Hi babes! I'm super excited to share this post with you guys because I love doing makeup reviews, and because ABH palettes are basically my holy grail. Modern Renaissance and Subculture are hands down the palettes I reach for most often, and the second I saw Norvina I was crushing hard. The 50/50 mix of perfectly complementary shimmers and mattes, the pinks and purples and the mix of warm and cool tones: it's like a beautiful box filled with candy, or gemstones.
For a while I put off buying it myself because I saw some mediocre reviews about glitter in the mattes and underwhelming shimmer performance, but I finally bit the bullet and got it for myself and I have no regrets. The Norvina palette has been in heavy rotation since I received it in the mail, and I'm happy to say it lives up to the hype. Let's get into detail!
My humble collection. Prism gets the least use out of the four, but the other three are all very close to my heart.
I adore how the shades are arranged in this palette. All seven shimmers on the top row, and the mattes on the bottom, with every shimmer having a matte that matches it. Perfect for mixing and matching and for creating soft everyday looks or more elaborate combinations.
Swatches!
First up, those beautiful shimmers. All of these are just one swipe and I have to say, out of all my ABH palettes these have the most impressive performance. If you use your fingertip to apply you get this gorgeous foiled finish. Wild Child (the pink shade) is the only one that is a bit drier and more densely pressed, but it's still completely gorgeous. One remark I have is that Summer, Rose Gold and Dazzling are relatively similar when swatched, so Norvina could have offered more versatility by swatching out Summer or Dazzling for a copper shade, perhaps. Rose Gold is gorgeous so would definitely keep that one.
Omg these mattes. Again, just one swipe, and just perfectly saturated and softly pressed to offer that high performance I love so much about ABH. Base, the lightest shade, is basically the most pigmented beige I've ever seen, and Soul (the periwinkle) is SUCH a stunner. If you zoom in on the shadows in the pan you do see a little glitter, but it doesn't show up in the swatches or on the eye.
I couldn't wait to start playing around with this palette so I created three looks to show you how I use Norvina on a daily basis!
First up, a neutral shimmery look, perfect for a day at work. I always wear makeup, basically, and on a day to day basis I'm looking for routines that brighten me up when I haven't had enough sleep, that cheer me up when I look in the mirror, and that don't take too much time or effort when getting ready. This look ticks all of those boxes. I used Incense in the crease, Rose Gold all over the lid and Wild Child in the inner corner.
A very soft look that will work for most people. One thing I did notice with Norvina's shimmers is that they tend to fade more throughout the day than the shimmers in my other ABH palettes, but maybe that's the price we pay for the foil effect? I generally don't need primers underneath my ABH shadows, but for Norvina a sticky base might help you get optimal longevity out of your looks.
OK the second look is the most colorful, mostly matte and my fav out of the three. For this one I used Dreamer in the inner corner, Love all over the lid and Soul in the outer corner and on the upper and lower lashline.
I adoooore this look. Love is just such a perfect warm pink, and Soul is completely unique. I own exactly zero eyeshadows that are similar to it, and it is surprisingly wearable for a purple. Pinks and purples also do something magical for my eye colour but I sort of forgot about that recently. Happy to rediscover an old favourite!
Finally, a more intense smoky eye. I used Dreamer again in the inner corner, Dreamer and Volatile in the outer corner, and Drama packed on all over the lid. Drama was the showstopper here, I only noticed its duochrome purple shift when I applied it to my eyes. I generally don't do eye looks this dark, but I love this one!
And that's it! To recap, I'm completely in love with Norvina. The only small negatives I can point out are that there could be a little more versatility between the gold tones, and that the shimmers do tend to fade throughout the day if you don't use a primer. But honestly, this is definitely a palette that I would recommend buying and that is 100% worth its price to me.
Would I buy this one over Urban Decay's Naked Cherry palette? I honestly truly love both. Cherry is more pink and more grungy, Norvina is more unicorn/whimsical so I'd say the two both have their place in my makeup collection.
Let me know if you have any questions!
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