Have you ever put together your own eyeshadow palette?

Yes, definitely! I haven’t really put one together in a cohesive manner in a long time, though. I usually have all my singles arranged by color and/or finish (sometimes I keep all the mattes together, then organized by color) rather than by a cohesive theme.

— Christine

15 Comments

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Rachel R. Avatar

Yes, though most of my palettes are just singles I’ve liked from a particular brand. They’re not meant to be stand alone palettes, or even have colors that are all compatible with each other. They’re shadows I like, or shadows that would fill a gap in my collection, or have special finishes.

I made one cohesive palette of mostly matte Coastal Scents singles, which were made up of shades I wanted to go with my bright shimmers, but was having trouble finding in pre-made palettes. Shades of oranges, reds, corals, magentas, pinks, and yellows, along with goldenrod, olives, and darker greens Of course, not long after, brands started coming out with those kinds of matte shades left and right.

Mariella Avatar

Like Rachel R, most of my self made palettes are also singles from brands like MAC and MUFE. The only sort of “cohesive” ones I have are those I made from Buxom (I’ve got 3 of them and while I move the shadows around a bit, to suit my mood if I’m going to be travelling – how long since I did THAT?) and also from Inglot, those those are quads and I find that size the easiest to arrange in a practical (rather than a “these are all shades I love and they’re all kind of the same”) way.

Seraphine Avatar

I bought the empty 4-shade Nirvana palette by Urban Decay a few years ago. I kept changing my mind on which of my UD singles to put in it, switching them out every few days. I finally gave up and found a new way to store all my eyeshadow singles, which I’m happy with. That’s the only time I ever tried to make my own palette. I’m a failed palette-maker.

Pearl Avatar

Many MAC and Sydney Grace singles and empty MAC palettes later and I have ‘self made’ (copied and duped from palettes I wanted to try but never bought) palettes.

I had a whole slew of MAC and Sydney Gray singles that I didn’t know what to do with and didn’t know how to make any color stories with so I just got pictures of palettes that I like the color story and made a dupe palette from that.

Agona Avatar

Pearl, I just want you to know you’ve inspired me to put together my first cohesive palette, inspired by attempting to dupe a palette that I love that’s been out of stock and swapping out just a couple of shades that I wish it had instead. Thank you!

Lesley Avatar

I created one out of my favorite shades in ABH Jackie Aina and MR. Pinks and purples don’t work well for me any longer so I removed Pinker, Shookington, and Big Wig from JA and substituted Raw Sienna, Cypress Umber and Burnt Orange from MR. I find that Burnt Orange and Raw Sienna are better transitions with Soleil or Zamin. Supreme could have gone but I ran out of thoughts for a substitute. I also have a collection of greens in a Z palette but they were randomly acquired so I can’t claim that they are an intentional palette.

Ana Maria Avatar

Off course, at this point I only own my custom made eyeshadow palette. It took me 3-4 years to get my perfect shade mix in 15 eyeshadows, especially since I needed to learn what shades I don’t use or don’t suit me. But right now I don’t feel the need of anything extra, sometimes I might replace an eyeshadow that expires with a dupe just to make a minor change. 😆

Missy Avatar

I’ve never tried to put one together. Bought a Z palette but I’m still too chicken to disassemble my pre-made palettes. I have a large collection of loose eyeshadows and put together a ‘catalogue’ of various color designs I enjoy, does that count?

Gigi Avatar

Yes! And I feel like it’s almost the only way to go, with a few exceptions. Like Viseart, Melt Cosmetics, Natasha Denona. My ab fav is the colored raine cosmetics palettes https://colouredraine.com/collections/cruelty-free-makeup-accessories/products/power-palette. They hold so so many pan pallets that it’s wonderful to have them almost all in one place. But I also keep a few smaller ones for travel with neutral colors and a few pops of color for evening wear.

I tend to look at premade palettes differently now and if I won’t use @least 90% of the shadows, or don’t already own the same amount, just in another brand then I don’t buy it.

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