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Most Overrated & Underrated Eyeshadow Palette
Over & Under: Most Overrated & Underrated Eyeshadow Palette
There are always products that receive endless raves, but they don’t always live up to our expectations or work out as well as they do for others.  Share your picks for most overrated and underrated EYESHADOW PAELTTES.  Don’t forget to share your whats and whys as to your choices!
- Most Overrated: [answer]
- Most Underrated: [answer]
My Picks
- Most Overrated:Â I want to say Urban Decay something-rather, just because those are the palettes I most remember, but they’re all pretty good overall – the last BoS was the biggest miss I remember, but I don’t think a lot of people loved that one. I’d say MAC pre-made quads since they tend to be misses more often than not…
- Most Underrated:Â Inglot Eyeshadow Palettes, just because they’re cheap, come in a bajillion colors, and are good quality!
I have to agree w/your picks, Christine. I think most overrated for me was Urban Decay’s Naked 2 palette and their last BoS. Underrated is def Inglot – a bevy of beautiful mattes and pearls to choose from and their acrylic/magnetic palettes are so unique and make storage/organizing a cinch.
Overrated: UD Naked, Naked2. I have Naked, it’s great, but it’s not THAT AMAZING OMG.
Underrated: I agree about Inglot make-your-owns, and I’ll add Rouge Bunny Rouge make-your-owns too; amazing quality!
Most Overrated: Urban Decay Book of Shadows and NAKED(first. All this palettes have a lot of glitter.
Most Underrated: Tarte Cosmetics,KAT Von D, TOO FACED and Wet N’ WILD
I would have to say Urban Decay Naked 2. I know people are going to get mad at me for saying that. Don’t get me wrong, I love it but its overrated because IMO it doesn’t contain enough mattes. Underrated NYX nude on nude or Sugarpill. NYX is also cruelty free but you get more matte shades and a bunch of lip colors. sugar pill palettes are awesome! Super pigmented, blend smoothly and great colors.
Most overrated: Definitely Urban Decay Naked! Most of the shades don’t work for my skintone at all. I can see how it’s great for warm/yellow toned people, though, and the quality is good.
Most underrated: This is a hard one, but maybe theBalm Nude ‘tude. Good quality and nice wearable shades.
Over-rated: MAC quads, Chanel quads, Guerlain palettes, Some UD palettes…due to repeats.
Under-rated: The Balm
Overrated: Inglot; they may be quality, inexpensive, & come in a large variety of shades, but they aren’t as easily available as they can be.
Underrated: Tarte; I just don’t hear very much about the brand when it comes to eyeshadows, but when I do, it’s usually negative. No, they are not as vibrant as many other brands if you use them dry and/or without primer, but if you use a slightly damp brush, or a primer, the intensity really comes out. I realize many would consider this an “extra” step, but we don’t paint our cars, homes, etc without a primer, so why should shadow be any different?
Inglot cheap? I don’t think so, but whatever, it’s an awesome brand! 🙂
Most Overrated: Mac, Mac has so many shadows which are so disappointing, my paletts dusting in my board.
Most Underrated: The balm, i love the balm. They are soft, longlivity, great pigmentet.
Over-rated would be the Dior 5 Colour Designer Palett (the one that comes with the eyeliner)- I usually see them getting fairly good scores on blogs. I couldn’t believe how horrible it was in person. 2/4 shadows had no pigmentation. The liner was nothing special. Overall definitely not worth the price.
Under-rated- I don’t really have too much of an answer. The only palettes I have are by UD. They’re great, but I wouldn’t say they’re under-rated since they seem to be well receieved.
Most overrated : UD Book of Shadows IV, I have it but I never use it in fact ( sent for review by Sephora ). At that time I really overrated this palette ( A ), now I think the 15th Anniversary or the Naked 1 and 2 are much better.
Most underrated : Two Faced palettes. They look a bit girly but they are really good ! I love romantic eye or the matte palette, 34 € here in France worth the price really. I often go high end ( not über luxe yet such as Chantecaille, le Métier de Beauté etc.. ) honestly speaking, Two Faced is a good middle end brand. I love both creators too, they have inspitation !
