Did ABH New President Norvina Shade Jackie Aina or Nah?
Anastasia Beverly Hills has been a fan favorite, and rightfully so.
I love the quality of the products that come from ABH. The eyeshadows are always soft pressed and the color payoff is amazing and when they collaborate with up-and-coming individuals, I definitely go to Sephora or Ulta Beauty and have a swatch party.
So when ABH released a 1 minute teaser of their collaboration with the Nigerian brownie Jackie Aina, I was all for it. I was for it because this was the first collaboration the brand did with a pigmented influencer. I say pigmented but you know I mean a Black woman although it was Ms. Oprah Winfrey who really put the brand on the map in a major way. Go ahead and look at this clip of Anastasia on Oprah. Now let’s fast forward 13 years later. Anastasia Beverly Hills has publicly sold a minority share of her company to a private equity fund. Their goal is to increase direct to consumer sales (which I believe they are definitely doing) and Claudia “Norvina” Soare - the daughter of the owner - has been named the president of ABH which brings me back to the topic.
Did Norvina Shade Jackie Aina or With Releasing A New Palette So Soon or Nah?
When it comes to the new eyeshadow palette that was released by Anastasia Beverly Hills, you would immediately think of the Norvina Vol. 3 palette. Uh hmm, I meant the Novina Vol. 2. Oh shit, girl I am messing up, I meant to say the Norvina Vol. 1. Wait a minute, it was the Jackie Aina collaboration eyeshadow palette that was released 2-1/2 weeks before the brand announced on Instagram that they were releasing more Norvina palettes. Draw drops.
Yes, more Norvina eyeshadow palettes. I wrote a post post on my First Impressions and the similarities of the Jackie Aina and the Norvina eyeshadow palettes on my website BeautyBiche.com. First off, like everyone else I was completely stunned by the fact that this collaboration with Jackie Aina wasn’t getting the amount of press that the recent collaborations were receiving. The press kit was completely different than Alyssa Edwards and Amra “Amrezy”. Both of those collaborations had a lot of uproar from the time it was announced until and during the time it was sold in Sephora and Ulta Beauty. Let’s circle back to the press kits.
Alyssa Edwards Press Kit
Credit: ABH
Drag queen Alyssa Edward PR included this 2 fold sleek black packaging that opened up from the center. The outside of the PR package had a gorgeous design of an eye winking and the mirror had Alyssa’s signature. Once you opened the package it displayed the palette, a mirror and a fan. It was super sleek, bright and bold like the drag queen herself.
Amrezy Press Kit
Credit: Poshmark.com
This press kit was super cute and very blinged out like the influencer has come to be known for. Her personal style is emulated throughout the press box from the gold exterior to the black and gold interior. When you opened the box you were blinding by Amrezy’s side profile and was surprised with a see through cell phone case with gold sparkles, a mirror with her printed signature and of course the highlighter. Now that’s pretty!
Jackie Aina’s Press Kit
Credit: ABH
The press kit consisted of the same chromatic colors and faux snake skin texture of the actual palette itself. When you opened the pr box you would see that it is placed in there perfectly with the lid of the box only showing the ABH logo. Once you remove the palette from the actual cardboard packaging you will see Jackie Aina’s initials and nothing more. There is no picture of Jackie, no extra brushes or anything. It’s just an eyeshadow palette.
As I mentioned earlier, I looooove the quality of the ABH products but the fact that the brand didn’t give this collaboration a lot of time to shine, I was disappointed. I was disappointed because unlike Amrezy who had the opportunity to travel with the brand for press tours, Jackie didn’t. I seen that she went to a networking event where Anastasia herself gave her praise and she did a small speech. But this makes me wonder… was Makeup Shayla onto something when she stopped filming looks and first impressions using products from the brand or is Norvina serving shade…
