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Urban Decay still tends to put out the most palettes with higher quality, though Make Up For Ever’s starting to release more pre-made palettes with superior quality.
Thanks to Genevieve for today’s question!
— Christine
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I would say UD a while ago, but definitely MUFE now. I think they are absolutely brilliant in curating their pre-made palettes. They do a brilliant job of executing what they advertise. A brights palette will be full of lovely colors. A neutral palette will have tons of wonderful staples. Their shadows work across skin tones. My in-palette shades are the same as their single counterparts and they maintain this consistency. Their consistency alone puts them far ahead of many brands and I think it’s great that for the most part if you fall in love with a shade in a pre-made, you can replace it with the same single easily without worrying over a change in quality or shade.
I don’t own too many pre-made palettes, but if I had to, it’s a tie between Urban Decay and Anastasia. I have two of each. For UD, I own the Naked 2 and 3 palettes. There are sooo many options, but no transition shades for my skintone. My number one choice is my Anastasia Maya Mia and Amrezy palettes. I picked these primarily because they actually have transitions shade for the brown/chocolate girls. 😉
I agree with UD!
Dior!
… kidding.
All things considered I’d probably go with Urban Decay also. I can pack Basics 1 (or Pulp Fiction) plus one or two colorful eye shadows and feel like I’m set for anything. Still sad I didn’t get Theodora before it sold out…
Yeah MUFE are quickly becoming favorites. They’re just so easy and gorgeous to work with.
I think Urban Decay’s are the best value, given their (usually) high quality coupled with lots of shades for a low price. On the other hand, I definitely think Too Faced’s palettes have a very user-friendly design; I’m not great at picking out complementary shadow shades, and their tendency to group shades together (plus include look books) is really helpful.
I have yet to try MUFE’s palettes, though–hopefully I will at some point!
Make Up For Ever, Lorac, Smashbox. Urban decay has been a disappointment for me
I agree with Urban Decay and I would add LORAC and MAC pallets.
I would’ve included MUFE because the quality of their shadows are awesome but when it comes to pallets, they tend to not include a enough variety (i.e mattes and shimmers or bold vs neutral).
Agree. I also love Too Faced these days. The packaging and colors are on point. For “mixed” product palettes, I really like those Tarte round palettes.
I really love Too Faced’s eyeshadow palettes. Everything works together and they show me how to wear multiple looks. I’m terrible at figuring that stuff out on my own.
Hmm Can a palette be a quad type thing? Or do you only mean large a$$ palettes? :/
That’s a good question. What constitutes a “palette?” I tend to call anything with more than two colors a palette. I buy biga$$ palettes all the time, though, yeah…
High end: I’m in love with the two MUFE eye palettes they recently put out, and if they did more, I’d pick MUFE as the best. I really like Urban Decay’s and Too Faced’s palettes.
Drug store: Sleek and Makeup Revolution. Both have great quality, variety (including brights and “unconventional” colors, esp. Makeup Revolution), color combinations and prices. E.l.f. has some really good palettes, too.
My 1st choice would have to be Lorac. Their Pro Palettes are so versatile! I was actually able to dupe to a TEE the eye look you did with the UD Smokey Naked, the one over UD Primer Potion using the original Pro Palette. Sad thing is, I tend to “forget” that I even have it because of my veritable sea of UD pre-made and MAC self-made palettes. That said, I do truly believe that there’s a near dead heat tie between Lorac and Urban Decay pre-made palettes!
With the exception of the Holiday palettes (which contain some “debatable” shades), Kat von D. I’ve found them consistent overall, and the layout is “user-friendly”, even for someone who wants a simpler look, while there is plenty of variation. Also, they’re semi-permanent, and always a few options at a given time.
Urban Decay does well in terms of quality, but while *I* love the whole Naked thing, others don’t. Tarte does well in terms of quality, but the rehashing of shades under new names is a bit annoying. Finally, LORAC, while few options are available, the palettes cover a vast range; however, this only applies to the permanent/non-“value” palettes.
I’ve only tried a couple of the larger NYX palettes, but the 2 I have-Butt Naked “eyes” & “turn the other cheek”-are phenomenal!
I love Tarte’s shadows, but didn’t mention them because of their getting so redundant. Tartelette is still my HG matte neutral palette.