Overrated: Definitely the Naked palettes. As a cool-toned lady who just doesn’t go for neutrals, my take on it? Oh, wow, brown. Hooray. I do enjoy a couple of the shades, and for the price it is a good value, but I just think it’s ridiculously overhyped.
Underrated: Hm, probably Wet n Wild’s palettes. I hear they’re excellent, but nowhere near as big a fuss is made over them as many less-awesome products.
Overrated: Definitely MAC quads
Underrated: Tarina Tarantino Emerald Pretty. I love this palette!
Overrated: UD Naked 2, Dior Quints
underrated: theBalm Palettes, Lorac and Tarte’s new formula.
Most Overrated: Going to say UD here. I love them, but holy dupe central, batman!
Most Underrated: I’d say Models Own! I hear so much about their nail polish but their smokey eye trios have such nice pigmentation. They should get more coverage.
Over- Urban Decay Naked(s), of course. The first one is flippin amazing so, I don’t mind the exposure.
Under- Inglot and Lorac Unzipped. I would probably stab another human over anything Inglot-related.
Overrated: I have to go with some of the Mac quads, as the quality is always so iffy with them
Underrated – can I say ALL of them? I love eye shadow palettes. My faves (that either don’t get a lot of love or get put down for being “hype” when they’re actually excellent palettes, hence the attention): Naked 2, BOSIII; Balmbini from The Balm; Maybelline Caffeine Rush. Inglot – love the palette I put together in store when I was in Montreal but I don’t really consider that “a palette” since it’s not pre-made by someone else. Oh – can’t leave out TooFaced’s newer Smokey Eye or their Natural palette – great products.
hehe christine i believe the term is “something or other” not “something rather” 😉
anyway overrated i say elf palettes. they are just crappy quality. yes its $10 for 42231 shadows but those shadows suck.
underrated: inglot, wet n wild, and theBalm
This whole topic makes me want to shop for every underrated palette that I haven’t tried yet!! So many brands, so little money haha!
My Overrated Palette: Urban Decay’s Naked 2 Palette. I have both Naked 1 and Naked 2 and I don’t know why I got the second one. If I need a quick neutral color, I reach for my Naked 1 or my wet n’ wilds. If it had more mattes, I think I would be reaching for it more. :/
My Underrated Palette: Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone palette. I get so many compliments about my makeup when I have these shades on. So easy to blend and the colors are just beautiful! All for 4.99! I heard about the limited edition 8 color palette with darker warm-base browns and teals!!!! AH! Must get when I see them.
omg, i totally agree! i reach more for the comfort zone pallet than my UD naked pallet. Can’t wait for the new limited edition wet & wild “sparkle till morning” pallet!
Overrated: UD Naked 2
Underrated: theBalm Palettes
Overrated: Urban Decay Naked palettes. Yes, both of them. I have the original and not for nothing, alot of the colors have wicked fallout.
UnderRated: Inglot, absolutely! And for 6$ a shadow for the freedom palette?its a steal. I have one palette so far and haven’t had any complaints.
Overrated: Hm, that’s a hard one… I personally am not too interested in the palettes from super high end brands like Dior and Chanel
Underrated: I agree with Inglot, also wet n wild color icon 6-shadow palettes (which they discontinued recently I think), Sleek
Completely agreed re: Chanel and Dior. I am always disappointed when I pull different ones out to use. They never seem to blend too well and/or there are pigment issues.
Overrated: UD Naked 2 palette. I do not feel the love everyone else seems to feel and my shadows are definitely not the best quality..I was massively disappointed in this purchase. I purchased a single of Tease since I love the colour so much, but it was crap in my palette. The single is amazing and completely different in texture than the palette.
Underrated: NARS High Society trio. Mine is terrific!
Tease is good as a solo? *A* That was the only N2 shade I wanted.
I own that trio, it’s very nice… but I would have like to have a highlight shade in the palette and not having to get the duo for it.
Overrated: I hate to say it, but…the UD Naked palette. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great quality item, but it’s definitely over-hyped as far its universality goes. I get a hefty amount of use out of mine, but with my fair, cool skin, I’ve come to feel there are neutral palettes out there that suit my complexion better over all.
