Archived Post
Hit List: Best Loose Eyeshadow
What’s the Best Loose Eyeshadow that you’ve tried?
Share your pick! And don’t forget to share why 🙂
Explore Temptalia
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Compare Any Two
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
49 Comments
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
Comments on this post are closed.
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
I haven’t tried one yet! I always get overwhelmed by the selection on sites like Fyrinnae especially because they change the available shades all the time and it’s nearly impossible to find swatches! I really like to know what I’m ordering because not all shades of e/s work for me as a biracial woman. I do plan on trying to make a Fyrinnae order sometime over the winter though, just to try some out!
They’re really amazing, but I feel your pain. I ordered a bunch of minis recently and didn’t realize I ordered so many similar colors. Having swatches is really helpful. I would recommend several minis to start with in colors that you use often. The quality is definitely great!
Go for it Fyrinnae are so amazing, they make me want to try all the colours even if I wouldn’t have chosen them in the past. You wont regret it especially with their pricing. Try the samples to begin with. x
The blogs makeupbysiryn and prettymaking both feature a lot of Fyrinnae and have gorgeous swatches. Siryn is a gorgeous woman of color. I highly recommend Fyrinnae – start with the minis as there is PLENTY of product in there and don’t forget the Pixie Epoxy. It’s a must have. Good luck!
I’ve only used bareMinerals and Everyday Minerals in the past and I liked both. But nowadays I just can’t be bothered with all the mess, especially since I’ve recently redone my beauty room in white and ivory lol.
Fyrinnae loose shadows are the best I have ever tried BY FAR. They are gorgeous. And they are so inexpensive compared to other brands. A mini-size jar is a lot of product for like, $2.75?
Hands down….Southern Magnolia Minerals. I have tried so many of the well known brands and since I don’t do shimmer or duo chrome I find these shadows to be the best suited for my more conservative eye make up look. Excellent customer service as well. Samples, of course.
I’m not sure wheather the Armani eyes to kill silk shadows can be declared as loose, but that#s the only one in my stash which is loose. I love my no. 9 color. Why? Because it is an every day color I can wear to work. It get’s best results when applied with a MAC 239 brush.
Femme fatale ones are nice I have lots of them and a lot of the colors are beautiful duochromes. And the website is really convenient because the each shadow has really nice swatches
I’m in love with a lot of indies. Black Rose Minerals, Shiro Cosmetics, Detrivore, Innocent+twisted alchemy, and Kiss my Sass are all wonderful. They all have great formulas with a wide variety of colors and finishes.
There are so many gems out there. My favorites are Detrivore, Innocent and Twisted, My Pretty Zombie, and so many more i can’t think of right now. I go for the Indie brands when it comes to loose eyeshadows.
Meow Cosmetics, especially their halloween and holiday collections.
I FORGOT! My favourite loose matte eyeshadows, Detrivore’s Graveyard collection. Mostly neutrals and some fun coloured ones so there is a colour in there for everyone!
Indie brands definitely take the cake on this! Darling Girl, Fyrinnae, etc. I’ve been delving into some Etsy based cosmetic sellers and I’ve been pleasantly surprised with those as well. I’m fairly certain that I’m addicted.
it’s a toss up between Bare Minerals and thebalm. I love Celestine!
I agree with you on Celestine! I love to pair it with Nude Beach.
I like bareMinerals and MAC pigments, but my new favorite is from MICA Beauty Cosmetics. I have extremely oil lids, and the MICA loose shadows are the most long wearing for me.
Fyrinnae all the way! Colours are so complex and such a wide variety of shades to try. I have found that because they are so affordable (especially the sample sizes) I try colours I would never have dreamed of before. Cannot get enough of them and keep on going back for more. Quality is phenomenal and I don’t find them too messy either. Pixie epoxy is a must for vibrancy and glittery ones to minimize fallout. If you have never tried these, go for it, you wont be disappointed! x
As a brand generally, I would say Bare Minerals (especially the colours Drama, Moss and Queen Tiffany) but then I haven’t tried many loos shadows (Fyrinnae, for example – I’d love to give some of their products a try but I’m one of those dinosaurs who likes to shop in person). As for MAC pigments, I really like their original Naked pigment. It’s one where I don’t worry about fallout at all (perhaps because it is so close to my skin tone and matte, it may well have fallout but it’s not visible).
Definitely Fyrinnae or Shiro Cosmetics! Both are wonderful.
I really like Bare Minerals
I admit I haven’t tried any “indie” brands, as I simply can’t be bothered with only being able to order online (although I have tried some from a couple of mall kiosks, but I don’t recall the brands), but I have to say, they’re all pretty much the same. You have a variety of “complexity” within brands, as well as texture, staying-power, etc, and I base my purchases on shade selections as I come upon them.
