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How have your preferences for eyeshadow changed over time?
I’ve come to appreciate matte eyeshadows more, but I still have a lot of love for shimmer!
— Christine
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I still adore shimmer, but age gives me a whole new appreciation for matte formulas.
When I first got interested in makeup in a serious way, I avoided shimmers. I remember being at a MAC counter and the SA helping me put together 2 or 3 eyeshadows I could use daily. She suggested Naked Lunch and wanted to apply it on my lids and I backed away from her as if she’d been brandishing a stun gun! I was all about matte everything….Desert Rose Blush, Orb and Quarry were the three products I relied on daily. Man, has that ever changed. I’m all about sheen and shimmer now. I love blushes with a bit of a glow to them (MAC’s Sheertone Shimmer used to be a favourite but there are now so many beautiful blushes with that sort of sheen, not just from MAC but also Becca, Dior, NARS) and shimmery, shiny eyeshadows are the mainstay of my collection (I’m wearing ABH Vermeer and Chocolate (Titanium) today to go out for brunch). I still have plenty of mattes but they’re more for blending out or for balancing the more shimmery shades.
Not much
Hmmm, texture wise my preference haven’t changed, simply the offer of unique colors and textures has opened possibilities. But what was changed is that I use more colors in one look than before. I used to be a strict three-color max person, and now, everything goes as long as I like the results.
Oops, “what has changed”, so sorry!
I don’t think mine has changed at all. I’ve always used shimmer on my lids and never see that changing because it’s the most flattering and interesting look for me. If we extend this to all eye makeup and not just shadow, I didn’t wear eyeliner for a while but love it now.
I’ve broadened my color range and combinations. Since mattes and satins are more complimentary on me as I age, I use shimmer more as accent than all over.
Me too! When I was in my 20’s everything had to be shiny and bright. At 47 I still love shiny and bright but I have a much deeper appreciation for matte shadow. I also have developed a clear understanding of what color group and tones look better with my complexion. I’m a warm tones kinda girl all the way!!! But my absolute favorite eyeshadow color, hands down, is a vibrant blue satin shadow! ?????
As I’ve aged, no glitter, less shimmer, more mattes and satins. Too much matte looks overly dull and dry, but too much shimmer looks ridiculous on me and also emphasizes every wrinkle and bump. I’ve also branched out and tried some liquid eyeshadows, love the ones from Butter London and Bare Minerals.
I am still doing a dimensioned eye look with shimmer on the lid, darnit! They’ll have to pry my shimmers out of my cold, dead, hands! Sadly though, I’ve realized that I can only use little of all of the cream eyeshadows I’ve bought. I have to just stick to powders from now on because anything with shimmer in it is just not practical and it will go bad before I get to use even a quarter of it – I can’t use a shimmer cream color all over my lid, just on my lid space and that is shrinking by the year. ?
I’ve been getting into warm red/orange/copper looks and sort-of neutral looks when neither of those were something I would have worn 2-3 years ago.
Like Mariella, I stuck to mattes all the way. I felt that shimmers were for young eyes only. My MAC go-tos were Blanc Type, Kid, Copperplate and Print. Now it’s a totally different story…… I own 5 Viseart palettes, 2 Viseart Theory palettes (and other misc. palettes in my collection). Mattes are still my main structure of the look, but I love to add shimmer on the lid in at least two shades. Such fun! Viseart quality makes using shimmers elegant, not over the top IMHO.
My preferences have changed quite a bit. As I aged and my eye lids became more crepey, droopy and dry I decided to abandon all my shimmers/glitters and stick to matte shades. So for many years that is all I used. Then one day I said to myself, “Self, you love shimmer and you should be able to wear what you want to wear at your age.” So I began buying and using shimmer shadows about 4-5 years ago. I actually think they make my limited mobile space appear bigger when in fact by lids almost rest on my lashes.
I also use to do a pretty smoky eye almost everyday but now not so much. I find the darkness of the traditional smoky eye to be way too dark for my eyes now. And probably the biggest change is my use of color. Back in the day I had a bunch of matte beige, brown, cream colored shadows. Today, my eye shadow collection includes a lot of bright shades.
Looking back at how I wore my eyeshadow when I first moved here 15 years back, I now incorporate way more mattes and satin finishes comparatively. With these forever hooded eyes, I was literally using shimmers and metallics lash to brow back then (insert :facepalm:). And, I *knew* better, but thought it looked bomb! Yikes.
Now though, MAC Orb is my browbone shadow 90% of all looks. Mattes or matte-like satins in all my crease work, reserving any and all shimmer, metallic, and microglitter for mobile lid, inner corner and lower lashline. This has the noticeable effect of making my eyes appear larger and much more open.
I’ve switched almost exclusively to cream/liquid shadows because I’ve found that most powders really irritate my eyes. I never wore glitter and was not into brights, so my color choices haven’t changed much except that I finally realized that pink/pink-based shadows make me look tired and sick. I love mattes and shimmers, and wish there were more good satin-finish shadows around.
