Archived Post

Sneak Peek: Anastasia Master Palette by Mario Photos & Swatches

Anastasia Master Palette by Mario
Anastasia Master Palette by Mario

Anastasia Master Palette by Mario ($45.00 for 0.24 oz.) includes 12 eyeshadows in various earthy, neutral-toned shades. Full review to come soon, but here are swatches in the meanwhile:

64 Comments

Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!

Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).

We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!

Comments on this post are closed.
Julia Avatar

I reeeeally love the look of this (and wow those mattes look smooth), but it’s looking like there is not really a shade included that’s light enough for tear duct or esp brow highlight on medium or light skin tone. Hollywood/ Marina/ 5th Ave looked a lot lighter in the promo pics then they do in the swatches. I would be really annoyed to buy such a large and pricey palette but then have to haul out a separate brow highlight- it should be comprehensive! ?

Agona Avatar

Palettes that aren’t comprehensive are a pet peeve for me! Especially since I only use palettes/quints/quads/trios; no singles in my collection.

GK Avatar

So right! The 1st promo pics Mario showed were beautiful & I was excited to get it. These look nothing like that. Glad I waited for real swatches from you! These colors are ordinary & look like dozens of others. Even if the formula is excellent, it’s still overpriced for a palette that doesn’t have a highlight.

LindaP Avatar

What color are you ladies looking for in a highlight? I got this palette, used it for the first time today, and was surprised at how light 5th Avenue is. That’s what I threw up on the highlight and it seemed to work OK. Maybe best to swatch in person to see what you think.

I do like it. Some of the colors are a bit of a departure for me, but it’s not exactly full of crazy colors for sure. That dusky green I really like, and I think it’s going to work out as a nice–and final complement– to what I own. Then again, there is that new Lancome Eldridge palette….

Julia Avatar

I usually reach for a color in the ivory or very light beige/ champagne family. 5th Ave looks a little darker gold to me in these swatches, but I’m sure you are right that checking it out in person is best!

Lea Avatar

Do your in person impressions of the colors match Christine’s swatches? I’m loathe to swatch mine if I might return it (let someone else enjoy it perhaps) but I’ve like what I’ve seen until some of these swatches. Not that I want it to be Christine’s photography, but a little part of me does.

LindaP Avatar

OK, I got busy, having fun swatching and matching to Christine’s photos what I think can work as brow bone highlighters in this palette. (What I don’t do around here! 🙂 )

The two that I think work are 5th Avenue and Marina. Yes, what I swatched matches Christine’s pix. Yet, using a light hand, they apply with a translucence that works as a highlighter for me. 5th Avenue is champagne with gold tone and Marina is a champagne with rose tone. The pigment is nuts on these, so you can go full on lid coverage, or use lightly to highlight. (I am going to try them on the cheekbones next.)

If you want a more white highlighter, or a matte, you will not find that in here. That’s for sure.

One would think that someone like Mario would not leave such a hole in his palette as to not have highlight tones, but maybe that’s too much credit? I dunno. I think application depth is what can make the difference here.

I know that some days I may still reach for Shroom instead of this with shimmer, but that doesn’t bother me personally. I do it without thinking.

Cory Avatar

You do. I had that problem with the 1st look I created. I wound up using Hollywood, but it did pull a little dark on my NW 15-17 skin. Only problem with this palette so far.

LMH454 Avatar

I got this yesterday and am already in LOVE. There is a lot of kickup when you dip your brush into the shadows, but I honestly don’t think I have anything that compares with how smooth and creamy they go on the lids

Shannon Avatar

Same here, love it! And the kickup for me seems to be the mattes, but it’s well worth it for me. The colors are perfect and the formula of the shadows are amazing!

AB Avatar

Well, I was hoping swatches and reviews would put me off wanting this. But nope — quality looks good and especially like several of the shades though I may have dupes for most or all of those. I have some homework to do.

kjh Avatar

This is lovely and will be a total workhorse for many, with or without a highlighting shade. It isn’t mandatory to have one, but I am surprised at the omission. This palette clearly was well planned, so I see it as a leave out deliberately, rather than an oversight. Enjoy, folks.

