ABH Subculture: Hit or Miss?

Moni
Moni
Aug 23, 2017 · 5 min read

About those influencers…

Anastasia Beverly Hills recently launched their latest eye shadow palette. Aptly named Subculture, it boasted a variety of rich, unique shades which had consumers and influencers alike jumping at the chance to buy the palette as soon as it was released.

Image source: Allure

Further adding to the excitement was ABH’s previous palette, Modern Renaissance, which had been wildly successful and is still considered a must-have. Incidentally, it happens to be one of my most-used makeup. I figured that a sequel to this gem would be interesting but nevertheless a tough act to follow.

Unfortunately for ABH, that sort of turned out to be the understatement of the century.

Right off the bat, beauty vloggers couldn’t help but notice that the shadows were closer to being pressed-pigments rather than a traditional eye shadow. Which would have been fine… had ABH marketed the product as a pressed pigment in the first place.

To make matters worse, there’s a possibility that there was an initial bad batch that went out. The powders hadn’t been pressed properly and some shades would crumble if you pressed your brush slightly into the pan.

The collective hissy-fit that ensued was unprecedented. Beauty vlogger, Alisa Ashley, was allegedly the first to receive one of the faulty palettes and she expressed her displeasure on her review video.

Soon after, dozens of videos popped up with vloggers remarking on the same problems: a crazy amount of fall-out coupled with the fact that they were too powdery to blend properly.

Image source: YouTube
Image source: YouTube

While I’m fairly certain there was a bad batch — although the owner of Anastasia hasn’t fully admitted to it — I couldn’t help but feel that it was odd that so many influencers had received faulty products. Upon each review, vloggers repeated similar negative aspects to the product. Come to think of it, perhaps echoed is the wrong term here.

Parroted would be more fitting.

In many a video, it was painfully obvious that the vlogger was prepared to bash the product from the get-go without giving it a fair shot. It was as if discussing the Subculture palette as an epic fail became THE thing to do.

There were a few exceptions; KathleenLights, Wayne Goss and EmilyNoel are examples of successful influencers who remained objective as they pointed out the pros and the cons of the Subculture palette. Mariah Leonard also expressed that while she enjoyed the product, there probably was a batch issue and advised her viewers to wait a while before purchasing.

I’ve previously written about the power that YouTube influencers wield over the cosmetics industry. There are obvious upsides to this phenomenon; it lets customers discover great products while it encourages makeup brands to step up their game. I won’t delve too much into this subject but if you want to read more about it, click here. Every trend has a downside though and the Subculture fiasco is a prime example.

The whole thing fascinated me enough that I made my way to Sephora and got my hands on the palette. First off, the colours are even more gorgeous in person than on-screen. Being a lover of jewel tones, I practically drooled over the beautiful shades.

Image source: Beauaddiction

As I swatched each shade, it became fairly obvious to me that I needed a very light hand when dipping into them. To be fair, I feel the same way about some of the shades in Modern Renaissance, though to a lesser degree. As I attempted to create a look, I discovered that blending was indeed tricky. If I wanted to create a look with more than two shadows, I would really need to take my time with this product.

That being said, as much as I love the colours, there is a learning curve involved with this palette.

End result: it isn’t perfect by any stretch. Modern Renaissance is superior in quality. So are a few less expensive counterparts. To that end, I do wish ABH had been honest about the product from the start by marketing as a pressed pigment because I believe they would have gotten a lot less flack.

But is it the worst palette, as some vloggers giddily imply? Hell, no. There are so many sh***ty makeup products out there. Products that are far worse than Subculture that haven’t even gotten a modicum of heat.

Given the information floating around social media, I’m inclined to believe there was indeed a batch issue with Subculture and that this issue affected Alisa Ashley and a few other vloggers. However, I don’t believe that this was truly the case for everyone. The dizzying speed in which influencers jumped on the bandwagon and practically shoved their brushes into the shades was basic AF.

I understand the desire to be with the times and a part of the conversation. I also understand not wanting to step on fellow influencers’ toes (all the while running over ABH’s with a mack truck). But what’s the point of a channel if the vlogger is just going to watch a hundred other videos and then repeat the same things?

As such, this was a case influencers influencing influencers. Now, excuse me while I try and repeat the phrase quickly ten times in a row.

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Moni

Written by

Moni

writer, foodie, comedy fangirl.

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