I’ve become more reserved in color choices. When I was younger I’d wear brighter colors, but my position is conservative and now I only wear those bright colors when we go out on the weekend. I’m also more concerned with quality and the ethics behind the brand.
Despite advancing years/sag, I’ve realized that I can use most colors and textures (except obvious glitter/neion) as liner even if they don’t work for me as shadows. Also, I get to have fun w/ a broader range of colors if I make a clear break between my eye color and shadow by lining close to the lash with brown. and using a generous dose of mascara. What never works w/ my warm undertone, are cool reds & pinks, anywhere.
I’ve been wearing makeup for 30+ years, so I’ve gone through some phases. Honestly, I still love bright and unusual colors and finishes, glitters, shimmers, metallics, etc. Now they are easier to find and of better quality. And of course, I apply them differently. But in the 80s, I was all about the brightest, weirdest shadows I could find and new wave looks, or dark smokey eyes like the girls in the “Addicted to Love” music video.
Through the mid-1990s and early 2000s, I was broke and raising two disabled kids and taking care of a husband with a brain tumor, on one salary. So not having a lot of time and money, plus the fact that 90s makeup centered on more natural colors, I bought very neutral and easy-to-use shades that could be workhorses for me. Lots of browns. I occasionally splurged on bright purples and greens or duochrome shadows from BareMinerals. So that style was more necessity than preference for me, but at least I wasn’t behind the times.
The last few years, my kids have grown and I’ve gone back to working, so I’m back to wearing more complex looks, and my bright and sparkly stuff. Now however, I think I have a greater appreciation for mattes, as now they are of better quality and come in a wider variety of shades than ever before.
Thank you Christine for using my question.
For me, I have dramatically changed my eyeshadow preferences over the past five years or so.
Firstly, the shade colours – it use to be just greys and navy for me to compliment my workwear. In the past few years I have added neutrals, both warm and cool toned, olives, greens and golds.
Secondly, instead of purchasing the shades from those horrible DS quads, I have ventured into eyeshadow palettes that incorporate a wider range of shades. I have bought better quality eyeshadows, that have rated well on this blog and have been introduced to brands that I had never heard of before: bareMinerals, UD, Charlotte Tilbury, Stila etc.
Thirdly, my shadow preferences have changed from mostly matte (dry and dusty) to shimmers and satins, which I love and wear daily.
I definitely don’t wear as much color as I used to. I’m much more of a neutral tone wearer I’ll dabble in some purple/mauve tones but that’s about it.
I like shimmer more than I used to, and I’ve moved up. When I first started reading Temptalia, my favorite was 2 shadows, but now my favorite is 4. Of course I can do more or less, but I use more shades in a single look now.
I have accepted metallics and glitters into my heart LOL
When I first got into makeup a few years ago, I was all about the shimmer eyeshadows. I also gravitated towards more warm tones. Now I’m a fan of quality mattes and cooler tones. I am on the look for a really great grey matte shadow. Nothing that pulls too black but something that can work as a transition shade. I also am more open now to finger application for shimmery shadows.
I still love shimmers and satins. I am still not a fan of mattes. If I have 2 good matte browns of differing shades and a black I am good forever.
I am no longer a fan of the smokey eye on myself and I hate grey eyeshadow now. I do much more one shadow looks now than in the past. I no longer buy eyeliners; I just use shadows. I now love a blown out lower lash line where as I rarely ever line my lower lashes in the past. I also pull my shadow out past my eye these days to make my eyes look bigger.
Yes, my eye shadow preferences have changed. I love glitter and shimmer, but I just can’t pull it off anymore. It just settles in my lines and pores, and the fallout isn’t very pretty anymore.
Back in high school and college, university years I chose plenty of light colors, nudes thinking since being fair they were the best match for me. Was I wrong or have aged into a crazy fency but I’m loving all the warm rust colors have always liked brown on my hazel greenish eyes, rose golds, purples and sometimes greens. Now that I’m 54 and with hooded eyes I wear all these fun dark colors, sometimes mediums and lights too depends on my mood but wish I would have worn glitter when my eyes were more ironed. Lol! I’m really into all the rustic colors ordered bunch of super shock shadows last year. Also more aware of good quality that’ll really stay although on hooded eyes sadly is not the case so i been wearing primer when I remember hoping colors will stick longer not too convinced on primers though on face of eyes. Hmmm?
Risa does makeup has a great video for hooded eyes and I tried tightlining after years I had forgotten what it meant. I found very helpful.
I am 64 and used to believe that I could only wear matte. Now that shimmer shadows aren’t glitter, my deep set eyes look great with a light shimmer. Mary Greenwell said so: it’s ok for mature women to wear a light shimmer and she was right!
I definitely love mattes a lot more than when I first started wearing eyeshadow. I used to wear some mattes, but lots of shimmers. Now, I do love glitter when I want to have some fun, but I love a good, simple, matte look more often than not.