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Should every eyeshadow palette have a highlighter shade in it?
Should every eyeshadow palette have a highlighter shade in it? Does it depend on the size of the palette?
If it’s ten or more shades, it should probably have a light enough shade that could work as a highlighter, but an issue is always that one highlighter may not work on all skin tones. Though, to be practical, I take my go-to brow bone highlighter with me when I travel as a standalone item, so I don’t care if a palette has one in it or not!
Thanks to Sally for today’s question! Do you have a question idea? Submit yours here.
I would love to know what your go to highlight color is! 🙂
Burberry Trench
I don’t like to highlight my brow bone (I have hooded eyes and it looks odd), but I do like having a highlight sort of shade to brighten the inner corners of my eye.
same here! i find that painterly by mac (or whatever concealer color) gives me enough lightness under my brow, but a strong — particularly metallic — brow highlight is too much for me.
I have hooded eyes, too, and won’t use shimmery eyeshadows in that area. Generally, I just use a matte shade close to my skintone to soften the browbone to blend more seamlessly into the lid area. (I find that it also helps limit transfer in the crease area!) 🙂
Depends on the palette type. If it’s just a collection of colors, no. But if it’s meant to be a travel staple, it should at least have one or two that could be used as a highlight shade.
I’d say it needs a matte light blending shade more than a highlighter.
In a palette as big as the Nakeds, sure. In a quad (especially HE), heck no! It always bugs when I see three gorgeous colors and a boring white. I don’t fancy paying that kind of price for what feels like three shades and a half.
I completely agree with this!
I agree with a few comments actually. I would prefer a shade fit for blending vs. a highlight color because I have a tone and don’t go through those as quickly. And lately my go to highlight shade has been Wet N Wild Color Icon single in Creme Brulee. The most buttery, smooth pigmented highlight color ever! And it’s only $1.99!!! If I’m traveling with a palette I will take that along no matter what.
A palette not having a highlight shade won’t deter me from purchasing it, I’d much prefer a good blending shade (or maybe a few blending shades).
I always bring my highlight shade separately as well. I think a matte crease/blending shade is more important for me!
Not necessarily. I mean, I have so many palettes already that I have enough highlighter shades to last me forever 🙂
Yes, but in practicality I’m so pale that 99% of all palettes never will. The joys of Unii palettes and making your own, I guess.
With anything smaller than 6 shades, then no, as I consider those to be “one-and-done” products. With largee palettes, I view them as “samplers”, with the primary reason to buy them is for the value. Either way, it’s not a deterrent, as I have a “go-to” highlighter (along with several backups!), and it isn’t a burden to toss it in my makeup bag for travel. I’m otherwise very OCD when it comes to using multiple brands of eyeshadow, with the exception of highlighter.
I also want to add that while most “colors” are able to cover a broad range of skintones/coloring, highlighter shades are a bit more personal, and specific. I’m fairly light & neutral, so a shade that may work on the lid may be too dark as a highlight. Also, while I may be willing to wear “color” on the lid & crease, I want my highlight to look natural, and too many palettes include a highlight shade that has a tinge of the primary palette color. I use only beige/champagne/pearl white, so if I buy a purple-themed quad, and the highlight shade is a pale lavender, I end up using it as a lid shade.
Yes. If I’m using an eyeshadow palette I want to be able to create an entire look using JUST that palette.
Having to pull out something else to make it work is annoying to me when you spend so much money on them, I feel like you should be able to do your whole eye look with it. I don’t normally buy palettes that don’t have a highlight shade for that reason.
Yes I am a firm believer that EVERY pette should have a highlighter shade
Yes, I’d take a matte light shade over a shimmery highlighter. I got UD’s Dangerous Palette during Ulta’s Black Friday sale (I really wanted Mushroom, and the sale meant the palette was less than a single eyeshadow!), but all the shades are so intense that I end up grabbing Skimp from the Feminine Palette to blend them out. A trio or quad is generally small enough that I don’t think a blending or highlighting shade is strictly necessary. But the UD palettes are pretty big, so I don’t think I’d travel with Dangerous. I’d rather take Feminine, or a Bare Minerals Ready 8-piece that packs smaller.
