Urban Decay Beware: Anastasia All Eye Want Palette

If you've been searching for a quality neutral eyeshadow kit but haven't been able to get your hands on any of the Urban Decay palettes, don't fret. There has been an overwhelming amount of hype surrounding the UD Naked2 palettes in recent months, but you don't have to buy into it. There are many good dupes out there. The Anastasia Beverly Hills All Eye Want Palette is a great affordable alternative. The palette contains nine eye shadows, a mascara, brow gel, and double-ended brush. The brush itself is quite useless, but the eyeshadows, brow gel and mascara are great.

Eyeshadow swatches of the Anastasia All Eye Want Palette

This palette contains highly pigmented eyeshadows that are both creamy and long lasting. Anastasia claims that after one hour of using these eyeshadows, 29% experienced an increase in skin hydration and after four weeks, 70% experienced firmer eyelids; 83% experienced smoother eyelids. I can't back such claims, but I can say for certain that the eyeshadows themselves apply very smoothly.

Left to right: matte beige, bronze taupe shimmer, matte peach ivory, gold shimmer, matte camel, silvery taupe shimmer, dark brown with gold shimmer, champagne shimmer, matte chocolate brown with gold flecks

The pigmentation of the eyeshadows are fantastic except for the matte peach ivory one, which is extremely light and slightly chalky. My one complaint with the color selection is that there are only three true mattes. Having a lot of shimmery eyeshadows seem to be the trend with most neutral eyeshadow palettes. I can never understand that. I would imagine that a lot of people, like me, would like to have a decent neutral eyeshadow palette for work appropriate situations - which means less glitters and more mattes. I'm asking for at least half mattes.

The mascara and brow gel are great quality.

Unfortunately, the fallout within the palette can get quite messy.

My favorite part is the large mirror :)

This palette retails for $32 at Sephora. The shadows contain more glitters than I like, but other than that, I enjoy this palette immensely. I don't tote it around because it is a little on the big side, but it's versatile enough to carry along on holidays.