What is important to you in an eyeshadow (single) range?
I want consistency across the shade range–I shouldn’t have to comb through to find good ones! There should be a good variety in depths, finishes, and colors.
— Christine
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15 Comments
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Because there are so many single eyeshadow ranges out there, I want uniqueness. Interesting finishes (especially duochromes) and a range of undertones (not just warm!) are all important. Vibrant colors get me, too. Then, I also really like when you have the option of just buying the pan instead of receiving a single eyeshadow in a case (sort of like CP does). It’s a nice way to save money and prevent waste.
It’s quite amazing how in this day and age some make-up companies still don’t `understand` undertones. 😆 Eyeshadow and foundations included.
I agree on being able to buy just the pan, as a way of preventing waste. But still, even if in a small case, the pans should be easily to pop-out. A depoting process involving candles (to unstick the glue) and various sharp object to get the pan out is not a fun job.
Definitely consistency through the range. More finishes and nuance in color ranges better, but at least the core basics. Those core basics shouldn’t be discontinued or otherwise changed for some duration of time so a person can get refills after a year or two. Easy to access — either a website that is easy to use, gauge colors and order through, or all products in the store (e.g., MUFE has only a few availability in most Sephora stores). Would love that these brands provide empty palettes for us to easily create our own palettes with their singles.
Consistency is definitely a must for me. I am aware that different ingredients needed for different shades, pigmentation levels and finishes would yield differences within the same range. But I expect that similar products in pigmentation level and finish to perform similar.
I also want a good variety a shades; not a big one, a good one. It’s important for me to see a good base of basics (taupes, nudes and browns of different intensities, not 10 shades of transition colors that once blended look almost the same, not 10 shades of medium-dark brown with just a tiny subtle variations), definitely a black, some color (the basic green, blue, burgundy, purple). I’m not that `color sensitive`, so for me it’s more important to have a broad diversity in shades, rather than a huge number of eyeshadows with subtle variation. I mean… ok… you’ll have light, medium and deep brown eyeshadow, with each category having warm, neutral and cold variations; that’s 9 browns, not 20. 😀
Regarding finishes, I don’t need that much variety (since I’m only a fan of matte eyeshadow, maybe a little bit of satin).
Gonna have to disagree with you on the 9 browns comment — the absolute minimum would be 24! Speaking as a pastel artist, brown is not brown is not brown. The base range for brown eyeshadows in a line I designed would be pale, light, medium, and dark in saturated yellowed, orange, and red tones; as well as desaturated (greyed) versions of the light, medium, and dark colors already mentioned. I’d also have a saturated, deep (near black) color in each family.
TBH, I’d likely have 5 steps along the perimeter of the color wheel rather than 3, maybe 6 steps if I could manage to create a good purple-brown family (for a total of 48!). I’m not talking about a range of browns that one person would have a complete set of, I’m talking about a range of browns where anyone could find some version or variation on THE neutral tone they’ve been struggling to find.
That’s exactly the point, you speak from the perspective of a pastel artist, I speak from the perspective of a casual make-up lover (with minimum expertise on color and quite blind to subtle color difference). 🙂
We all have wants and needs. For me 9 seem more than enough (I actually wouldn’t use own/more than 3-4 browns), for a make-up artist 24 might be just the bare minimum base.
Christine, I think you covered most of what I want!
And to build off of what Kelli said in her comment, I definitely prefer to have singles available in just a nice, simple pan. If they’re sold in a compact, I want the pan to be easy to remove so I can put it in a magnetic palette. I don’t want to have to mess around with cutting, melting glue, and otherwise trying to pry the shadow out without breaking it! I don’t want a bulky compact. I don’t want a brand-specific custom palette set-up. Part of the appeal of singles is being able to choose the best colors from different brands and building my dream palette.
The first and most major factor is consistency. I couldn’t have worded any better than what you stated above, Christine!
Also, I’m looking for a range that isn’t filled with a slew of cookie-cutter shades that say “been there, done that”. One that has some very unique and interesting shades that are still wearable and flattering on.
Yes, yes, yes on the consistency issue! I want a good variety of colors and finishes. Nudes that are inclusive, and not just geared toward medium-beige skin. I want to see good mattes. I want non-patchy purples, blues, and greens. I prefer that I can buy pans only or that the singles are easy to depot, preferably with recyclable packaging.
First of all, it’s great to see some niche brands bringing out high quality singles – and consistency, as you have stated Christine, is the key.
I also like to see some unsusual shades and include a variety of finishes – especially satins, as they seem to have gone out of favour recently. Glitter shades are unappealing to me.
The virtue of having good quality singles is that you can purchase just the shades you like without having to purchase a palette full of shades that you don’t end up using.
What is also important to me, living in Australia, is that the brand offers international shipping at reasonable rates, like Colour Pop.
I agree with everything everyone has said here but must add that cost per pan is one of my deal breakers in terms of building my own palette. Anything over $10 ($90 for a 9 pan palette) will give me pause. I understand that the quantity of product will be more but that is a benefit that I don’t need at this point.
Single eyeshadow ranges are where I want to find the classic matte neutrals — the standards. A lot of people get mad when palettes don’t have neutral colors, but I’ve always thought palettes were wasting space if they included transition, brow, and neutral crease shades; better to get a small handful of hand-picked neutrals to be used with anything and everything. So my answer is “solid, quality mattes in a range of neutral shades, from pale to black.” Other mattes in pop-of-color shades would be fine as well; I’m not against satins or shimmers, etc., but it’s easier to find palettes chock-a-block with good to excellent non-mattes.
I feel my preferences are pretty standard:
– consistency; pretty much everyone has mentioned this
– availability; I hate when brands discontinue shades left and right (looking at you, Colour Pop)
– variety; both in terms of shades and finishes. I love mattes, metallics, and glitters, but few brands seem to make many satins anymore. I am a color fiend, and I live for unique shades, variety of undertones and depths (particularly in mattes), and color shifts.
– packaging; I prefer pan-only singles or ones that are easy to depot. I hate the wasted plastic and time involved with trying to depot pans that are glued down.
– price; I typically stick to singles under $8, but will go as high as $20-22 for unique shades/finishes like the UD Moondust shadows, but that is a rare occurrence. It’s also really nice when there are deals involved, like ABH’s 4 for $32 deal, CP’s Build Your Own Palette sales, and MUG’s discounts on “damaged” pans.
My only ask is that they come in pans that can be used build-your-own-palette style. There’s a lot of shades I like across different brands, but I’d like to put them all in one place.
Nice finish. I do like the ColourPop singles I’ve ordered, for example, but find the shimmer shades so glittery they’re hard to take off, and the mattes irritate my eyes for some reason (same with Anastasia’s formula).
MAC has a great shade range but boy can they be hit and miss (eg Luster formula is terrible, satin lacks pigmentation, veluxe pearl is awesome but limited shades).
Urban Decay are great but again, so much glitter and PRICEY. I’m excited to try Sydney Grace, they look great.