Nicole D Avatar

I bought it and I love it. For me, it’s perfect for everyday makeup and for my work environnement. The colors go on smoothly and they look great on my fair skin w/t brown eyes.

I hesitated to buy the ABH MR palette when it was launched in Canada and later on I could not find it anywhere. I wrote to Sephora CAN and I was told that it was discontinued on their website (and this since July). How can it be discontinued when it’s supposed to be permanent ? The Sephora stores around me keep on ordering it with no success either; they receive 1-2/store from time to time, but they are sold within minutes. So I decided to get this one and I have no regrets. I have a few quads and singles from other brands but only two other eyeshadow palettes. I must be the only one around here with only three eyeshadow palettes :).

Mariella Avatar

I can’t wait for your review of this one. Like Julia, I lament the absence of a decent inner corner/browbone highlighter but if this gets a good review from you, Christine, I will get it for sure (hope I don’t encounter the issues you did trying to get it). If not, heck, maybe that KvD one after all! Or maybe nothing (I’m supposed to be on a no buy but, of course, once I post my haul, everyone will see this was not a very good week or, looking at it like a makeup lover, a very GOOD week!)

Julia Avatar

Not gonna lie, if it has an awesome review chances are I’ll still buy it, too. It’s hard to resist a good neutral set.

When I’m using a palette or shadow now that doesn’t have a highlight, I reach for WnW Reserve Your Cabana. It’s funny because that is the single largest pan of ANY makeup product I own – 0.46oz! – and I just use a tiny dab at a time lol

Mariella Avatar

I’ll grab for just about anything – they’re all near at hand, though a fave of mine is Stila Starlight. I just like it so much better if everything is in one palette/quad, etc. I have Reserve Your Cabana right there in my cabinet. I’ll give it a try next time, though I am so iffy about that crummy plastic packaging. I wish they’d charge a buck or two more and make a more substantial compact casing.

Lea Avatar

Could you de-pot it and at least make it more appealing esthetically? Likely more trouble than it’s worth, but you won’t feel bad if it breaks!

Mariella Avatar

Nah – I don’t depot anything except things designed to be depotted (like the Sephora eyeshadows, for example). And, strange as it sounds, while the WnW highlighter is dirt cheap here in Canada, it’s also really hard to find so, in fact, I would feel bad if it breaks because replacing it would likely involve a prolonged and possibly fruitless search (I got the last one at the Walmart in my area!)

Johanna Avatar

I just used this today for my highlight! 🙂 I like it because it is less shimmery and more natural looking than other highlighters I have.

Like neutral palettes… where let’s be honest they all ~kind of~ look the same when you wear them – I just can’t resist buying a beautiful highlighter even though I have 10000 other iterations of them. LOL.

it’s those subtle differences that feed my makeup addiction lol.

Lea Avatar

This palette is frustrating me! I have it slated to arrive today (I kept getting drawn to what I was seeing), but based on the swatches here, I don’t love it. I’m starting to feel like a windshield wiper – back and forth and back and forth! It’ll depend on how it looks in person when I see it later, but this could be back in Sephora’s hands tomorrow. I don’t hate it, but really don’t know what I’m going to do with Hollywood, Isabelle, Violeta and Lula.

Lulle Avatar

I was considering getting this one to finally try ABH shadows, as it seemed more neutral from the promo pics, but there are still a lot of red-based or orange shades. Not for me! It’s hard to find a new palette that doesn’t have at least 2 or 3 reds and oranges these days, and those colors look terribly unflattering on me. I hope the trend dies down soon, lol!

Lea Avatar

I know what you mean, which is why I’m rethinking mine. I can work with the pinky-reds but the oranges I just don’t know what to do with. I’m not usually so waffling about what I like and don’t. I wish more of the shades were available individually and we could pick and choose.

Johanna Avatar

I got mine and when i first opened it I thought… uh oh, too many neutral/brown tones… did I need this? And when I swatched on my arm (lightly) I was like hmmm.. i don’t know….

But then i tested on my eyes and omg… they absolutely transform on the lid. All of the colors have an earthtoney/natural hue to them and they all play so nicely together. There’s not a super-light/highlighting shade which can be annoying but they are all such gorgeous shades that look great for daytime and are extremely pigmented and smooth. I have plenty of light shades in my stash so it doesn’t bother me.

