a black eyeshadow single, and I have never depotted one with the intention of keeping it. It's always so perplexing to me when people say a matte black eyeshadow is a "must" in every makeup collection because... I don't like black eyeshadow. If my choices are between a back and a very dark brown, I will always choose the brown. 

So, in lieu of a black shadow, I chose several dark and complex shimmers, like Jouer Magic Hour, Jouer Midnight Swim, MAC Satin Taupe, and Touch of Glam Beauty Dark Knight.

Here are seven looks I did with this palette:

Look 1:

Lid: Jouer Star Light

Transition: Viseart matte cool-toned brown

Crease: Natasha Denona Antique Olive

Inner corner: Touch of Glam Beauty Merlin's Wand

Lower lash line: Natasha Denona Antique Olive

Look 2:

Lid: MAC Satin Taupe

Transition: MAC Haux

Crease: ABH Dusty Rose

Inner corner: Urban Decay Chase

Lower lash line: Jouer Midnight Swim

Look 3:

Lid: Ardency Inn Rose Gold

Crease: ABH Dusty Rose

Outer corner: Coloured Raine Duchess

Inner corner: Looxi Beauty Foxy Lady

Lower lash line: Coloured Raine Duchess

Look 4:

Lid: Natasha Denona Glam Green

Crease: MAC Haux

Inner corner: Looxi Beauty Foxy Lady

Lower lash line: MAC Haux

Look 5:

Lid: ABH Pink Champagne

Crease: ABH Dusty Rose

Outer corner: Coloured Raine Duchess

Inner corner: Looxi Beauty Foxy Lady

Lower lash line: ABH Dusty Rose

Look 6:

Lid: Ardency Inn Rose Gold

Crease: ABH Dusty Rose

Outer corner: Coloured Raine Duchess

Inner corner: Looki Beauty Stiletto

Lower lash line: Coloured Raine Duchess

Look 7:

Lid: Natasha Denona Industrial 

Crease: Viseart matte cool-toned brown

Outer corner: Natasha Denona Glam Green

Inner corner: Looki Beauty Stiletto

Lower lash line: Jouer Midnight Swim

I've loved using this palette, and every time I look at it, it reminds me of this show I love so dearly. This is also a color story that I would have never chosen on my own without a source of inspiration behind it. The palette definitely leans cool—especially since all the mattes I chose are cool—which is, frankly, different for my collection. Almost everything in my collection leans very warm, which makes sense since warm colors flatter my skin tone. But the colors within this palette are cool tones that also work for my skin tone. And it has been refreshing to have a cool-toned palette. 

Creating this palette has also enabled me to create color combinations that I likely would not have thought of otherwise, like in Looks 2 and 4. 

A main reason, I think, that people continue to buy palettes with shadows that they already own is because a certain arrangement of colors can be really appealing, especially if you haven't seen those colors arranged in that way before. I still catch myself being affected by this all the time. I get sucked into a beautiful color scheme and have to take a moment to remind myself that I already own those colors. I just don't currently have those colors in that arrangement. 

This is why I love singles so much and am such a fan of depotting eyeshadows. It allows you to change the shadow arrangement and essentially get a "new" product whenever you feel uninspired or in a rut. I hadn't used many of the shadows in this palette for a very long time, but bringing them into their own arrangement that was inspired by one of my favorite shows has brought new life to them, and I've loved using this palette.

I want to thank Leesha for this great idea, and I think it's fantastic that more content creators are encouraging people to be creative and use what they already have instead of mindlessly spending more money on what we already own.