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Powder Eyeshadows | 2015 Editor's Favorites
BEST OF 2015
These are my absolute favorites from 2015!
Powder Eyeshadows
What were your favorite powder eyeshadows in 2015?
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Some of the Buxom ones that can be purchased as singles and put into their “customizable” palette. I especially love Style Icon, Jet Setter, Haute Couture and Patent Leather. Also the MAC Extra Dimension shadows that are now permanent. I was able to get my mitts on so many of the shades I missed in past LE releases and couldn’t be more happy. I’ve also got several faves in palettes but I’ll wait to see if there’s a question specifically about palettes/quads, etc. If not, I’ll come back and add to this list!
They do have some good ones! I am glad MAC made Extra Dimensions part of their permanent line, too 😀 Palette one is live now!
Yes – MAC extra dimension also! I forgot about these because I just finished answering the palette question but I just love the versatility and texture of these.
Lorac eyeshadow single in Serenity,KVD Doce, Kiko Infinity Eyeshadow in 210 Satin Brick, and Kiko Water Eyeshadow in 218. They’re all so buttery smooth and apply beautifully.
Nice! Happy to hear Kiko eyeshadows made your list.
I don’t know if any of the single eyeshadows I bought this year were *new* in 2015. MUG Desert Sands? That one is awesome. If you don’t own it you aren’t living.
New to you works 😀
What a fantastic choice …
mine would be Nars Kuwai duo 🙂 and also Nars Pasipahe 🙂
Kauai is a great duo!
Ack! So many to put on my wishlist. 😉
My favorites of 2015: All of the Nyx Prismatic Eyeshadows. Urban Decay Dive Bar, Tonic, Fireball, Lounge, Backfire, and Sideline. MAC Extra Dimensions Eyeshadow in Fathoms Deep and Grand Galaxy (permanent versions). MAC Faerie Whispers Magic In Your Eyes.
This seemed to be a year where singles really shined – more so than palettes!
The ones I bought literally shine…or sparkle. 😉 I think I bought more singles this year than I have in a very long time.
My Pretty Zombie “Everything Looks Better on a Meat Hook” shadow.
I bought a bunch of MUFE artist shadows, Blackbird Cosmetics shadows, and a handful more from MPZ, but I think none of them were new in 2015.
It’s pretty crazy there are no Artist Shadows on the list, but I reviewed them heavily in 2014 🙁 They are still amazingggg though!!
Oh yeah and the MAC extra dimension shadows. I’m not allergic to them like their regular shadows! And they’re so pretty!
So many Kat Von D Metal Crush Shadows! I agree 100%! 😀
They were great!
The collection UD did with Dive Bar was one of my favorite releases of eye shadow singles. I liked quite a few from MAC this year which almost got me. MUFE has been my other favorite this year. NARS and Chanel came pretty high too but I was very impressed with the new MUFE formula.
That was a lovely launch from UD for sure!
THUNDERSTRUCK is the bomb! I haven’t done the review yet, but Makeup Geeks Foiled Eyeshadows are great as well.
Thunderstruck is one of those shades that was like, “eh, what do I need that for” but it’s sooooo pretty.
Up till yesterday, it would have only been UD Dive Bar that I loved and owned. Also UD Tonic and Fireball are huge loves of mine, too!
Yesterday that all got turned upside down on its head once I swatched Iggy, and fell in love with it! What a gorgeous teal-ish bright green!?
But I also am in love with some of the MUFE singles to put in a quad, which I have yet to do because there’s always some super-cool and tempting LE thing that comes along and distracts me! Haha! But yeah, Pink Brown, Peacock , Crystalline Mauve Turquoise, Crystalline Papaya, Reptile, Pink Ash, Nile Green, Garnet Black and Silver Brown…?
Loved UD’s release of singles this year – they were all lovely!
Thanks to the ultimate enabler (Temptalia), my shadow collection exploded this year. Looove MAC The Moon Is Blue (pigment is insane!), Burberry Nude No 2, MAC Ascent of Glamour , MUFE Artist Shadow (in khaki bronze shade). And my surprise find, City Color Shimmer Shadows! I got It’s A Girl, It’s A Boy, and Hint of Mint–packaging and formula is very similar to Kat Von D Metal Crush but only $7 each, pans are huge at .129 oz, and their website has sales all the time. I’m ordering more
Lots of great shades, Katherine! I’ll have to see if I can’t find City Color on sale soon!
For City Color Cosmetics, I haven’t tried their Matte Shadows, so I can’t speak for those, but their Shimmer Shadow Singles are the bomb! There are some blues, teals, and greens I think you might like. The blue (It’s A Boy) blew me away –it feels almost like a cream (like Colour Pop), opaque in one swipe, pigmentation is intense (almost like MAC Moon Is Blue), and sticks well to my oily lids. Their shade range is huge (16), with great neutrals, plus some more unique shades, and so cheap!