I agree, Christine. I think UD is hard to top. I do like the MUFE Nudes You Need palette but MUFE doesn’t have a large # of palettes in their lineup so I can’t really say they’re “the best”. Too Faced comes in for a lot of criticism but I love every one of the palettes I have (5 or 6 of the 9-pans and 2 of their really large ones that also include face and lip products). But I think UD wins out overall.
I like Urban Decay, I think Naked Basics & Naked 2 are probably my favourites. I also really want to try Zoeva palettes – they look great! I would say MUFE, but I find their palettes overlap 2-3 colours sometimes…
for me urban decay! i’ve never tried a mufe but they seem interesting!
Urban Decay consistently puts out quality palettes for a reasonable price. I would like to try Mac’s purple x9 when I get a chance as well. Also, for the price, Coastal Scents palletes are decent
I have to say Urban Decay, based on the number of them that I own.
I think that depends on the person and I’m going to guess for eyeshadow palettes. I agree with Christine. I also like LORAC, Kat Von D, Sugarpill, Mehron and Tarina Tarantino for shadow palettes. I also like Clinique–I don’t find their shadows to be quite as pigmented as the others but I find them easy to blend–which might be more important to some.
LORAC takes the cake for me. Too Faced has really been stepping up their game with their palettes as well.
UD does have great quality and lots of palettes in general, but I’m partial to the KVD palettes. I have three of them and love them all. There are only a few shades I can say negative things about in terms of formula, but most of them are really smooth and easy to work with. UD is also smooth and easy to work with, but most of the shades are so shimmery or glittery that they’re hard [for me and my taste] to combine together and I find myself using only one or two shimmer shades for a look.
Urban Decay and Sleek! I love urban Decay palettes for their awesome colors & shimmers. I love sleek palettes for their price/value
I’ve been using Too Faced palettes since I first got into makeup and still continue to purchase and love their palettes! They have a lot of palettes that are great for beginners, and also some for the makeup lovers (like the chocolate bar palettes). I suppose they need to do a really brightly colored large one now!
I would also say Urban Decay, Lorac and MUFE (not that I have any of the previous two – but just reading the reviews). Bareminerals are pretty good too. Tarina Tarantino used to have great ones, but I don’t think she has put anything out for awhile.
urban decay forever!!!!!!!!
Kat Von D
I agree with you Urban Decay Vice 2 and 3 and Vice LTD ,but I haven’t tried MUFE palettes.
Too Faced! I love their nine color palettes, so effortless. Urban Decay is too glittery for me. Shimmer I can handle, but big chunks of glitter in multiple shades is too much for me.
That’s really tough. Urban Decay has lots of palettes with a massive range of shades, but my favorite palettes are by Lorac. I have to say Lorac, if for no other reason than you’d have to pry the original Unzipped from my cold, dead hands.
I love Urban Decay but Kat Von D’s eyeshadows work better for me. I find I reach for her palettes far more than my UD ones. Again… because I’m older and her palettes don’t have an over-abundance of shimmer.
I am going to have to say UD , Lorac is close behind though. Also , MUFE will be a contender in a few more releases. I still have to try KVD though.
I think I may give more love to my tarte and smashbox palettes than any other ones, so those will have to be my picks! UD is a real close 2nd (or would that be third?)
For now I’d say Urban Decay. I’m pretty picky about pre-made palettes and tend to stick to putting together my own, but I use the UD Basics and Basics2 a lot and recently got the Naked 2 palette (I refuse to buy the Naked 1 unless they redo the packaging because my OCD ain’t about that life and for the price the packaging should be a lot better quality). I haven’t tried any MUFE palettes so I may have to look into those. But mostly I stick to MAC palettes and whatever shadows I put in there.
Urban Decay Naked and Vice palettes are great! I also like Lorac Pro and Unzipped palettes. I don’t have a lot of ABH in my collection but last year, I randomly picked up the Tamanna palette because it was so pretty in the store. ABH seems to be strong in the eye shadow game but I’m just not as into buying singles–if they put out more palettes, I think they could definitely compete with UD.
I really liked the Nordstrom Mac 15-pan limited edition, although I’m not sure if I’d buy one of the other 15-pan ones. I also really like Tarte.
Oh, I also like the Bare Minerals Ready quads and Tarina Tarantino palettes.