If you like to embrace your inner artist and get creative when it comes to color, investing in a larger 24-color palette will give you the tools to change up your look when you feel like it. If you prefer to stick to the same shades and know what looks good on you, a smaller high-quality palette of six shadows will not only keep your makeup looking elevated, but also your makeup bag free from clutter and mess. Convenience is key!
Everyone needs at least one eyeshadow palette in their makeup collection. Whether you are a beginner or seasoned vet when it comes to creating multi-toned eye looks, palettes enable you to keep all your colors in one place and experiment with shades you might not have tried before.
Deciding what you want to use your palette for will immediately narrow down your choices. For example, if you want eyeshadows for parties and night looks, a vibrant palette full of colors, shimmers and glitters will work best.
If you need something for your everyday makeup, a combination palette of shimmers and mattes in nudes, browns and warm tones is the best option to create a subtle and soft glam look suitable for work or school.
Palettes come in all shapes and sizes. Larger palettes can be a great way to figure out what colors work best for your skin tone and personality. They also tend to have a mix of textures, mattes and shimmers, which will also mean you can add dimension to your eye looks.
Big palettes are great, but they are quite bulky. So for the girl on the go, a more compact eyeshadow selection of four-to-six shades is ideal to carry in your handbag, especially if you need to do your makeup while you travel.
Some palettes stick to one finish matte or shimmer, while others provide a mix and even throw in the occasional glitter shadow for the days you feel like adding a little bit of sparkle to your eyes.
Matte works well for day looks or teamed with a stronger lip at night. While shimmers tend to glide on easier but are notorious for fall out, if you have more mature skin, they may tend to settle into fine lines and wrinkles. If you are not sure which you prefer, pick up a palette with both options.
Eyeshadow palettes truly took off with the rise of social media and beauty influencers. The immediate availability of makeup tutorials has given regular customers access to makeup education and encouraged everyone to get a little bit more experimental with their application.
The main types of texture in eyeshadow palettes are powder or cream. They can be combined to add dimension to the eye. If you have oily skin, powder shadows will have more staying power, whereas those with dry skin may find that cream shadows give them a more dewy looking finish.
When it comes to highly coveted makeup drops, nothing tugs at the heartstrings of beauty lovers quite like the best eye shadow palettes on the market. Aesthetically, they're a feast for the eyes, but one could even go so far as to call them pragmatic. Don't @ us — some are very travel-friendly and take up the least amount of space in your carry-on, while still touting a wide variety of shimmery and matte shades.
However, perhaps more than anything, a good eye shadow palette is usually more of an investment purchase than a lipstick or eyeliner. When we take a look back at the record-breaking, best-selling, can't-keep-them-in-stock palettes, you'll find that the ones that came out on top are a delightful hodgepodge of highly pigmented, highly blendable goodness.
With drugstore sweethearts like Maybelline New York's classic collection of warm neutrals, Urban Decay's rebooted version of its beloved (and discontinued) Naked Palette, Charlotte Tilbury's masterful curation of neutrals, and Pat McGrath Labs' luxury palette to end all luxury palettes, we've swatched every inch of the market to come up with our favorites. Get ready to expand your repertoire of makeup looks.
If you've hit pan and repurchased one (or several) of the palettes below, this will be a fun stroll down memory lane for you. In case you're an eye shadow palette newbie, overwhelmed by the cornucopia of shades, take a deep breath and relax — we got you. Available across the world wide web's favorite retailers, the following 17 best eye shadow palettes have quickly risen to the ranks of our all-time favorites, and you're about to find out why.