Underrated: I love the hell out of theBalm’s Meet Matt(e) palette, and my Stila In the Garden palette is so lovely that I’m honestly surprised at how few mentions I’ve seen of it on blogs.
Overrated: UD Nakeds. Naked 1 doesn’t work for me, as I’m cool toned, and even Naked 2 (Which has more cool tones) really isn’t all that great.
Underrated; Sugarpill and Kat Von D! Absolutely LOVE both of them. I use my KVD Sinner palette all the time for smoky eyes. (;
Overrated: Naked ones. They have good quality BUT they are not the only nude palettes on the market plus they are not Naked at all, because real people don’t sparkle when they are Naked (Twlight’s vampires do that, said one of my best friends :D). And they have too much warm tones, so if you have not warm undertones… you can’t enjoy them even if you like lot of browns.
Underrated: Too Faced ones. Love them.
Most Overrated:
Urban Decay’s Naked 1 & 2 I don’t like their thin consistency
Most Underrated:
MAC Lady Grey Palette, this is the most useful & functional palette, all of the colors are neutral with great color pay off & can be played up for smokey eyes as well, i just LOVE it!
Most over rated: most, only because shadows are so dry, glitter fallout terrible, or colors fade, even with primers, in few hours, oh, never know which palette might be worth it.
Most under rated: Dior 5 Coulor, Dior Irredescent, Urban Decay, & most Tarte. They are buttery soft & smooth, colors with primer good for 8 hours or more, colors show well & beautiful, no fallout.
Haven’t tried Tarantino, Laura Gellar, Tom Ford.
Amendment! I meant Too Faced, not Tarte.
Overrated: The Nakeds- they’re alright but OYE the hype pained me.
Underrated: Tarte in general, especially the True Blood one. Oh how it languished in Sephora’s sale section, and I STILL did not regret paying full price. i didn’t find the pigment lacking or the shadow too dusty. As a TB fan I thought the packaging was way too embarassingly Hot Topic circa 2002, but I can live with it.
OverratedUD Naked Palette, I didn’t care for the first one, ordered it online and gave it away, refused to purchase the new one.
Underrated MAC make your own palette, I’ve picked out my own neutral palette and it suits my skin tone and eye color perfectly.
I totally agree with you on the last BoS. Really a bummer compared to Urban Decay’s usual palettes. I haven’t tried Inglot yet but I’ve been looking at your swatches so I could decide which ones to order!
Most overrated would have to be UD palettes in general… They are great dont get me wrong. I have three (two being the naked palettes) But i feel like most palettes have repeating colors and it’s not like there arent any colors similar to UD from other makeup brands.
Most underrated would have to be Kat Von D’s palettes. I owned one about two years ago.. and believe it or not but i finished the whole palette! The colors are just so nice and very high quality.
Overrated: I don’t have any eyeshadow palettes that I don’t really enjoy, and I’ve never owned a UD palette (except for a cream shadow one I picked up at a discount store maybe eight years ago, and all the shadows were already dried out).
Underrated: The Kat von D palettes are nice, but I think a lot of people are put off by her image and ignore them. Sleek palettes, especially because they have such a great range from nude to neon, but I think those don’t get enough press because it’s hard to get them here in the US.
It’s true, I wont buy her stuff, because of her reputation…not just because of her image….but you can get them at Sephora…
I’m very curious about Sleek palettes, and wondering if I should get one, in particular “Oh so Special”.
As for Kat Von D, I don’t think she has bad reputation where I live -in fact, she’s not very known and people just remember her about tattoos. I was tempted to buy one of her palettes, but were not sure if I would use “Mi vida loca” (the colorful one) and I felt the neutral one looked similar to what I already have. However, I did get a lipstick from her which I love.
I honestly think the BoS IV is a little underrated. Yes, I’m a big UD fan, but even I saw the huge thing with the gimmicky QR code cards and the speaker and was going to give it a pass.
I eventually got it at a deep discount and I find myself using it lately about evenly as often as the 15th Anniversary palette, which is the best one they’ve done, in my opinion. I really enjoy the lighter neutrals in it, and I’m a big fan of the Crystal shade which hasn’t been released elsewhere from what I can tell.
It is definitely huge and unwieldy, and I keep meaning to depot it into a free-size eyeshadow palette I have, but it’s hard to bring myself to do it.