Thank you, Katherine!
Yay, finally a product I have, Dive Bar 🙂
It’s really good and deserves a place in top ten. I don’t use it often, but I really like it. Should use it more often, really.
Yay! It’s a cool shade.
MAC (of course), Urban Decay and MUG Foiled eye shadows
Which MAC & UD shadows had your heart in 2015?
So many!!! For MAC Copperluxe the sparkle shades adn the 2 dark browns), Honeylust, In My Element, Don’t Tell, Sun Tweaked, After Dusk, and Pearled Element – these are all in palettes and I’m usually skeptical about quality and some of these are even Lustres which I’m normally not a fan of but I have gotten pretty good color payoff and like the way they blended. That could be I’m using different and better brushes, though. I also loved the extra dimension Smoky Mauve, Grand Galaxy and Silver Sun. LOVE that formula.
For UD, Midnight Cowboy, Midnight Cowboy Rides Again, Sin, Psychedelic Sister, C-Note, Pandemonium, Beat Down, Harlot, Robbery, Smog, Trick, Reign, Flash, Deep End, Tornado, Blackheart, Dark Horse and most of the shades in the Naked 3 and (new to me) Naked palette. I love the way they do shimmers and sparkles, and I love their purples.
🙂
I have two picks as the best powder eye shadow in 2015. They are Make Up For Ever Matte powder eye shadow in M100 Black and Nars Matte Powder eye shadow in Sophia, a cool brown. In my book, these would be the top two powder eye shadows ever.
Awesome, Pasheeda!
Omg…SO in LoVe with ABH new eyeshadow single Chocolate Crumble. It is a Titanium, so it is almost a cream shadow in a pan!! I bought Henna also but haven’t gotten it yet. I’m sure I will love it too! Did you get the new shades to review Christine?
The Titanium finish has a lot of silicone in it, so it definitely has that cream-like feel!
Makeup Geek has been a great brand this year and I love the Typhoon colour – it is amazing. I tend not to buy singles, only palettes. But this colour could change my mind!
Typhoon is so interesting!
New to me…. MAC orb and the Viseart Matte neutral palette.
Nice! The Matte Neutral palette is great.
Wooo, this has been a good year for Kat Von D! I’m still mad that I didn’t grab NARS Stud while it was still available. I do have MUG Moondust, which is a decent (85% dupe). I really should pull that out! Like others, I don’t think any of the powder shadows I bought this year were actually released this year. Not a single one!
Wow! Good job on avoiding singles this year 🙂
Dive Bar is so pretty! I use it to fill up an empty spot in an UD 4-pan, though, so I don’t use it often enough. I should rectify that.
It’s such a cool shade. I love that it’s not super frosted/metallic!
this year I’m pretty impressed with MUFE Artist Shadow the most thought I also love Kat Von D Metal And Makeup Geek Foiled too. I like MAC Extra Dimension( sadly,this also the only thing from MAC Makeup that I’m not disappointed to purchased)but the color section was so little and some of them look similar to each other on my eyelid.
So sad, I reviewed most of the Artist range in 2014 so none made this year’s list, lol! But the formula is still a favorite for me 🙂
I’m also really loving Stud, Dive Bar, and Danzig, in addition to a couple of dozen MUFE shadows and Kat Von D Static Age and Black No. 1, NARS Pasiphae, and Kjaer Weis Cloud Nine, Grace, Wisdom, Divine, and Onyx.
I’ve never tried Kjaer Weis eyeshadows before! What are they like?
I like them, especially for base and transition/crease shades, because they mostly have a subtle satin finish that diffuses eyelid skin texture. The colors are mostly on the subtle/sophisticated side, different from my usual intense brights. Some good shades for more sophisticated dark smoky eyes in purple, blue, and green, as well as gray and black. They’re pigmented and apply easily; expensive, but not too terrible if you buy the refills and put them in a Z-palette. I always use a primer or cream shadow base on my hooded, oily lids, so I can’t speak to performance on bare lids. With a base, they last all day without creasing or fading on me.
The KVD Metal Crush Eyeshadow in Raw Power is amazing! It’s been getting a lot of use these past two months. I’ve been using it in conjunction with Punk from the UDGS palette and love the way they work together.
It was tough not to put all of the Metal Crushes on here, lol!
I would say that I can’t believe I forgot to mention this, but I can totally believe it! My two new favorite loose pigments from Fyrinnae are Snowflake Waltz from their holiday collection, and Breathtaking from the Exquisites collection. (Applied, of course, over Pixie Epoxy!) Cassiopeia from NARS also has a major dent in it.
I agree that Stud is amazeballs!!! I really wish Nars would make it permanent, it’s by far one of the most sophisticated taupey shades I’ve seen. That bit of complex sparkle is to die for, never seen anything like it!!! Some of their best work!
I wish they would, too! It’s a really nice texture – so much better than a lot of their line.