Everything Else · The Lori Diaries
I saw the Anastasia Beverly Hills Norvina palette and immediately decided that, sooner or later, it was coming home with me. Perhaps it was the purple velvet packaging. Perhaps it was the promise of pinks, lilacs, and the sort of shimmers that make you open a palette just to look at them. Either way, my first ABH purchase had been mentally added to my makeup collection long before I actually bought it.
There are some beauty products you buy because you've run out of something practical. You need a new mascara, your foundation bottle is nearly empty, and the purchase barely requires a second thought.
Then there are products you keep thinking about.
You see a photograph. You watch a few reviews. You imagine the makeup looks you could create with them. You tell yourself you have plenty of eyeshadow already, which is a perfectly reasonable observation that does absolutely nothing to change your mind.
Norvina was one of those products for me.
When Anastasia Beverly Hills released the original Norvina palette in July 2018, I fell for its colour story almost immediately. I decided that the next time I had the chance to visit a Sephora, I wanted to see it for myself.
It eventually became my first Anastasia Beverly Hills purchase, which made the whole thing feel a little more special.
Of course, wanting a palette and actually using it are two very different things. A beautiful case won't blend an eyeshadow for you, no matter how convincingly it looks like it might.
So, after spending time with Norvina, here's what I think.
A Little Purple Velvet Is a Very Effective Sales Pitch
Let's begin with the obvious. The packaging is gorgeous.
Norvina comes in a soft purple velvet case that looks and feels like something I'd want to keep on my dressing table. Inside, there's a mirror, a dual-ended eyeshadow brush, and fourteen shades arranged in two neat rows.
The first row contains seven shimmers and metallics. The second has seven mattes.
I love that arrangement. It makes the palette feel considered rather than like somebody tipped a collection of popular colours into a case and hoped for the best.
I can look at the top row and immediately start imagining the shimmer I want on my lid. Then I look at the mattes beneath it and choose the colours that will help me build the rest of the look.
It's a small detail, but it's one of my favourite things about Norvina.
There is one practical downside to velvet packaging, though: it's lovely until it starts collecting makeup marks. If your dressing table is anything like mine, keeping a palette perfectly clean is an ambitious project.
I still think it's beautiful. I just don't expect it to stay spotless forever.
It Looks Like a Purple Palette. It's More Interesting Than That.
If you judge Norvina by the velvet case alone, you might expect fourteen variations of purple.
That's not what you get.
There are lilacs and plums, certainly, but also champagne, rose gold, bronze, soft browns, pinks, and warmer earthy shades. The palette has a romantic, slightly dreamy feel without making every look turn into the same violet smoky eye.
That's an important distinction, because I wanted something I could enjoy using, not just something that looked exciting when I opened it.
The fourteen shades are split evenly between mattes and shimmers, and the colour selection gives me room to do both a softer everyday look and something more dramatic.
I can keep things simple with neutral mattes and a champagne shimmer. Or I can reach for Soul, Celestial, and Drama when I'm in the mood for a little more colour.
It's not an entirely purple palette, and for me, that's one of its strengths.
The Fourteen Shades, in Case You're Already Choosing Favourites
Rather than give every shadow a separate grand introduction, here's what you'll find inside. The descriptions are based on how I see the shades in my palette.
The Shimmers and Metallics
Dreamer: A luminous pink-champagne metallic.
Summer: A foiled, golden-topaz shimmer.
Wild Child: A frosty pink duochrome with a magenta shift.
Rose Gold: A warm, rosy metallic.
Celestial: A plum-violet duochrome.
Dazzling: A cooler bronze with a violet shift.
Drama: A deep aubergine shimmer with a bronzy shift.
This is the row that made me fall for the palette. I love that the shimmers have different moods: Dreamer is soft and bright, Rose Gold feels instantly wearable, and Celestial gives me the purple moment I wanted when I first saw Norvina.
Drama is there for evenings when I want to take the look a little further.
The Mattes
Base: A soft eggshell shade.
Soul: A muted, wisteria-purple matte.
Incense: A dusty terracotta.
Love: A cool, mid-tone pink.
Volatile: A deep, warm charcoal-brown.
