I went a little mad for eyeshadows a few months ago, and one of the collateral damage during that time is the then newly-released Alyssa Edwards x Anastasia Eyeshadow Palette (P3,380 at Sephora.ph). This was exactly the kind of candy bright, has-zero-fucks-to-give palette that I was looking for! It’s my first ever Anastasia palette. I passed on their other ones because while I felt that I had them in some version in my other palettes, I have nothing like the Alyssa Edwards colors, period.

So, now that I’ve had this for some time, do I still think it’s worth the splurge?

Let’s discuss the quality first. As with other Anastasia palettes, this comes in a sturdy cardboard box. I find it too bulky to travel with, but it will do as it will stay in my makeup desk anyway. The eyeshadows themselves are top notch - there are several finishes to play with, and oh my are these pigmented! The colors are BRIGHT and pure. I would normally find this type of intense payoff in say, a Natasha Denona palette, but the Anastasia palette is at least half the price.

Even though the pigment is quite intense, I find these easy enough to blend. The color selection itself has a lot of “support” colors for blending and contouring the eye. The brights themselves are pure enough that they can be mixed together to create entirely new colors. For instance, the bright yellow mixed with blue actually yields green.

I must mention the double-ended brush this comes with. The brush is not super soft - it’s a biiiit scratchy - but it works well in applying and blending the colors. I’m surprised and pleased by its performance. I’d still go for my usual Japanese brushes, but this dual-ended brush will substitute if I don’t have them on hand.

The catch: in the two or three months I’ve had this, I think I only used this a few times. I honestly don’t think it’s because there’s something lacking in the palette. It just really ended up in the bottom of my eyeshadow pile because I had too many (erm) new palettes coming in. The times I did end up using it though, those were quite memorable. I got compliments! Everyone was asking me what was on my eyes. So yes, I do think this is worth it for how unique and striking this is as an eye accessory.