21 Bold Eyeshadow Combinations for Inspiration
If you’ve been thinking about playing with a new color combination, I hope this post gives you a jumping off point or two! I asked readers in our Discord for a few themes to work with to help me stretch my own creative muscles 🙂
About This Series
Each look idea is centered around a “quad” of four shades with the expectation that one might bring in the appropriate brow bone or additional transitional shade based on skin tone. I know that I tend to use more like five or six shades in a typical look, but I think that four is a happy medium to give a good idea of the “core” color scheme of a look while giving you the ability to lighten/darken as desired. I have listed the colors in this order: inner lid, middle of lid, outer lid/crease, and crease/above crease.
You might see combinations that seem slightly repeated but placement will vary (e.g. a halo placement where the lightest and more shimmery shade is placed on the center) as placement can also create a different effect/look! You might also want to consider incorporating your favorite matte/shimmer shades (as applicable) to increase the versatility of certain palettes. Consider these ideas a jumping off point!
Sydney Grace Eyeshadows
Natasha Denona Gold
Sydney Grace Eyeshadows
ColourPop Just My Luck
Sydney Grace Eyeshadows
Natasha Denona Sunris
Sydney Grace Eyeshadows
Pat McGrath Subversive
Astral Ghost Orchid, Night Creature, Blitz Amethyst, Xtreme Black
Sydney Grace Eyeshadows
Melt Cosmetics She's in Parties
Sydney Grace Eyeshadows
Natasha Denona Metropolis
Imperia (265M), Crest (267M), Aqueous (261M), Antique (276CP)
Sydney Grace Eyeshadows
Marc Jacobs Extravagance
Sydney Grace Eyeshadows
Melt Cosmetics She's in Parties
Sydney Grace Enduring Love (Light)
Victoria (Light), Robert (Light), Boaz (Light), Darcy (Light)
These combos you post always inspire me, Christine. I love seeing how you use palettes like Born to Run but even with palettes I don’t have, I generally have dupes I can substitute and, honestly, these really excite me to the point where I will try colours and combos that are a bit out of my usual looks.
You will have to let us know which ones you end up trying 🙂
I’m also thrilled to hear that you use what you have to get the vibe!
Thanks Christine. I always love these posts and I always find a couple looks to push me from my comfort zone. And I have new Sydney Grace eyeshadows to play with.
Hope you love your new SG eyeshadows, Shari!
I have so many Sydney Grace shadows I can do so much now!! MWAHAHAHAA!!!!!
I’m going to play shadow bingo with my friends tomorrow 😀
My favorites out of these are Cool Paradise but not sure I could pull it off
Yayy!! 🙂 When in doubt, try it as liner or maybe start with two or three shades, then use the one that is “off” to you (what you think you can’t pull off) and use it in a more sparing way!
So inspiring, thank you! I have actually tried before a couple timee something similar to the ‘In the rainforest’ combo and it looks great! Will try ‘Regal ring’ and ‘Nightfall in Capri’ before summer is gone! Dreams in the clouds looks great for early Autumn with that heather shade.
Nice! Let us know how it goes if you try Regal Ring or Nightfall Capri this summer 🙂