Anastasia Beverly Hills Master Palette by Mario Review

by - 11/10/2016


You've heard me sing my praises for the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance palette. Now I'm going to sing them for the Master Palette by Mario, also by ABH. 

Mario Dedivanovic is most famous for being Kim Kardashian's makeup artist, and it is his magic that has made Kim's contour so iconic. He also works with other major celebrities, and at the young age of 33 he has become one of the most sought-after makeup artists in the industry. Mario is a Global Ambassador for ABH, so it's no surprise that he collabed on a palette with them. 

The difference between this palette and the Modern Renaissance is that this palette only has 12 shadows (whereas the other has 14), and this palette is almost entirely metallic/shimmer. There are only three matte shades. 

I purchased the palette from Sephora.com for $45.00, which is more than the Modern Renaissance palette, and for less shadows. Again, each shadow is .02 oz, but you end up paying $3.75 per shadow. The palette is currently sold out on Sephora.com and is not available on the Anastasia Beverly Hills website, but you can still purchase it at Ulta.com for $45.00. 


The palette comes in a box, which is identical in design to the palette itself.


Praise the lord, it's not fuzzy! That means I can keep it clean! It's also the same height as the Modern Renaissance palette, but about an inch shorter in length. You could easily stick this in your purse. The palette comes with a nice sized mirror, and a double-sided brush.


Let me address this brush real quick. I started to brush swatch with the brush provided, and got really worried because I wasn't really able to swatch well at all! I thought, oh no, I hope the shadows aren't crap! But then I was like, let's try a different brush. And boy, did that make the difference! So my advice to you is, don't even bother with this brush in here unless you have absolutely no other choice. Use a good brush that you already have. 

First, the finger swatches. This is the top row of the palette, labeled. The picture below is the same row, just brush swatches. I cleaned off my Spectrum Collections brush with my Color Switch from Sephora between shadows. No primer was used. 

Finger swatch of the top row
Brush swatch of the top row
Here is the bottom row, finger swatched, and the picture below is brush swatches.

Finger swatch of the bottom row
Brush swatch of the bottom row
So, I find that Bronx and Claudia were difficult to brush swatch properly. I don't know if the formula is different from the other shadows, but it was definitely more difficult to swatch them and keep them looking metallic. I feel like when I  used a brush, it lost the metallic sheen. The mattes also didn't brush swatch as nicely as the metallics did. So overall, for me, Modern Renaissance brush swatched better than the Master Palette. But you know, sometimes a lackluster brush swatch can look great on the lids. 


Same look as above
Two colors, applied in haste with my finger

The first two pics are of the same look. The colors that I had problems with, like Claudia, came out pretty nice on the lids. However, Claudia did end up just looking like a matte shadow. It lost it's sheen, and that was disappointing. The same goes for Bronx (in the last picture), which also lost its sheen when it was applied to the lids. The colors are still very pigmented though, and do blend nicely. I've never had any problems with any of these shadows when it comes to blending. 

So let's break it down: 

Pros: 
Lots of great shimmers
Super pigmented
Very Blendable 
Double ended brush
Nice sized mirror 
No fuzzy packaging! 

Cons: 
More expensive than the Modern Renaissance palette
Less shadows than the Modern Renaissance palette
Only three matte shades 
Claudia and Bronx don't look very metallic when applied to the lids 
Lackluster brush provided in the kit 

So which do I prefer? The Modern Renaissance palette, in my opinion, is great for everyday looks as it has more neutral colors and a lot more mattes. I do love the shades in the Master Palette, though, and I'm glad that I have shimmer options that are great quality. I find that, when I have events to go to, I reach for the Master Palette. But sometimes, I just take one shade from the Master Palette, put it on my lids, and head out the door. So I guess it's safe to say that I like them both equally, for different reasons. I would definitely recommend both of them. 

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