They do kick up a lot of dust when you use them (my vanity was covered in powder when I was swatching the other night) but they are so pigmented on the lid, even the mattes blend well together which I normally have trouble with mattes to go evenly where I want them to.

I don’t use a lot of super dark shades and was looking for a palette where I would love all the shades and use every day, and I think this might be it. It has surpassed my Lorac Pro 1 palette that’s been my go to for awhile.

The shades are dupeable for sure, but they are excellent quality and packaged all together in a nice, somewhat heavy-weighted palette and is my current eyeshadow HG. This is the first palette I’ve gotten where every single shade works for me. Even my lorac I heavily favor about half the shades. My naked 1 palette – only 3 or 4 are regularly used.

I’m not normally this excited about a makeup product to write any kind of review anywhere, but this one I’m extremely happy with 🙂

Kristi Avatar

They’re saying this was LE and has sold out, and that it’s not coming back. It’s ok, but I don’t get the appeal. Everyone has these shades.

Tamara Avatar

To be honest, I wish I hadn’t gotten this pallette. I should have waited til I could see it in person; I would have passed on it. The colors look all the same to me, and some shades just look too rusty.

Deborah S. Avatar

While I think the colors are pretty I don’t feel like any are really unique except Bronx. That is a lovely color and I don’t think I have a shadow anywhere near that shade. I will have to see the dupe list but I wouldn’t buy the palette for one shadow anyway so this will be a pass for me.

Carmen Avatar

I got this palette yesterday in the mail and it’s even prettier in person than the pictures online! The colors are so warm, earthy and neutral, but not boring neutrals. They are so soft and pigmented. I skiped the Renaissance palette because reds and pinks don’t look good on me, but this one, oh yes!

CatG Avatar

This palette looks great but I wanted to check out Modern Renaissance! Christine do you know if Anastasia is pulling back or ceasing production of MR for this palette to roll out? Both my Ulta’s get stock on Friday’s but told me they didn’t get any more MR palettes and one told me they haven’t for weeks! Do you have any idea what’s going on? I wanted it for my birthday this month and wanted to use my points to help pay for it.

P Jill Avatar

Its too late for me to scrutinize reviews. I’ve already purchased 2. I snapped it up on ABH site. My girls borrowed once, then I decided to repurchase. I cannot believe I like it as much as a do. It is so versatile. And I don’t want to share!

Mariella Avatar

Why can I not keep saying this to myself and actually CONVINCING myself that it’s true? I think the difficulty in getting one’s hands on this will probably contribute to the acquisition and perhaps even “buyer’s remorse” afterward. I really want this but I want NOT to want it, if that makes sense.

Domi Avatar

I am most curious about the quality. Is it as good as the Modern renaissance palette? I think this palette is aimed towards medium to deep skin and I think that is about time! I am fair-light to light-medium depending on the tan situation, but I am always baffled about all palettes that seem to be produced for fair-light skin tone. It must suck to have a deeper skin tone and most eyeshadow palettes will be way too pale or turn ashy or not show up in the intended way. I think it is very nice to see something different even if it is mostly neutral. If the quality is there I would like it and I will use my highlighter as inner corner highlight and I rarely bother with a matte brow bone highlight. Many of these shades look like great all over the lid colors!

Mariella Avatar

I am so anxious to read Christine’s review of this palette (no pressure, Christine, in spite of the fact that I check back several times a day to see if it’s appeared 😉 ). I just checked the dupes and for Bronx (one of the shades that really caught my eye), I already have about 6 dupes at the 90% or higher level so I’m telling myself I don’t need it). It’s a similar story for Paris, Muse and Marina! I wish that either Isabel or Hollywood had been swapped out with something that would work as a highlight/inner corner shadow – something along the lines of Stila Starlight or the lightest shade in the Tisse Gabrielle quad from Chanel. I’m so excited about this palette but a part of me is actually hoping it does get a poor rating simply because I do have so many similar shades to those I like best and that whole absence of a highlight shade.

We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!