Archived Post

Rant & Rave: Build Your Own Eyeshadow Palettes

Share: Tell us what you love and hate about Build Your Own Eyeshadow Palettes!

my answer: I love that they’re more compact than singles, and I love when it’s cheaper to buy the pans and fill up a palette than the individual compacts. I don’t really dislike anything in general — perhaps that it can be hard to pick what to get? if there are a lot of choices!

27 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.
Melinda Avatar

I love the idea of building your own palette. I almost have my MAC custom palette filled. I think it’s the best way to get eyeshadows. You can pick what you like, you can have neutrals, color, matte, shimmery, etc. Also, it’s cheaper to buy the refill pans over the regular eyeshadows. I don’t have any rants about them either.

Debra Avatar

I’ve done several build-my-own palettes, one of neutrals that are my go-to’s, another with progressive shades of beige/taupe to blackened cherry/cognac (a vey complex shade LE by BB).. One pan includes a coral blush and bronzey contour shade for a summer look.

Another one has colors very similar to YSL Fetiche Couture!

So I can arrive at unique combinations but I have to have my own “palette” already in mind. Going to the counter (especially MAC) overstimulates me!

Chloe Avatar

Hi Christine, I loved the facebook thumbnail pic on the link to this post of all the eye brushes! you couldn’t recommend a brush that is similar in shape to a mac 222? I have been looking for one. thanks in advance for the help and for the wonderful blog you work so hard on 😀

Samantha Avatar

I really love build your own eyeshadow palettes because they de-clutter my traincase. They also cost less per pan than individual shadows. I just did a large undertaking of depotting my individual eyeshadows and put them in large palettes. The only thing I dislike about build your own palette pans is I only buy colors I really, really love individually (which might not be great for complete eye looks).

xamyx Avatar

I prefer pre-made palettes. For one, I find myself “forced” to try shades I may not normally find appealing. Second, they always end up being quite a bit cheaper, even if “pans” are sold atba discount. Third, I find it a bit insulting that the palettes aren’t included in the price-especially if I’m willing to fill up a palette at one time. Finally, which kind of brings me back to my first point, I tend to be drawn to the same type of shade, so I’d likely end up with palettes that are far too similar.

Larger palettes can also be a little annoying to carry around, and I find pre-made palettes to be sturdier & often smaller.

Mariella Avatar

I love build your own palettes like those from MAC or Inglot, where you can purchase the shadows just “as it” in metal pans, rather than having to pay extra for packaging you don’t want in the first place. I wish MAC would make it easier to depot their shadows too. Sephora’s own house brand of shadows are so easy to remove from the original compacts to transfer to the empty palettes. AND…while they don’t sell the shadows in a “pro pan” type of package, they do throw in the empty palettes for free if you buy 2 shadows (a 3 pan palette) or 3 shadows (a 6 pan palette)….that’s a pretty good deal.

Shelly Avatar

Generally? Rave forever! You’ll have shades you know you’re going to use, and there are usually loads of colours to choose from. *nods*

Urban Decay’s system needs a bit of a rethink, though. They’re probably the only brand that offer both pre-made palettes and single eyeshadows where buying pre-made is more economical than building your own. And only quads? Sigh.

Cathy Avatar

Because I had a dupe of the Naked palette and was considering buying the real thing until I realised I was just using the same 3 shades over and over and hardly touching the rest. So I waited til UD had their buy 2 shadows, get a free 6 pan sale which they seem to have a couple of times a year and just bought the 2 shades I didn’t already have in other palettes. I filled a couple of other slots with singles that were in Sephora sets and picked up some singles when Ulta/Sephora had 20% off. I picked up a second palette a few months ago again on the buy 2 sale and now I have 2 palettes full of neutrals that I know I will use.

fancie Avatar

I love building my own palettes! I just filled up a Z Palette earlier with my depots. I like how customizable and convenient they are. You save space and money by buying individual pans. Plus you can pick a cute design and move things around. It’s a win-win all around for me

candleashes Avatar

This tends to get expensive imo. Also choosing just enough pans to fit the specific palette that particular company decided on can be challenging (too much, too little… that last empty spot staring at you and annoying your ocd, so you have to shell out for that 16th shadow you didn’t really want). Makes me feel forced to shop, like a commitment to the specific brand.
I rarely find that I don’t use certain shades in a pre-made palettes I choose to buy. Usually if I like something, I like pretty much everything about it. Hopefully the shades coordinate well, so there isn’t a problem.
I tend to prefer singles to byop. A little bit here, a little bit there… shop around.
I have been eyeing Inglot palettes for quiet some time though.

Sarah Avatar

I love them! What’s not to love about them. You can pick out any shadow that you want and nothing goes to waste. I have a lot of eyeshadow palettes that only one color is used. Now that’s a waste.

Jaine Avatar

I love Build Your Own Eyeshadow Palettes. I get to pick the exact colors that I will use for the purpose that I want it. The down side is that it can be a bit expensive depending on the brand.

Helene Avatar

It might be cheaper to buy premade palettes, but building your own is so fulfilling. you can move the pans around, exchange them if you suddenly don’t feel like using the colour. It’s cheaper to buy the pans, I use my homemade ones a lot more than I use the premade ones. I have four, two MAC one is neutrals the other very colourful, one is slowly being filled up with MUG shadows and the 4th has a few blushers in it.
The only downside I can think of is the size if you want to carry the palette around with you as they are on the big side. But you can of course have a smaller one and move the shades of the day to that one. A bit more work, but doable.

Laura Tinapay Avatar

Great marketing ploy that does not work for me anymore because it only adds up to 200-300$ for let’s say a MAC, Urban Decay, etc. palette. I would rather spend it on a $40-$80 one with the same number of eyeshadows, blushes, bronzer, and highlighter altogether.

Ryou Avatar

I’m generally not too fond of pre-made palettes because I don’t always love all the shades, so build your own palettes are great. I don’t love how price-wise it’s not always better value than singles, though.

zFashionizta Avatar

It’s fun to build my own with only the colors I love but I don’t like the cases; for example the New MAC compacts are bulky, the corners are sharp & I have been unable to remove those inserts after I put them in (I would like to rearrange the eye shadows and have been on unsuccessful) and the Inglot compacts are too heavy and the shadows are difficult to remove. I know many people like those Z palettes but I don’t like cardboard palettes.
On the other hand pre-made palettes are much more attractive like the Tarte CC Matte (my favorite) and the Too Faced Chocolate Bar (one of my other favorites).

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!