Hmm are we talking about a highlighter for brow bones or inner corners? If it’s brow bones, then definitely not. I find most shades included in palettes way too reflective for that purpose anyways. I usually use the lightest shade in Chanel Charming or the Chanel highlighter from this spring for my brow bones.
I wouldn’t say every palette needs a highlighter shade, because depending on the look you’re going for, the undertone could be off anyway. But I like a couple lighter shades in my palettes for blending, and just because I tend to like brighter shades on my eyes anyway!
I really wish they didn’t 🙁
I think a highlight shade is a pretty easy thing to buy a single of… and it will last you FOREVER. So I don’t understand why every palette has to have at least 1-3 shimmery highlight shades. I have enough of them to last me a lifetime, and I only really use thebalms Mary-Lou Manizer anyway.
My skin is practically white, so most highlighters are too dark for me anyways. It would be nice to have one in a bigger palette (10 colors or more) but it’s not a must for me. I would like to see more matte crease shades though.
I don’t think it’s really necessary and it wouldn’t be a deal breaker for me, but at the same time, it’s a nice thought? And like you said, one shade may not work for everyone. Some people prefer a more skintone colour rather than stark white, POC with a darker skintone would need something darker, etc.
I think 6 shades or less no highlighter shade is necessary. It’s a spot that could be used by a more interesting color than “bone”.
Unless i am in love with every single shadow and they are more then your average lid colors. Then no. But since most pallets out there expect you to use only that for your look then yes. I need a matte brow shadow pigmented enough to highlight about 2 shadows lighter then my skin. Also a very frosty or glittery shade for my inner corner like Urbandecay “SIN” eyeshadow or “POLYESTER BRIDE”. The fact that most pallets don’t have shadows like this are a deal breaker for me. I rather buy lid or crease colors by them selves.
In some palettes, the highlighter is well thought out and is designed to enhance the other colors in the palette. For example, the highlighter shade in Chanel’s Mystère has a hint of green in it so that it coordinates with the rest of the shades that have a green undertone, Guerlain’s Les Gris highlighter has a touch of blue in it to enhance the deep blue liner shade in the palette, the highlighter in Rue de Rivoli has a subtle pink pearl in it to reflect the pop of fuchsia in the palette, etc. In cases like that, having a highlight shade created specifically for a palette makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, there are many times when the highlighter is just a generic shade that has been added so that the product can be marketed as a complete look. There’s nothing special about it and it can be real hit or miss as far as wearability goes. So, whether a highlighter shade is a plus or a minus really just depends on the composition of a particular palette and some brands are simply better than others at creating interesting highlighters.
My everyday, goes-with-anything highlighter is Touch Éclat #2 and it is always in my travel bag 🙂
After our discussion on burberry post
i am continuously searching “best highlighter for medium to dark skin tone”
i do feel if there are 8 + shades , one or two highlighter are must
but as you said .;. there are so many shades which doesnt go well
like in smoked palette everything is matte and flat 🙁
the two shades i mean
how i wish i can find my perfect “highlighter palette ”
it would consist of shades more or less like –
brule
nylon
ricepaper
arena
from brand like guerlain 😀
Yes and no. It really depends on the palette. If it’s something like UD’s Naked, which is supposed to be a daily use palette that can be used for traveling, then yes, but if it’s something like the holiday palettes that are meant as a deal for lots of the brand’s shades, then not so much. Of course, the problem with that logic is that highlighter shades vary wildly based on skin tone and eye shape, so it’s not a deal breaker if I like a palette that doesn’t have one. I always use a matte beige on my brow bone, so I have plenty of those lying around if need be.
I had the same thought actually. A palette that is designed to have a wide range of basic neutrals like the UD Naked’s or the LORAC Pro should have a highlight shade or two–esp. those makeup minimalists out there who want just one palette that can cover their every occasion. But palettes outside of that–I don’t think it’s necessary. I also personally carry my own highlight shades with me.
