I keep my singles by brand, so it tends to me if I want to do a particular set of colors and don’t want to open a bunch of pre-made palettes, then I’ll go to brand xyz and pick and choose what I need. I don’t spend a lot of time with singles unless I am testing new ones, though.
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I have to decide beforehand whether I’m using a pre-made palette or singles for a look that day. I only buy cohesive palettes so I don’t pull any singles to supplement a palette. And I’ve only purchased a bunch of singles with the goal of creating a palette or color story in-mind.
Now when I travel, I bring along Pat McGrath singles Statuesque and Divine Mink as my travel makeup. This is also one of my favorite combinations that I use during the weekday. I also use singles for brow shades, like MAC espresso.
They fit in quite well and even better if they are “pro pan” singles that I can put into smaller sized palettes. But I will use singles that are a pain to de-pot (I don’t de-pot them but use them in their original packaging – shades like MAC Fictionm Sea Worship or UD Stray Dog) Just today, I’m wearing Inglot 422 – a shadow I’ve had for years and purchased as a single that came with an Inglot 3 pan palette for their old round singles (needless to say, I filled the other 2 wells quite easily). I love singles for the “tailored to my needs” choice they give me but, of course, I also love palettes just because I can never get enough eyeshadow!
Is “pro pan” smaller than 26mm? I would love smaller pans.
By “pro pan”, I mean shadows that come without packaging around them. The sizes and shapes vary (most are the standard MAC pro pan size – I’ve no idea what the measurement is, but others – the old MUFE ones – were much larger) but they’re just in their metal pans with no surrounding packaging.
My eyeshadow singles are all poppin’ colors that I purchased to zazz up my looks. So I reach for singles when I’m looking to have a little extra going on. They’re always used intentionally and usually when I have the time to enjoy the process of creating a look.
My singles are fairly cohesive so I can use them as I would a palette. Recently I have bought a few singles that are dupes of some favorite shades in palettes that I might actually use up. Although I have been wearing eye makeup since my teens, which were in the middle of the last century, I did not buy my first palette until five or six years ago. My work required a very understated look and I didn’t see the point of all those extra shades.
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Eyeshadow singles are my entire routine. I just have a custom made palette of singles, I buy just the colors that suit me and I use, I can replace easily expired or finished shadows… I wouldn’t go back to premade palettes.
I have a collection of beautiful single multi-chrome shadows. But I tend to focus on my eye shadow palettes more. I will occasionally add a single eye shadow to make a lack luster shadow pop. Need to use my singles more because they’re quite beautiful.
I only have half a dozen or so singles and I have to say that I don’t use them as much as I should. The one I use the most, at the moment, is PMG’s Lapis Luxury as that gorgeous blue shade fits in well when I use PMG’s Sublime and I want a pop of blue.
My other singles are more neutral inclined and I occasionally use the City Color ones when I am in a hurry, as well as a few SG singles.
I occasionally do a full look with singles, especially my loose shadows. Mostly I use singles for special shades (duo- or multi-chrome, super sparkly, neon, etc.) or to supplement a palette that is lacking a good crease shade or brow bone or inner corner highlight. I sometimes use my loose shadows with Inglot Duraline to make colored eyeliners.
Singles like MAC Brûlée, Orb and Rice Paper are staples that I use as base shades with palettes. I’ve fair skin so many palettes lightest shades are too dark as a base or highlighter for me. I use these with Charlotte Tilbury palettes and others.
They don’t really fit. Most singles don’t really speak to me, and the ones that do tend to have a bad habit of not accepting my credit card company. *coughClionadh Stained Glasscough* As of now the only singles I have and use are Sephora Vampire Lovers and a freebie of UD Midnight Cowboy.
I usually only reach for them when I’m doing a one color look, or maybe two colors. Beyond that I’ll just reach for a palette.