As soon as I saw this, I knew I had to have this. It’s a purple palette, I mean how many does one need? All of them.
My friend (who also loves purple even more than I do) and I made it our mission to get this palette. For her, it will be her reward for moving from the Bay to LA. Moving is a horrible task, so it is a reward well earned! For me, I made it a quest for my birthday trip, while in Las Vegas.
You may be wondering, “How does the Norvina Collection fit into Anastasia Beverly Hills?” So I decided to look into the separate Norvina Collection to see what its all about.
Norvina is Claudia Soare, the daughter of Anastasia Soare, the founder of Anastasia Beverly Hills. (I’ve read that Norvina is the her given name, but immigration wanted her to have a more American name hence, Claudia.) Norvina herself worked her way up from working at the salon to President of the company. And it’s well earned in my opinion! I admire her style and her creativity. It looks like they’ve had to work hard from being a brows-only brand to a full line of cosmetics. With this line, Norvina is able to express herself. It’s not supposed to be in competition with the parent line, but rather products that are different than the ones in the current line. She started with pressed pigment mega palettes, and this is her 5th. Purple is likely her favorite color, (just look at her hair color and the cover of her original Norvina palette!) so I am sure she was dreaming this up for a long time.
You can read much more about her and ABH in her interviews with Forbes:
Forbes: How Claudia Soare Is Creating Her Own Name Within The Billion Dollar Anastasia Beverly Hills Empire
Forbes: The Brains Behind Billion-Dollar Brow Brand Anastasia And The Company’s Next Generation Of Beauty
The vibe of the Vol 5 palette is cyberpunk with its flashy metallics and vibrant shades of purple from pastels to a deep eggplant. Also thrown in are those staple neutrals that would have been in my look anyway so I am glad to have them in the palette.
If you check out the Norvina website, there is a little game you can play for a chance to win Norvina merchandise.
The shades are named with Letters and Numbers by row. I don’t know the reason for not have more fun names. Perhaps this makes it easier for professional makeup artists to communicate with one another to coordinate a look for the models.
It’s difficult to pick favorite shades. I like and wear all of them. Not a single one will be untouched! Maybe A3 and E3 attract me the most for a fun lid shade. D2 is also fun because it’s a pressed glitter. B2 (lilac) and B3 (lavender) are really vibrant for pastels and they have impressed me!
(I know that B2 is officially listed as lavender, and B3, lilac. But it’s the opposite. I insist upon that. Lilac is pinker, lavender is bluer. Google it if you don’t believe me!)
This retails for $60, which is a chunk of change for sure. I think it’s worth the investment if you’re losing sleep over not having it. Otherwise, you can wait until the Sephora Friends & Family sale to save a little bit of money. Let’s hope my friend was able to purchase it after her move. I am sure she is majorly stressed out trying to settle in! It will be nice to relax, sit down and play with this fun new palette!
Comparisons with the Anastasia Beverly Hills Norvina Palette:
While a bit similar at least with the general color story, (neutrals, metallics and purples) it’s more of a compliment. They’re not even dupeable. But it’s a great add on to your collection if you like the ABH Norvina eyeshadow palette. You’ll love the extension of shades with way more pigment, way more purples and more glorious metallics + a glitter. The eyeshadow palette only has 3 purples (Celestial, Drama and Soul) so if you wanted more, the Norvina CollectionVol 5 is here to fill your dreams of purple!
As you can see the pressed pigment palette is a lot more vibrant and pigmented than the original eyeshadow palette. I already liked the eyeshadow palette so this pigment palette is blowing my mind! Even the pastels are in-your-face!
Clearly, the original eyeshadow palette is well-loved.
Vol 5 came out before my birthday, so I made it my mission to buy the palette while on my birthday vacation so I’d have a shopping goal to look forward to. I was staying at the Venetian, and they have the largest Sephora in Vegas.
I was interested in the Strawberry Lip Balm, but I was already picking up my favorite Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask. Maybe next time!
Tester on the Norvina end cap display.
The only selfie you’re going to see! I didn’t get to take many photos while inside Sephora, I was mainly on a mission! Plus I haven’t shopped in over a year! I think I was glad just to be inside the store!
I thought this Too Faced Lip Plumper display was cute!
Lilly Lashes collaborated with Sephora and made lashes named after their stores! I HAD to buy Powell! I practically lived there! I could tell you *stories* of when that location was McDonald’s! I love how the lashes look on me, which really works out. The other ones look pretty great, but the price really adds up! I am still sore about Lilly Lashes discontinuing my favorites. (Delara, Layla and Olivia.)
I have used to many Laneige Lip Sleeping Masks, I am pretty sure I single handedly keep them in business! My favorite scents are Apple Lime and Sweet Candy. Gummy Bear smells like grape, which isn’t what I wanted in a gummy bear.
Patrick Star’s O/S Beauty sure looks like the next brand I need to try!