I use them every time, so yes there should be instead of black shade that is always included, but in my case it doesn’t get used much.
Highlight shades are too personal, some like their brow highlight shimmery others like it matte. Blending colors in palettes are way better.
I actually do like the highlighters because I tend to use them as lid colors since I go for more natural looks!
I am completely ambivalent about highlighter shadows in palettes. I went through this phase of using highlighter eyeshadows (both matte and slight shimmer) all the time, but now I really can’t stand that look on me at all and, in retrospect, I think I was using too much product in too light of a colour in too large of an area. In lieu of highlighter shadow, I typically run a bit of peach corrector under my brow tails and arches and pull down the product every so slightly with a small flat brush to further define the brow shape and lighten the area just a touch. My preference at this point is a much less obvious brow bone.
Ideally yes, but not everyone has the same skin tone or even the same taste in a highlight finish. I like a matte, cream-colored shadow to highlight under my brow bone, but something shimmery for the inner corner. I do like palettes that contain both of those types of shades, although it’s not a big deal to me if they don’t.
I think it’s good to have one – if not for anything else, but for a quick bright eye look or a bit in the inner teardot.
Based on the fact that a lot of palettes seem to think highlighter = super frosty white or cream eyeshadow, I’m not the biggest proponent of them. Included highlights often seem to be too generic to be something I’d buy the palette FOR but at the same time they’re often not going to be flattering on everyone.
I agree with the idea that larger ‘travel friendly’ palettes should include one, but in that case my preference would be to have a couple of options (like the UD Naked palette has several). The thing that really gets me though is how many palettes contain a boring matte black shade. A matte black is fine as a staple and suits some palette themes but, if I was someone who collected MAC LE quads for example, how many copies of Carbon would I have at this point?
I use *only* that type of shade as a highlighter, but I don’t find many palettes go that route, and always have to use a separate single.
As for a matte black shade, I can never have too many… Well, maybe MAC Carbon…
I pretty much don’t use highlighter colors, only some light or gold sparkle at the inner corners of my eyes, so, nah, I don’t care if pallettes have highlighter shades or not.
Not a highlight per se but a lighter colour to make creating a look easier. I’m not a fan of small palettes with 4 very different bright colours that I find difficult to make a look out of. I prefer things that look like Tom Ford’s quads which make creating a look within the same colour using different shades of, say, purple. If it is a larger palette like UD BoS then I love a crazier mix and am not so fussed about a highlight as I probably won’t travel with it. I think it depends on whether I view it as a good travelling size and whether I want to take a separate highlight shade.
My opinion on palettes changes over time. As long as there is a light, medium and dark for contrast, I’m ok. The light shade ends up more frequently on my lid thanks as a brow bone highlighter or inner corner.
In all honesty though, daily rush eyeshadow – if and when I wear any – is just a dark outer V shade that can blend down to be used in the rest of the crease. Too hurried for anything more. Am more concerned that palettes offer more than one matte shade and that shimmer shades are primarily light shimmer.
Nooooo, I have so many dupes haha. But having said that, the reason I even buy palettes instead of singles is because the colours in them all work well together. I’m not sure!
I think smaller palettes don’t all need to have a highlighting shade. Larger palettes should have one.
Honestly every palette must have a matte highlight/blending shade, a medium crease color and a dark matte color. If it doesn’t I feel it’s not complete
Ugh I wish they didn’t – for people with darker skin, typical highlight shades are completely useless because they’re too stark to use as highlights, let alone on the lid, so they have absolutely no use. Such a waste of money, hate them.
I already have my favorite highlighters for every occasion. For me to add to my collection, a palette needs to add something valuable and highlighters are not valuable to me.
more so than a simple skin colored / white highlighter, I’d say it needs a paler version of the color scheme of the palette, like a light pinky/lilac shade for a purple toned palette, or even a cream / off-white warm color for a green / khaki themed palette, etc. (all this if it’s a quad, or 5 color palette – if it’s a larger palette, it’s bound to have somewhat of a light enough color anyway!)