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I’m not a huge fan of matte shadows and haven’t deliberately purchased any in a few years – certainly not since all these “reformulations” started in almost every brand and I have enough of the basic mattes I need. But I would say MAC simply because they had a fabulous matte formula (Matte2) which they discontinued entirely maybe 8 to 10 years ago (Copperplate, Typographic and Blanc Type were all Matte2, I think, and I love them all which is high praise for someone like me who generally eschews matte shadows for all but the most basic of purposes).
Mariella, we need to petition
MAC to give us back their Matte² formula again! That is one of my favorites, too.
Do you think they’d even listen??? I doubt it! If they wouldn’t make some hugely popular LE products (Moth Brown eyeshadow, for example) permanent, they won’t spare a thought for our request and just keep churning out sub-par products and reformulating (or maybe that should be DEformulating) formerly great products like the Satin Taupe they put into a recent palette they released.
Sadly, I think that you’re correct, Mariella. MAC is like the caption of a sinking ship that keeps exclaiming: “Everything is fine, folks! No need to get in the lifeboats!” All the while the water is overtaking it.
MAC is stubborn like that! Although, there have been a handful of times when they discontinued a shade (like Kid, for example) that was so popular, that they did give in to the backlash.
Being over 40 I like matte shadows…but satin and mattalic are also favs….I know I’ll be in the minority here but I personally have never had good luck with Color Pop shadows. For me the colors don’t translate as pretty on my lids as they look in the pan….also some of my Dior quad shades are too hard and no blendability…..also several years ago I purchased a Melt green palatte which was not good…….very patchy….that being said…..ND usually doesnt dissappoint
I second this about the ColourPop mattes. I can’t get them to blend, and I love creme/liquid shadows.
Color Pop never ‘popped ‘ for me, either. Too dry and hard texture for my taste.
Limiting myself to just one brand I would say Charlotte Tilbury, but then, I really just don’t like any of her shadow formula’s. At this point they could be wonderful and I just haven’t tried any in a long while because they creased on me, faded quickly and were a pain to apply.
ANYTHING that isn’t easy to blend out (gets “stuck”, think oldest PMG Labs Motherships), or blends away into nothingness (many ColourPop and UD mattes do that).
So, what I prefer is mattes that are buildable, bendable, but still pigmented and don’t go “muddy” on my lids. Yeah, I’m pretty picky!
Nabla. Dusty, no pigment and I tried to apply multiple ways with multiple primers because of the positive reviews and got nowhere.
Not a fan of Odens Eye mattes or Colourpop. When you have better, it’s hard to waste your time with such inferior formulas!!
I generally dislike matte eyeshadows, so pretty much all of them I dislike. However, I will say from the one time I used one of Natasha’s Glam mattes that they were pretty good.
I often think CP’s matte formulas are on the average side, judging by the ratings here and the newer UD offerings are generally poor.
Anastasia e.g. Soft glam. Felt like powders bricks to me
Lunar Beauty has my least favourite matte formula, patchy and grabby. I haven’t really liked any of the Oden’s Eye mattes I’ve tried either, I found they blended away to nothing on me.
MAC