The best of the Eyeshadow Palettes

Thursday 21 April 2016
When it comes to eyeshadow palettes, yes I confess I am a hoarder. I don't care if you think they all look the same because there not! And yes I do need another one even if I brought a new one just yesterday! Because nothing brings me more joy than all the possibilities of a fresh new palette with all the new colours, will I do a matte cut crease look? Or will I do a diffused smoky eye? I just don't know, but when I do I want to be greeted with the thousands of colour combos and different finishes that all my palettes give me! Read on to find out my take on the best eyeshadow palettes.


1. Mac refill eyeshadow palettes


In my many years of using eyeshadow I still have not yet found any to rival Mac eye shadows. To me they are Crème de la Crème of eye shadow, so pigmented, so creamy and so easy to blend! They are extremely long lasting as well, I've never had any problems with creasing or wearing off. The best part is they have so many colours whether you're strictly a neutrals girl or like to go crazy with colour they have it all. They also have a huge variety of finishes as well ranging from mattes to satins to the loosest of glitters which is perfect for makeup artists wanting to create different textures on the eye. They are pricey but I would 100% say they are worth the money, you can either buy pre made palettes with popular colours like 'Warm Neutrals' or the 'burgundy' palette or make your own. The palettes start at two eye shadows and go all the way up to thirty so they'll be a size everyone can afford, maybe just get a few staple colours to start with.
-Price: Refill pan £10
            X9 premade palette £30
            X15 premade palette £65

Here is my self made Mac palette. 
Colours (from left to right)
Embark
Cork
Naked Lunch
Woodwinked
Orb
Brown Down
Rule
Gleam
Amber Lights
White Frost
Swiss Chocolate
Brown Script
Ricepaper
Bronze
Phloof


                                                 2. Morphe Eye-shadow Palettes


Morphe is a brand I only discovered recently and boy am I glad I found them! They were first popular for there brushes but there range has now expanded to eyeshadow and blusher palettes. Firstly the most alluring thing about these eye shadows is the price... I brought my favourite palette (35W) for only £15.95! I had pretty low standards because it was so cheap so you can imagine my shock when I first applied the shadows and was met by a beautiful creamy pigment that glides on beautifully. Most of the palettes come with 35 eye shadows consisting of shimmers and mattes and then the colours depend on which one you go for. The most popular palette is the 35O which is all the orange colours loved by bloggers and YouTube beauty gurus alike, however it's usually out of stock. It is an American brand but you can buy from beauty sites like https://www.cultbeauty.co.uk/morphe-brushes and http://www.beautybay.com/_/Palettes/_/N-1z13djn/?Np=-1&Npp=24&Ntk=All&Ntt=morphe. However unlike Mac I dont think every single eyeshadow in the palette is good quality there are a few that are chalky and dusty but for the price and having a mostly pigmented palette it's definitely worth it.
-Price: £15.95 to £20.75

3. Smashbox full & Double exposure palettes

I have the pleasure of working for Smashbox (opinions are my own) and always being around these incredible products, it's all photographic makeup so naturally you expect an amazing pigment and these two popular palettes don't disappoint. 14 shadows in each palette including a double ended brush which is worth around £19.50 (I also use this on customers) and seeing as it takes me aaaages to even hit pan on one of the shadows I would definitely say it is worth your money. The cult favourite is Full exposure purely because it has all the essential neutral colours and equal with mattes and shimmers it can take you from day to night in minutes, its a staple palette for beginners in makeup and makeup artists alike. I'm obsessed with the matte orange colour as a transition shade! However Double exposure has more 'out there' colours like blues, purples and pinks but also has lovely golds and burgundy's. I would say this is a more advanced palette just because you can add water to each colour to amp it up or change the colour slightly, technically giving you 28 shadows, I'm obsessed with using them wet!
-Price: £38


4. Urban Decay Naked eyeshadow palette


I bet you were all wondering when this one would pop up? Because you can't have a best eyeshadow list without Urban Decay being on it. Well I have actually only recently started using the Naked palettes I completely missed the bandwagon a couple years ago and when I went to finally purchase the first one I saw it and felt completely, well.... underwhelmed. I used to be the queen of neutral eye shadows it's all I wore and I had a tonne so when I saw this it seemed the same as all my other shadows and I didn't see the point (I know I was wrong now so don't hate me). However after recently trying them I finally get it! Oh my gosh the pigment! Oh my gosh the colours, half baked and sin <3 I finally get why everyone obsessed over them, it's an amazing palette to have all your essential colours in one place and the pigment on the shimmers are incredible and now I think I'll always be a fan. My favourite is the first palette and I don't think that will ever change. Perfect for people starting out with eye shadow.
-Price: £38.50

5. Makeup Geek eyeshadow pans

Makeup Geek are like the cool new kid on the block, everyone wants to try them out but are they really worth it? They are all refill pans so you can create your own palette (which I adore) and the idea is that most of them are cheaper dupes for Mac... yes cheaper versions of my favourites! They even do videos showing which dupes to get. I have to admit I have not tried that many only a few on shoots where makeup artists have used them on me and let me swatch on my hand, I believe I tried a popular colour cocoa bear which is a dupe for one of my favourite Mac eye shadows brown script! From what I've seen they are super pigmented and have an insane colour range, so if you need a pro palette on a budget I'd definitely give them a try. Only thing is you can only purchase online so you have to kind of guess which colours to buy rather than swatching yourself but thats what pinterest if for right? Buy from Beauty Bay.
-Price: £4.95 per refill.

I hope you enjoyed this post about palettes and it's inspired you to don your favourite smoky eye or even inspired you to try something new. This is the last post in my 'The Best Of' series and I hope you liked reading them as much as I love writing them, it's crazy to think I only started this blog four short months ago! Time to start a new beauty series I guess...