While at Sephora I noticed that I could not find Clarisonic at all and I needed some more brush refills. One of the employees told me that they were out of business and they had a clearance sale back in 2020. She said it was due to the pandemic. (Did people stop washing their faces?) Boy do I wish I knew about that! I would have stocked up! My friend who is an esthetician said they were struggling even before the pandemic. I looked it up online. Apparently, people were gravitating toward double cleanses with balms. Trends come in and out. But I’m not into cleansing balms. I found some knock offs on Amazon, but the reviews said they’re just not the same.
Way off the strip, nearby my friend’s neighborhood was an Ulta. I was better at taking photos of my finds that day, so here’s what I found:
KKW Beauty is changing the brand, so everything was on clearance. Of course everything was all sold out! I actually took advantage of the sale and bought some contour products online. I wanted to make another purchase and stock up on lip liners, but I’ve already spent too much!
I was eyeing this Pacifica Strawberry Peach collection, but I didn’t want to take something so large (and spill-able) home. So I bought it on Amazon. A huge yes to this scent, plus it doesn’t contain MI, my allergen!
How freakin cute is this packaging in a burger box? I crave burgers now.
I was finally able to smell some of KKW Fragrance’s scents. I wanted Kylie’s Nude Lips because I knew it smelled like a gourmand vanilla, plus it won an award. I was also really curious about the two other Kendall fragrances I didn’t get. I actually liked Olive, but they didn’t have any in stock. Just one Amber left, which I kind of regret not getting. I didn’t like it as much, but I think I want to collect all 3 anyway. I did buy two of the fragrances online while in the hotel earlier that morning because there was a 25% off sale. I’ll buy the other ones I want later!
Kylie Cosmetics also rebranded, and went on clearance so of course everything was cleared off the shelves! Kylie Skin did not, and they’re stocked.
Hipdot Spongebob collection. Very cute! My friend ended up buying this!
My hauls for both Sephora and Ulta:
Sephora:
- Norvina Collection Vol 5- *See entire post
- Huda Beauty New Nudes – I had been wanting this since it came out. At $65, it wasn’t exactly a bargain. But I am happy to finally have it. I blogged about it when it came out so I have one less palette to review!
- Olaplex No 8- I use No 3, once a week. I am trying to lessen the fairy knots in my hair. (The single strand knots that you have no choice, but to snip off.)
- Color Wow Pop & Lock- As you might be able to tell, I have galaxy hair. These are the stars. It’s supposed to add shine and lock in color.
- Lilly Lashes Powell Street- As mentioned above!
- Laniege Lip Sleeping Mask in Sweet candy- I already lost it. It probably rolled under the couch. I looked. I cant find it.
- Pencil sharpener- I feel like I bought the last pencil sharpener in the world! It was the last one and apparently I have needed to sharpen my pencils for years. FFS it’s so good to have sharpened pencils!
- Laniege Birthday Gift
Ulta:
- Becca Skin Love Glow Shield Prime & Set Mist- We all know that Becca is closing for business. I had wanted to try this, and here it was on sale! It’s too bad that I really like this. But not a terrible loss since there are so many facial sprays in the market.
- Revolution Beauty Eye Glisten Eye Shadow in Yours Truly- This rose gold liquid eyeshadow + glitter grabbed my attention! This is a perfect accompaniment to the Huda Beauty New Nudes palette.
- Truly Beauty Unicorn Hair- I swear the mini smelled like bubble gum. This doesn’t. We must talk about the cap. It’s heavy as fuck and if it falls in your shower, it will either break your toe or chip the finish in your tub/shower. WHY is the cap so damn heavy? This deep conditioner really does the trick though. My hair feels like straw after being bleached so many times. This makes it feel actually soft and silky! Take the cap off, it’s a hazard.
- The Creme Shop Cotton Candy Skin- Dude, packing stressed me out and gave me a rare zit smack dab in the middle of my face. So the solution is to put a blue star on my face.
- Bb Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil- My free birthday gift. It is very welcome since my hair needs plenty of moisture and protection!
When I was in Ulta, I was wearing Norvina palette on my eyes. I got compliments from the staff. One of them said, “it’s the pink for me!” That would be Jeffree Star’s Lick My Glit Extreme Frost! But the main lid color was A3! If you’re interested in checking out Norvina’s line in ABH, I’d say this is the one to get! More wearable colors, and purple looks great on almost everybody!
See this galaxy tie dye background? You are getting a sneak preview of shirts I am making for my online shop! I am tired of my suppliers discontinuing the products I like to offer, so now I am going to make my own!
This is only the eyeshadow portion on my birthday haul. Most of these were gifts from my awesome friends. I only purchased the Huda Beauty, Norvina and Revolution liquid eyeshadow.
I might blog about my Las Vegas trip later since I just got two collections in the mail. I am going to try my best to get out my posts about Pink Religion from Jeffree Star Cosmetics and Wet N Wild’s Saved By The Bell collection out as soon as possible. I’m still working on Sponge Bob. But right now, I will at least leave you photos of the Venetian and Palazzo! Otherwise, if I try to write about everything, it might take a week or two!
Disclaimer: I purchased everything on my own, except for the birthday gifts from personal friends (not brands) as noted. No one puts their opinions in my head, I make my own. Vegas hotels most certainly do NOT comp my stays.