Eccentric: A burnt-orange matte.
Passion: A rich, deep garnet.
What makes this row useful is the balance between the more unusual shades and the ones that help me pull a look together. Base and Incense make it easier to work with the brighter colours, while Soul and Passion give me a reason to step outside my usual warm neutral eyeshadow routine.
I appreciate a palette that lets me experiment without requiring me to buy another palette just to find a transition shade.
Beautiful Pigment, but Please Don't Attack the Pan
The first thing I noticed when I started using Norvina was how soft the shadows feel.
They are intensely pigmented, and I don't need to work my brush around the pan to pick up colour. In fact, doing that is probably the quickest way to get more eyeshadow than I know what to do with.
A light tap is usually enough.
That's the part of this palette I love and the part I had to learn to work with. When I use a little product and build slowly, the mattes blend beautifully on my lids. When I try to go in with too much colour and blend it away afterwards, I make the job harder for myself.
My advice is to start gently, place the colour where you want it, and build the intensity a little at a time.
With the darker shades especially, I'd rather add another layer than spend five minutes trying to soften an eyeshadow that has travelled much further than I intended.
I also recommend tapping the excess off your brush before applying the shadows. Because they're so soft and powdery, there's a good chance of getting fallout if you pick up too much.
The same goes for the shimmers. They're gorgeous, but I'm happier when the sparkle stays on my eyelids rather than making an unexpected appearance beneath my eyes.
Norvina rewards a light hand. Once I stopped trying to rush the blending, I enjoyed using it even more.
My Favourite Way to Apply the Shimmers
I love the shimmers in this palette, and I find that they look especially beautiful when I press them onto my eyelids rather than trying to blend them on with big sweeping motions.
Most of the time, my fingertip does the job. I pick up a little shimmer and gently tap it where I want the shine.
If I'd rather use a brush, I reach for a small, flat packing brush. I pick up a little shadow, lightly mist the brush with setting spray, and press the colour onto my lid.
That gives me a more concentrated finish and helps me place the shimmer without scattering it everywhere.
It's worth checking that your spray is suitable for use around the eyes, of course. And I wouldn't soak the brush or dig a wet brush straight into the pan.
A little product and a little patience are plenty.
Was My First ABH Palette Worth the Money?
This is the question I kept coming back to before I bought it.
Anastasia Beverly Hills isn't a budget makeup brand, and Norvina was considerably more of a treat than picking up an everyday eyeshadow palette at the drugstore. Its US launch price was $42, and I knew I wanted more than pretty packaging for that sort of money.
Thankfully, I really enjoy the shadows.
The colour selection feels different from the palettes I normally gravitate towards, the shimmers are beautiful, and the mattes give me enough depth and variety to put a full look together.
I wouldn't call the formula completely effortless. The shadows are so soft and pigmented that they need a gentler approach than some of my other palettes. If you strongly dislike powdery eyeshadows or fallout, that's worth knowing before you buy one.
But once I learned how little product I actually needed, I found Norvina lovely to work with.
I can't tell you that everybody needs this palette. If you already own similar pinks, bronzes, and purples, or you prefer firmer eyeshadows that are easier to pick up without making a mess, you may feel differently about it.
For me, though, it was a purchase I had looked forward to for a long time, and the experience of using it lived up to much of that excitement.
I wanted Norvina from the moment I saw that purple velvet case. I thought it was beautiful, I loved the idea of its colour story, and I was excited for it to become my first Anastasia Beverly Hills palette.
Now that I've actually used it, I'm happy to say the attraction wasn't only about the packaging.
I love the shimmers, the mix of warm and cool shades, and the way the two rows work together. I've also learned that these eyeshadows are not particularly interested in being handled roughly.
There can be fallout. The price is a commitment. And the velvet case probably won't remain pristine if you actually enjoy using what's inside it.
But Norvina was the palette I kept thinking about before I bought it, and it's one I'm still happy to open. That's a pretty lovely outcome for my first ABH purchase.
Have you tried the original Norvina palette? I'd love to know whether you were drawn to the purples too, or whether another ABH palette has your heart.
xoxo,
Lori
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