Do you need your eyeshadow palettes to be cohesive?
If it’s going to be over 10 shades, it should be somewhat cohesive. I don’t necessarily need it to have the perfect brow bone or transition shade (because I feel those are very skin tone dependent and including a beige highlighter often makes it a less useful shade to many skin tones!), but I should be able to use the palette together in a few different ways. I don’t mind duos and quads that work as complementary palettes to the rest of my palettes, though.
— Christine
I have almost the opposite opinion!
I think of larger palettes as a good way to get a large number of shades for less expense. If I’m at home, I have my two custom palettes immediately on hand to compliment, and if I’m travelling with a larger palette, I just take a custom one (or both!).
Whereas with smaller palettes like quads, I want to be able to carry them easily for shorter travel purposes and use them alone.
I don’t need a palette to have the standard browbone, transition or black matte/matte brown (necessarily) and I guess it depends on the intended purpose of the palette. But I should look at a palette and be excited to use it. The colors should appeal to me. I should feel inspired to use it. I don’t find inspiration from a palette with a million color options. I also hate a million beige tones. I hate repetitive shades where there is minimal difference. The ND Gold palette makes no sense to me. All that money for gold and brown? No. But I equally despise those huge Morphe palettes with too many choices. Well edited palettes with a balance of light to dark, matte to shimmer, neutral, warm and cool in tones I prefer is my jam. Modern Renaissance all day, every day for me!
I totally agree!
Yes and no. Iām opposite and want smaller palettes to be cohesive for travel. Iām no part of strategic when it comes to palette use and pull out multiple palettes and grab shadows at a whim. I rarely re-do eye looks and go by feel and mood. I have a single very favourite base colour which I use with every eye look I do. Itās from a free Zoeva palette from a gwp from cultbeauty.uk
Yes – I’d like that. I’d like a palette of any size to be something I can use solo (if that’s what you mean by “cohesive”) without having to reach for 3 or 4 other shadows or another palette entirely.
No. I’m not against it, but I’m definitely not one of those people that needs to use one palette to create a look. As a matter of fact, I keep a “range of neutrals” palette handy specifically so I can use it to round out, or create a base for, shadows from other palettes (or singles!). Having said that, I have a different definition of cohesive than a lot of people, as I can be pretty out there in my eye looks. My outlook on life is much more KVD Saint and Sinners than UD Distortion.
Yes! I am also not really fond of the random, shimmery, pop of color trend in palettes with 10-14 pans of eyeshadows.
I don’t mind an all matte or shimmer palette, but I don’t need black and brow bone shades in every palette for example. I also prefer if several colors don’t contrast too much in a palette (except if it is a companion palette) especially if it is a quint or quad: such as a pink, a blue, a green and one brown transition… It wouldn’t inspire me
Yes, definitely cohesive! Big palettes can work if there are groupings of cohesive colors. But for the most part, I donāt like giant palettes with too many shades.
Probably the worst palette I own is the KVD Saint & Sinner Palette because the shades are all over the place, like she was more interested in making it look like a stained glass window than in making a cohesive, usable eyeshadow palette. I was so excited to get it (back in the days when I used to buy her products), but I wound up never using it because of its total lack of cohesiveness. (Iām glad I didnāt pay full price!)
On the other hand, the Emily Edit Wants Palette has lots of different colors, but there is a cohesiveness to it that makes it a pleasure to work with. I wish the shades were grouped a little better, but itās still very usable.
Cohesive, yes. A one-note wonder ala UD Naked Heat, nope! Some of my favorite palettes are ones where I can let my creative energy go to town. Which is why certain palettes remain my favorites, ie; UD Vice 3, despite not having the greatest review, really does work well over primer (except for 1 truly AWFUL shade). Now when it comes to smaller palettes, 6-pan or less, I DO prefer it to be very cohesive and for the color theme to flow. One thing, though, I don’t need need a compulsory browbone shade. I use MAC Orb on my browbone most of the time anyway. Hit major pan on another Orb already, lol.
I love Orb too. I can’t remember ever using anything different. I have no idea how many I’ve gone through.
Haven’t even heard of Orb as a favorite brow bone color soI’ll have to look that one up and see, thanks!
If I’m going to use them for a travel palette, yes. Otherwise, no. I prefer that they be at least somewhat cohesive, but I’m just fine with something like the UD Electric Palette, Violet Voss The Rainbow Palette, or UD Moondust. I use UD Electric alone for a few looks, but more often with other palettes. Rainbow and Moondust I use exclusively with other palettes or singles. I have a large enough stash that its quite easy to augment.
I do prefer palettes to be inclusive of all the shades I want to wear, but without multiple repititions of similar shades, like you often get with very large palettes – ND Gold palette is an example of this – lots of similar shades.
I prefer palettes to be no more than 12-16 colours, without too many pale or black shades as I don’t use these at all.
Nope! I only buy palettes I can depot so it’ll get mixed in with my huge collection of single/depotted shadows. I LOVE cohesive color stories, but I often just use them as inspiration to build a “palette of the day” within what I have. While I’m very weird about the “format” of my shadows (full-size, round pan), I’m not picky about cohesion. I love palettes like the KVD Alchemist (I don’t buy KVD anymore but I still like the product) or that Dose of Colors x Desi and Katy quad from their first collab and other, similar palettes with a range of colors in a more unique finish/formula.
No, it’s not that big of a deal for me. I just want to like and be able use most of the shades.
If anything, I like cohesion more from an aesthetic perspective. Palettes just look so pretty when the shades have a good theme going lol
I understand “cohesive” as meaning working together with each other (without outside help). So, I would say mostly yes. I’d prefer if I can achieve multiple looks with one palette (even though it doesn’t have to be able to give me a day and a night look, though that’s great when I can). And example for me was Natasha Denona’s Star palette. It suite my taste almost perfectly because I liked the idea of the horizontal, vertical or diagonal ability to make looks very easily (and since I prefer dark, dramatic looks regardless of if it’s for work or evenings out, it works well for me). I said “mostly” yes because like you Christine, if it’s missing a brow bone highlighter I can work that out elsewhere, but I do want the colors that are available to give me multiple possibilities for creating a variety of looks.
To travel or for an especial ocasion yes but then Iād love to find a palette which had all my favorite shades even if not cohesive at all. Like throw in at least two purple shades one dark/lighter, olive greens, browns, gold, taupe, warm colors, etc. Yes would love just one crazy but perfect palette with all favorite shades like that.