Anastasia makeup review
Anastasia Beverly Hills was founded by Anastasia Soare in 1997. The company grew from a single salon in Beverly Hills into a mainstream success thanks to its brow products.
In 2014, the prestige brand expanded, offering a larger makeup line including highlighters, lip gloss, eyeshadow palettes, blush and more. Their products are cruelty-free and designed to give balance and symmetry to the face.
We wanted to get a feel for how Anastasia Beverly Hills performed as a brand, so we tested several Anastasia makeup products, including the Brow Definer, Blush Trio and Lip Gloss. Here’s what we found.
How we tested Anastasia Beverly Hills
Anastasia offers a wide variety of makeup products — more than a dozen products for brows alone — so we tested a few of its more popular offerings in categories like blush, lip color and brow. We tested these products with a prestige beauty fan who is also a value-conscious user.
What you should know about Anastasia Beverly Hills
Anastasia Beverly Hills was a celebrity secret for years before the brand’s makeup line was launched for the everyday consumer. Anastasia Soare, who emigrated from Romania in the early 1990s, essentially launched the modern brow revolution at a time when the trend was for pencil-thin, overplucked brows. She was inspired by the Golden Ratio, a geometrical formula devised by the ancient Greeks, to help her customers achieve the illusion of a perfectly symmetrical face.
Anastasia Brow Definer review
About Anastasia Brow Definer
Anastasia Beverly Hills is considered to have set the modern standard for brow grooming. The brand offers a range of brow products including pomades, brushes, gels and pencils. We tested the Anastasia Brow Definer, which retails for $23 at Ulta, Sephora and Macy’s.
The triangular-tipped retractable pencil on one end defines and fills in brows while the brush on the other end grooms and pulls hairs into place. It comes in 12 shades for a natural-looking finish.
Our experience using the Anastasia Brow Definer
The Brow Definer’s slanted tip made application easy and precise. We also appreciated the twist-up pencil that eliminated the need for a pencil sharpener. The brush end of the definer made it easy to comb brows into the desired shape, while the color of the brow product resembled our brow color closely enough to give a natural and light final result.
We found that the brow color lasted all day until we removed it in the evening, but some users reported having issues with the product smudging. We also found the pencil’s tip a little too soft — on several occasions, the tip broke off, leaving the pencil jagged and uneven.
Anastasia Lip Gloss review
About Anastasia Lip Gloss
Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Gloss comes in 24 colors and three finishes: sparkle (translucent with glitter), metallic (pigmented with shimmer) and lacquer (high shine, no glitter or shimmer). We tested the shade Kristen, which is a cool mauve pink with a lacquer finish. Anastasia Beverly Hills lip gloss is available for $16 from Ulta, Sephora and Macy’s.
Our experience using the Anastasia Lip Gloss
Right away, we liked the packaging, which made it easy to see the amount of product inside. This vegan lip gloss is simple to apply thanks to its soft, paddle-shaped applicator, and we achieved just the right amount of color, glossiness and coverage with only one coat.
The lip gloss has a vanilla scent that’s light and elegant, an improvement on the frosting-scented lip glosses of our youth. Lips felt smooth and hydrated throughout the day, and while we didn’t notice any stickiness, some wearers have reported that the formula feels too sticky for them. The color and shine seemed to wear off somewhat quickly, leading us to reapply frequently throughout the day.
We appreciated the range of colors and finishes available. The shade we chose was fairly neutral, but Anastasia Beverly Hills lip glosses range from sheer nude to vibrantly pigmented, offering an option for almost any occasion.
For the shade we tested, we found that applying the gloss over lip liner gave our lips a little more fullness and dimension. The lip gloss can also be applied over lipstick to add shine or transform the color.
Anastasia Blush Trio review
About Anastasia Blush Trio
The Anastasia Beverly Hills Blush Trio is available in five different color combinations in shades for light to deep complexions as well as warm and cool skin tones. Users with darker skin particularly appreciate the rich pigmentation in these blushes. Anastasia Beverly Hills Blush Trio retails for $30 and is available at Ulta, Sephora and Macy’s.
Our experience using the Anastasia Blush Trio
We tested the Pink Passion Blush Trio, which includes the shades Basically (matte orchid pink), Sugar (satin bubblegum pink) and Rose (satin petal pink). We liked that the three blush colors were distinctive and that they had little to no shimmer for a more natural finish. The color applied easily over both bare skin and foundation, and it lasted well throughout the day.
Having three blush colors in one package was great for travel, and added a lot of variety and versatility, but the colors are so close together in the palette that it can be difficult to use only one color at a time. When we wanted to use single colors, we found it easiest to apply the blush using a slanted contour brush for more control in picking up product. The shades are all compatible and blend together nicely. When we wanted to use single colors, we found it easiest to apply the blush using a slanted contour brush for more control in picking up product.
Other Anastasia products we like
We assessed some other Anastasia products to see how they stack up, and these are some of our top picks.
After its brow products, Anastasia Beverly Hills is probably most well known for its highlighters, and one of their best is the Sun Dipped Glow Kit. Versatile enough for almost all skin tones, the four finely milled powders can be layered and mixed to add radiance to both face and body. This highlighter palette is available for $40 from Sephora, Ulta and Macy’s.
For hassle-free, tidy brows without worrying about color matching, we love Anastasia Clear Brow Gel, a lightweight, long-wearing gel that keeps brow hairs in place all day while conditioning them with chamomile. It’s available in two sizes, a 7.85mL tube for $22 and a 2.5mL mini size for $9, from Sephora, Ulta and Macy’s.
The brand is well known for its popular eyeshadow palettes made in collaboration with makeup artists. We like Anastasia’s elevated neutral Soft Glam Eyeshadow Palette, which features 14 shades in matte and shimmer finishes for easy, elegant, day-to-night looks. It costs $45 and can be found at Sephora, Ulta and Macy’s.
Bottom line about Anastasia Beverly Hills
We were impressed across the board by the Anastasia makeup we tested in terms of the packaging, ease of application, pigmentation and formulation. With the possible exception of the lip gloss, a product that generally needs frequent reapplication anyway, the products we tested stayed put and required little, if any, touch-up.
Anastasia Beverly Hills’ cosmetics are consistently reliable, richly pigmented and increasingly inclusive in their available shades. The prestige brand is a great choice for those who want a product that enhances their features and performs well.
Laura Duerr is a writer for BestReviews. BestReviews is a product review company with a singular mission: to help simplify your purchasing decisions and save you time and money.
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