In the middle of February, I finally cracked and purchased the ABH (Anastasia Beverly Hills) Riviera Palette. How did I justify this purchase? Oh, it was easy! I’ve been taking an online course through the Condé Nast College of Fashion & Styling and I needed to do a BOLD blue eye makeup look and I didn’t own a palette with a blue shadow. I’ve had my eyes on the Riviera Palette since it came out, but I never bought it since I don’t tend to wear bold colors. When I finally had a good enough reason to buy it, I jumped on the opportunity! This palette is stunning and it was perfect for my final project. However, do I consider this a good purchase? I’ll give you ALL the tea on the Riviera Palette!
Purchasing The Riviera Palette
Purchasing this palette was somewhat of a nightmare… I saw it was 50% off in Sephora France, but naturally, it was sold out everywhere. Then, I went on Cult Beauty, and it wasn’t even available for purchase. Next was the resale market, but I decided against that since a lot of them looked used. Plus, I had no way to know how old they were and if they’re expired. Eventually, I landed on the ABH website and decided to purchase it there. It wasn’t on sale so that was a bit of a bummer, but this palette was a must! I mean, I spent at least an hour on Youtube looking at different makeup tutorials for the Riviera Palette and I wasn’t going to let that be all for nothing!
Welllll little did I know that the palette was being shipped from the US… It didn’t explain this on the website and it even advertised the prices as Euros, so imagine my surprise. Typically, that wouldn’t be an issue but shipping (especially with the pandemic) takes FOREVER. I only had about a week left to get the palette in order to finish my final project. Well, fast forward a bit, I did receive it, had no duties to pay, and I had about two days left until the due date. 🙂 I’m happy to announce that all went well. However, my anxiety certainly peaked…
The Shades & Formula
Now, on to the actual palette! You guys – it is STUNNING. I find it adorable that the Riviera Palette is inspired by my home, the French Riviera, so that’s a plus. Not not only, but also one of the shades, Cannes, is where I live! Speaking of shades, they are SO pigmented. I’m no stranger to ABH palette (I’ve owned Soft Glam & Norvina) and I’ve always loved them. This was, however, my first time trying one of her palettes with bright and bold colors. Performance wise, they are so bright and go on beautifully. No patches or streakiness here! They do have fallout, but I feel like most palettes struggle with that and it doesn’t bug me. Just make sure to do your eye makeup BEFORE your base or else you’ll be stuck removing a good chunk of your foundation to get rid of the color fallout.
The shimmer shades perform well on their own when applied with a finger. With a brush, make sure to spray it with setting spray in order to get the color identical to the pan. It’s a bit dull without. So far, I’ve worn Seychelles, Seaside, Inheritence, and Mediterranean for shimmers. ALL of them were absolutely stunning and elevated my look. I’ve swatched the others and I’m sure they’ll look great, too.
For the mattes, Cannes is my favorite. I swear I’m not biased! I have hazel eyes, so purples are a great shade for me. I’ve been looking for a bold purple for a while now and this one fits the bill. I love applying it as a thin eyeliner or even against my bottom lash line. It helps make my eye color pop. You don’t need to build up the color too much, either. Estate is also one of my most used transition shades. Finally, Sails is SUCH a pigmented white. When I first put it in my inner corner, I was SHOOK. It’s bright, bold, and beautiful. Highlighter, move over!
Of course, there are lots of bright colors that most of us don’t wear daily. What was a pleasant surprise to me is the amount of neutral looks I can still pull off using just this palette! I’d say about half of the shades are ‘safer’ which is pretty darn good. This is currently my go-to palette when I want to do an eye makeup look. 🙂
It also comes with this super nice makeup brush! All of the ABH palettes come with it. It’s double ended with one side being more for packing a color on and the other more for blending. I’ve used it before in another palette I own from ABH and I was actually pretty impressed! It’s great if you don’t own a ton of makeup brushes already or if you’re traveling and limited on space.
Editorial Look – Featuring The Riviera Palette
Of course, I had to show you guys the final product! The theme was ‘Adaptation’ and I went with a pandemic theme of ‘we should adapt to the times and wear our freshly delivered evening clothes out in public’! I wanted a bold blue look to stand out against the neutral tones of my look and to match the blue of my heels a bit. I was SHOOK at how bold the blue was. You can clearly see it from a distance.
What do you guys think?!
Final Thoughts
Overall, I am SUCH a fan of this palette! Truly, I didn’t expect to love it as much as I do. The fact that neutral looks are achievable with this is HUGE, but you can also pull off a fierce colored look if you want. I was even able to do a Versace-inspired makeup look with it (the mirror selfie below). For me, the Riviera Palette helped inspire more creativity for my makeup looks and to play more with color instead of my traditional brown and beige neutral looks. If you love makeup, want to play around with shades outside of your comfort zone, and want a palette that performs SUPER well, the Riviera Palette is for you!
I wouldn’t recommend it if this is your first or second palette purchase, though. Do make sure you already have a few palettes that are more ‘traditional’ first and then work your way up to something bold and beautiful like this. 🙂 Make sure to check out My Soft Glam Makeup Look to see another ABH palette in action and don’t forget to subscribe! I send out weekly emails every Monday reminding you of the new post!
The Riviera Palette:
Sephora (France): here
Macy’s: here
Brown Thomas: here
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XO, Tess
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