If you haven’t tried any indie brands, then how do you know they are the same?
Silk Naturals shadows are really beautiful. soft in texture and blend easily. They have a lot of dupes of MAC, Bobbi Browm, and BE shadows/collections. I ordered mine when I first embarked on my makeup odyssey 2 years ago and actually decided to wear one today. It chocalate twinkle and it’s a gorgeous warm brown w/ beautiful red shimmer.
Fyrinnae and Meow Cosmetics are my top picks. I love complex and rich colors!! Meow’s Egyptian Treasures collection actually made me drool! They also have a bigger selection of neutral office-friendly colors. Their latest collection is Stripped, which is exclusively neutrals. They also have the largest selection of foundation shades imaginable in every possible undertone. Fyrinnae’s samples come in jars instead of bags, which I LOVE!! I find bagged samples awkward to work with, and I end up wasting a lot of product.
MAC Pigments are still among my favorites as I can apply them with just a water-dampened brush and they stay put all day without creasing and without the need for a primer although lately their use has taken a back seat to the more complex colors of the Indie brands I own.
Mac pigments and L’Oreal Infallibles! Every time I wear either, it just looks stunning!
I’m commenting again because I also love Bare Minerals loose eyeshadows, especially for more subtle looks!
I only ever tried the limited edition ones Bobbi Brown had around the holidays.
Fyrinnae is tops in my book for product quality and pricing. I also have gorgeous colors from Shiro and Darling Girl, both of which provide outstanding customer service.
Sugarpill Chromalust!! They’re just so gorgeous and easy to work with!!
I used to be obsessed with Micabella loose shadows five years ago. I didn’t want to use pressed eyeshadows when I used Micabella, so I’ll go with them! Haha.
I really like Shiro!!Love the names and they way they match the collection. I like the pigments too. I’m a geek so it pulls my heart strings.
Not a fan of them, but I’ve had a mineral one from Lily Lolo for a few years, which is excellent and lasts a long time even without primer. I want to get OCC colour concentrate in Triptych soon.
I’m a big fan of Lumiere loose shadows. With a primer, they stay all day without creasing. Plenty of pigmentation and a nice variety of shades. I did love Archetype back in the day, but forget about finding those anymore. :/
I have a pretty big collection of MAC Pigments (a classic choice, my faves are Old Gold, Golden Olive, Melon, and Violet) and I have a soft spot for Bare Escentuals Glimmer in Sex Kitten 🙂
I love Fyrinnae as well! I’m also starting to really like Geek Chic Cosmetics, and I’d like to try out and join the Sugarpill bandwagon some time in the future.
I’ve only tried the ones from Pumpkin and Poppy, and I really like them. Very pretty colors that blend well and stay on with a good primer. I also like that the glitter isn’t difficult to wipe off with the inevitable fall out.
Giorgio Armani’s Eyes to Kill eyeshadows are great. And I like Mac loose pigments also.
To be honest, the only loose eyeshadow I’ve ever tried is bareMinerals’, but since I can’t find anything to complain about it.. that’s my answer. 😀
I’m honestly just not a fan because of the mess they make, so I’ve never tried many. I did love Napoleon Perdis’ loose shadows, I still have two, both blues. They are insanely pigmented, but the fallout drives me BATTY.
a independent company called mom ennui..her pigments are rich & full of color very high quality & so many fun shades & you get alot for your money !! they go on silky not chalky at all
mon ennui*
Bare Minerals & MAC are my favorites. I like MAC for bolder colors and BM for softer, more subtle colors.
MAC pigments and Magnolia-Makeup pigments.
Shiro Cosmetics makes my favorites, then Meow Cosmetics and then Silk Naturals. Meow looses serious points for their website though, good luck finding anything! (but seriously, check out Egyptian Treasurers.) Detrivore Cosmetics also has fantastic mattes that I use daily even if they’re unexciting. My favorites from Shiro are Everything is Bears, Kokori, and the discontinued SCIENCE!!!
Fyrinnae- amazing colors and lasting power!
I am in LOVE with Glamour Doll Eyes pigments. The color selection is fantastic and there are some amazing colors I haven’t seen dupes for (try Trophy Wife!). I had never used pigments before as I thought I would make a huge mess, but they really aren’t that difficult to work with a good primer or Glitter Glue. I also love supporting an indie company 🙂
Fyrinnae Lucky Charmed is the MOST BEAUTIFUL EYESHADOW I have ever seen. Just gorgeous.
I absolutely LOVE the Eyeshadows at Thurst Naturals Etsy shop