Anastasia Beverly Hills Norvina Eyeshadow Palette

I really love the palette for the pink and purple shades. Some reviews that I had watched before purchasing complained of the lack of deeper crease options, I don’t think that it is really an issue for me because it’s not too much work for me to grab anther palette or grab a single that I use for contouring.

Passion, Volatile, and Incense are shades that I like to use to blend the crease upwards toward my brow or soften the edges of my shadow on the outer corner. In my opinion there is less fallout than the Modern Renaissance and I do like that the palette is half matte half shimmer and not full of extremely light mattes that I personally wouldn’t have use for, such as Warm Taupe, Golden Ochre, and Tempera from MR. I was surprised at the pigmentation of Love, mostly because at face value it it similar to that cursed shade from the TF Chocolate bar called Strawberry Bon Bon that is super chalky. Love and Soul can both be used as lid colors alone or on top of a white base.

I find that the shimmers sometimes come off in chunks and if you apply your foundation before eyes, the shadow will smear when you try to remove it because of how soft and creamy they are. As beautiful as these shimmers swatch and how smooth they apply on my eyes, they crease like no other on my slightly hooded eye shape. Even when I try to be particular in where I apply them, keeping them on the part of my lid that is visible when my eyes are open so that it does not end up in the crease/fold area, I always end up with a streak of shimmer in the matte of the crease. (sorry for that super long sentence lol) Luckily it is not something that can be seen when my eyes are open. I am not opposed to shimmer in the crease, but it depends on the look I am wanting to create so I would be mindful of the different formula.

The color scheme is fun and different from other palettes that I have, I enjoy using it.

This is my first experience with ABH eyeshadow palettes, I mainly bought this palette because I needed more metallic shadows in my collection for night outs and special occasions.
The main issue is when I applied the shimmers (Dreamer and summer) close to my lash line my eyes stung a little bit, that never happens to me with eyeshadows! But they wore well throughout the night and I didn’t experience any redness. Wild Child and Celestial are sheer, they shift and change depending on the lighting.
Not all mattes are actually matte, Base and Love are slightly shimmery in the pan but have more like a satin finish on the lid. The rest of the mattes blended fairly well but had some fall-outs. All of the mattes needed to be built-up.
It retails for almost AED242 (65 US Dollars) in Dubai’s Sephora which makes it a very expensive palette, it’s worth it if you want a special occasion palette, don’t have sensitive eyes, are light-handed with eyeshadows and don’t mind doing your eyes before your base.

My actual rating is probably somewhere closer to 4.5 stars, but I think that since this palette is so great overall it deserves to be rounded up. I have been on a big eyeshadow palette kick lately for some reason, but when I first started seeing pictures of this palette I was pretty uninspired and unimpressed. The colors do look pretty, but it isn't really that different from a lot of stuff we have seen recently. I saw a couple of YT reviews of this palette, and that made me a lot more interested in it. I swatched a couple of the metallics and knew that I immediately had to have it. Rose Gold was especially love at first swatch, but honestly, now that I have used it more, the whole top row is just perfection. I was also really drawn to the shade Incense, because I love mustard-y type colors. Soul, the most eye-catching shade in the palette, is my least favorite thus far just because it is hard for me to work with. It turns kinda greyish if I blend it out, so it doesn't really go with the rest of the colors that well on my skin tone. The other shades all apply like a dream and wear well, so I am not too bummed out about Soul not working well for me as a crease shade. I want to see ABH release more metallic shadows like the first few in the top row, because that formula is just drop-dead amazing, and better than pretty much any other metallic shadow I have tried.

So far I have liked all of the Anastasia palettes I have tried. Even the highly controversial Subculture is a favorite of mine. I was intrigued by the color story of Norvina. I have neutral coloring and can get away with both warm and cool colors. my eyes are blue/green/grey and shift depending on what I put on them. This Norvina palette surprised me though because some of the colors I thought I would love, I did not like so much. Some of the colors I thought I would not like so much, I loved (ironically including the color love which is a almost matte pink). I also was really surprised to like the periwinkle purple Soul. Both colors do not translate as intense on the eye as they do in the pan. I just get a flattering cool pastel eye look. I also am a big fan of Dreamer as the perfect inner corner shade with just the right amount of intensity. Volatile is more interesting on the eye than in the pan. It looks like a boring cool toned brown. It's actually slightly plummy and interesting on the lid. I like it as an outer corner color. Some people have complained about Love and Soul not being truly matte. That was intentional. If completely matte both would be chalky. Both are matte enough to work as crease colors though. The usual top row of shimmers are present. The two that caught my eye are Wild Child and Celestial. These are actually my least favorite two shades. The colors are slightly off and the blend isn't great, even foiled. Summer, Rose Gold, and Dazzling are better formulas. Drama looks more dramatic than it actually is but it is pretty and I do like that one foiled. I personally thought the transition colors on the bottom incense and eccentric were too warm. I get it, perhaps it needed those shades to capture the appeal of the customers who liked the other warmer toned palettes. I would have rather seen some plummy, or even MAC Hepcat style brighter matte pink/plum shades. I like Norvina though and will keep using it. I like mixing it with Subculture and MR.

