Subculture

Listen, I know this palette was not well received. But it continues to sell, and is still on the shelves. Why?

Because it just wasn’t that bad.

The Subculture palette from Anastasia Beverly Hills, released last year, was a great palette with a beautiful color story (especially for fall). It’s a little on the powdery side because the shadows are pressed pretty loosely. But knowing that, if you go in with a light hand, these shadows are stunning. This palette continues to be a favorite of mine, especially from an artistic point of view.

Quick disclaimer, I am by no means a professional makeup artist.

I definitely see why this palette would be tricky for someone new to makeup, or even someone who is more used to/prefers a hard-pressed shadow like Morphe. But I’ve learned a few tricks to make this palette workable, fun, and worth the $42 price tag:

{ Use a base, but either set it with powder before applying these shadows or use a base that isn’t sticky.

These shadows will stick to anything because they are so crazy pigmented, and a sticky base will make them look patchy. Setting a solid base with a translucent powder (I like the Cover FX setting powders) will give these shadows a soft and blendable base to work on top of. This is the best way to avoid a patchy blend! (*I don’t necessarily recommend this for every palette – hard pressed shadows, foiled shadows, glitters, etc do better on top of tacky bases like MAC paint pot)

{ Take the time to build pigment and blend.

Start with way less shadow than you think you need, seriously. Even if you dip back into that color four times to get the intensity you want, going soft on the application will make everything blend better. If you’re looking for an unblended power look, by all means pack it on. But if you want soft edges, or even just an overall soft look, less is more with this palette. My impression is it’s basically the closest you can get to loose pigment without actually being loose. With that in mind, it may be better to treat this palette as if the pans were actually tiny pots of loose pigment.

{ Know which brush to use to get the look you want.

I always throw down my transition with a medium sized, fluffy-ish, flat-ish shader brush. You want one dense enough to actually hold the color, but fluffy enough to really spread that pigment and blend it to the soft edges I like for day to day looks. My go to came in a Morphe kit, but a similar single I see on their site is the MB25. For the shimmery duo-chromes Cube and Electric, I use a flat concealer brush sprayed with some kind of setting spray (usually Fix+, but I also have bottles of the Cover FX mattifying spray around). For colors I’m putting into the crease, I like using tapered, fluffy, thin blending brushes like the Morphe M506. Of course if you have brushes you like for certain things already, I’m sure you can make whatever it is work. But it’s worth doing a little research into the explicit purposes of various types of brushes. Side note, synthetic bristles seem to work best with this formula.

What do you think of this palette? Have you had a chance to try it? Leave your thoughts below!