Do you tend rely on a single eye palette or do you combine eye palettes for a look?

If I want to be more creative, then I often grab two to pair together, but if I’m in a rush or just looking for something reliable, then I will just use one palette–more likely if I’m going for a neutral eye.

— Christine

26 Comments

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Wednesday Avatar

Hey Mariella: I almost always go for matte

*Lotus or Amhara from ND Safari (colourful, but soft looking)
*Mix of Malia and Aya also Safari – more of a shade I use for smoked blending out which kinda mimics my skintone.
*Solitaire from Making Mauves ColourPop
*Centre shade from Huda Mauve Obsession – great balanced shade on this one. Looks darkish, but doesn’t look garish.
*Victoria, Passion, Juliet from SG Enduring Love light
*Darcy also Enduring Love light (more colourful)
*Any of these from Huda New Nude: Secret, Raw, Teddy, Tease, Lace or even Spanked.

I never seem to reach for PMG for this purpose. Her midtones are often satin or shimmer and I seem to go with her mattes as a focal as lid/lower lashline colour because they are so pigmented and great for packing.

Mariella Avatar

Thanks, friend! That’s quite a comprehensive list and, to my surprise, I don’t own a single one of them. I have 2 shades from 2 Natasha Denona minis that I find really useful (Lodge from Mini Gold and Harlow from Mini Glam) and Stila’s Puppy (DC’d now) is another great one for me.

Wednesday Avatar

I actually pulled out my palettes to reply 😆. And I forgot one. There is this one off palette from Zoeva (‘Offline’ a freebie with some purchases) and it contains two shadows I have hit pan on: Ring Ring Ring and Pause.. They are definitely dupes for some popular matte light skintone shades from MAC like Orb..etc…

kjh Avatar

I made columns in an Adept palette with SG singles that have neutral-ish shades for most looks/color families. Cool brown, concrete road, thunderbird, moon landing, speedway, miracle, nature’s crown, officer, pismo, Allie, brilliant realm, eastern rise, countess. You could check out SG’s singles that would suit your purpose, TO ADD TO YOUR ORDER, WHEN CHRISTINE’S PALETTES DROP. That will be worth shipping to Canada!

Lizzie - IsolatedColor Avatar

I don’t remember the last time I just used one palette! (Well, besides when I used only two shades from Chocolate Bar for an April Fools’ video I recorded, lol.) My process is to decide what look I want to do and then pull out whichever shadows will get me there. It’s a very rare occasion that I first choose a palette and then decide what look to do based on using those shadows. I should start trying to do looks using one palette at a time as a kind of challenge…

Mariella Avatar

If I had more room, I’d probably reach for multiple palettes more often but as things stand (tiny area for my makeup and usually much rush to get ready), I’ll grab what’s near at hand and handy – so usually a single palette or at most, 2 palettes or a palette and a single or two

Francesca Avatar

I love combining many different palettes, even if they could be standalone. It is so fun and creative! A way to re-discover every time my collection. Only exception is when I am very very late for something (i.e. taking the train to go office on the morning), in that case I grab only one palette, but this do not occurs often, because I prepare on the evening the palettes to be used the next morning, s

Sarah Avatar

Lately (as in this year), yes. I decided I wanted to pan as many shades in my Colourpop Perception palette as I can, and yesterday I finally hit pan on Played Out (I use it in my outer v as a smoky shade, I’m floored that it was the first one to pan). I have two more shades that are about to hit pan as well. But when I get bored with Perception (and there are days I do), I find myself using multiple palettes to create a look. One just rarely suffices.

Jen Avatar

I get overwhelmed easily when I have a lot of options and often end up in a sort of paralysis so using one palette at a time works a lot better for me. If I’m using a duo or a quad however, I have some go-to singles that I often reach for to fill out a look.

Lesley Avatar

I always use Modern Renaissance and Jackie Aina together. My lid shades come from JA and the rest comes from MR. If I am using shadow to fill in my brows, I might need to pull out a different palette although there is one in MR that sometimes works.

Amy Avatar

Probably 50-50. I aim to use one palette at a time, but sometimes I can’t find the right crease/ transition shades, or occasionally I just know that x will work better than the closest thing in the palette. (The three final shades in Naked Smokey are excellent on my skin tone, about NW20, great work horses)

Ana Maria Avatar

I can be bothered to use more than one palette. Grabbing multiple, laying them out, pairing colors… it just yields too much work and frustration for me.
Since I switch to owning just one custom palette with the colors I love, use and look good on me, I simply enjoy my makeup more.

Genevieve Avatar

It just depends on what is happening in my day and what I am wearing: if it’s just a routine day, I will use one eye palette, but if I am going out and what I am wearing has an unusual shade combination, I will use two or more eye palettes to get the sort of colour shades I like. I don’t get bothered by using two palettes anymore.
I guess it’s about knowing what’s in your stash and how different shade combinations can work together.
As I rotate my eyeshadow palettes quite a lot, I have come to know what works and what doesn’t.

angela Avatar

I prefer eye palettes, im using one for a month and then switch. If i had a palette with no good inner corner highlight or a dark shade to deepen than i would teach for another shade from another palette

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