This is one of the prettiest palettes I have and I absolutely love it. I've never had eyeshadow like this, it's extremely soft, "moist" (don't shoot!) and super pigmented. The formula is so different than anything else I have (UD, TF, Dior, MAC) , I have to be as gentle as possible when using it otherwise there is a ton of kickback and some shades like Rose Gold and particularly the metallics have to be used with care otherwise they just lose shape and crumble inside the pan. I'm not sure if I like this aspect of the palette and for this reason I think I would not travel with it, I'm afraid any light shock could ruin it. But on the other hand...it's gorgeous. Every single shade is beautiful and pigmented. I like wild child the most. I did my makeup yesterday at 12pm with concealer as primer and I took my makeup off at 11pm and it was still looking great. I really really like the brush included too. Tips for making it perform the best if for some reason just like me you have no experience with Anastasia's formula: don't go into those pans with the brush like you do your other eyeshadow! Touch them as gently as possible because this stuff is crazy pigmented and not very hardly pressed. For the shimmers/metallics, use your fingers or a sponge tip for it to look true to the pan.

The short version, the mattes are beautiful but most are similar in tone so you can’t create much depth. And the shimmers are fussy. And I feel like a crucial shade is missing. I’m on the fence about keeping this palette.
The long version, packaging is the usual Anastasia velvet. Pretty color, gets dirty easily. The shades are beautiful but the mattes are mostly the same depth of color. I think incense should have been a little lighter and volatile and passion darker. There are warm and cool toned color stories. But there isn’t a darker shade on the cool end to add depth. You could try drama but the mattes and shimmers don’t blend together well. This palette really needed a dark cool to neutral purple like MAC deep damson or MUFE 928. When I use soul, there just isn’t another shade to use with it. I will say there are no redundant shades so that’s nice. But the totally similar shades makes it kind of flat and muddy.
The matte formula is beautiful. There’s technically shimmer in base, love, and soul and it can be kind of obvious depending on what brush you use. Those are also the most powdery shadows. Love is the worst for being powdery. The other mattes are true mattes. But they all perform beautifully. Very smooth and easy to blend. I would say they are the best mattes I’ve used from Anastasia.
The shimmers. Oh boy. So they are beautiful. Sooooo fragile. Dreamer acts like you attack it every time you tap into the shadow. Dazzling came shattered. These do not perform well on the eye. You have to use your finger. Fix plus on a brush does not help. Really cutting your crease with concealer and patting it in with your finger is the best bet. Otherwise the shimmer fades and gets muddy. Except for celestial, that one works pretty good without cutting the crease but you still have to use your finger. But they are soooo disappointing on the eye, sheer and muddy and faded. And I really wish one of them had been switched out for a matte eggplant. They are all complex and interesting shades. For example, summer is a cooler version of bronze. Rose gold is stunning. But they take so much work to get them to show up. And the shimmers do not mesh well with the mattes you have to apply all your mattes and then your shimmers. They do not blend together.
Overall this palette is almost perfect. Add in that one shade and fix the shimmers and I would enjoy this palette much more. But the mattes are so pretty. I’m really torn on keeping this.
As for dupes, I can get pretty close to duping this entire palette. Too Faced chocolate gold has two rose golds that when mixed together are close to rose gold or Colourpop high strung. Ardency Inn rose gold is close to dazzling. ColourPop snakeyes is also close but lighter. Huda beauty gemstone palette has a purple close to celestial and a pink close to wild child. Juvias place Nubian 2 dark purple is close to drama, but without the red glitter. Sydney Grace Morning Star is close to dreamer. Mix Colourpop board shorts and mug grandstand to get summer. Base can be duped by MAC vanilla or vapor. Incense is the same as MAC saddle or Anastasia fawn. I don’t have something exactly like Soul, but Sydney Grace regal works. Love is like Sydney Grace Princess or MAC mocha blush. Volatile is like Sydney Grace Grounds. Eccentric is duped by Anastasia Carmel or Colourpop Freckle. And Passion is the same as MUG cherry cola or MAC I’m into it. So, basically, you have these shades already most likely.
I would recommend this palette to an experienced makeup user looking for an interesting take on a neutral eyeshadow palette who doesn’t mind supplementing with other shades to complete looks and is okay with using fingers and cut creases. Or to a person who only uses one or two shades in a look at a time. But it’s not a must. If you are on the fence, pass on it.


Edit 9/1/18: I returned it. I sat in a drawer for a week. When I pulled it out I felt so uninspired. The shades seemed so lackluster and like everything else I own. I feel relieved I didn’t keep it.