The only poorly performing disappointing palette I have is a cheapie Smashbox one that didn’t get highly rated, so I can’t think of anything totally overrated.
Actually those brown shades in UD BOS IV is pretty good. I depotted mine…too bulky to carry it around…I placed it into a Z-Palette. You wont miss the container after you depot and you can organize the colors better. I have all the new UD large palettes…and although there are some repeats, I pick the one with my mood…and that is one thing I like about UD shadow sets…but maybe I am relatively new to UD.
Overrated: Urban decay naked. I bought it online, would have never purchased it had i seen it. Sidecar has MAJOR glitter fall out, the rest of the shades melt in 6 hours even after applying UDPP and finally the colors look strictly ok on my Indian skin.
I also have to add Guerlain – the colors crease after 6-8 hours… if I’m paying an arm and a leg for it, I would really like the quality to be better.
Underrated: MAC make your own pallete… really cost effective and you just cant beat the quality
Overrated: Urban Decay palettes period! I owned Naked 1 and returned it, and I currently own the 15th Anniversary palette. I really wanted to love UD shadows, but they lack the pigmentation and longevity I want in eyeshsdow. =/
Underrated: Lately, I’ve been loving my Wet n Wild palettes. Great colors, texture, and lasting power! And you cannot beat the prices!
Overrated: Definitely MAC’s quads! They don’t give any color and I don’t like the consistency in general.. Also, I still don’t get the hype about UD naked palettes maybe I never tried tham but as far as I can tell I feel like % 60-70 of the UD naked palette buyer bought it/them because of the hype.
Underrated: TheBalm eyeshadow palettes.. All of them (including the copy Naked!) Color payoff is great, quality is great and the cost is soooo little compared to the other brands.
Overrated: Chanel quads (especially the baked formula they make for Europe). Poor pigmentation, difficult to blend, not worth the 50 euros they cost. Also the Bourjois little round pots – same problems, different packaging.
Underrated: Artdeco, probably because the company doesn’t have global reach. But the shadows themselves are pigmented, silky and cheap (about 4 euros per pan) and the palettes are well-made, customizable and compact. They also release LE empty palettes with different designs, which is not only fun but also practical because it makes it easy to memorize which of your palettes houses which color family (unlike MAC or Inglot, which you have to open or label yourself if you have more than one).
Totally agree with AD! I wish my local department store had more than a tillside stall for them. Their powder products are always so soft.
Overrated: Dior palettes… I find them extremely frosty and difficult to blend. Even Chanel euro quads are easier to work with. Many people love or hate UD Naked’s, I find them as base products, the least shades one should always have.
Underrated: Definitely Inglot, those e/s have great texture and an infinite variety of shades and many shapes for your palette. I just wished the Mexican counters had better customer service -which has nothing to do with quality of products, but it’s a major let down to visit the store. After that, Shiseido trios aren’t mentioned much over here, but they are completely outstanding. Those e/s feel like butter. Inglot wons just because they have more variety of shades.
Shiseido eyeshadow is just a beautiful thing to apply! Love it.
I know!!! I’m totally in love with my Fire and Opera trios 😀
And I’m wondering which one to get next, maybe Punky Blues or Voyage, haven’t decided yet!!!
Overrated: MAC Quads, the Hello Kitty ones sold at Sephora, and some of the UD palettes due to repeats.
Underrated: Too Faced Shadow Collections, Wet n Wild Color Icon eyeshadows, Sugarpill Heartbreaker palette, and some of the tokidoki palettes.
Overrated: Suquu
Underrated: kryolan
Overrated: Suqqu can’t believe one of most expensive eyeshadow crease crazy..
Underrated: kryolan I tried a build your own palette with their aqua eye, had never used anything else so easy to apply n color really vivid and no crease.
Overrated: Too Faced Romantic Eye; I’m not sure if this is ‘overrated’ per se, but it’s from a brand that tends to get rave reviews and I haven’t been wildly impressed. The packaging is terrible and the most of the colours don’t show up on my reasonably fair skin. Another comment mentioned Bourjois baked shadows, I own two and the colours are really sheer and powdery and don’t build much at all, plus one leaves a mountain of glitter fall out. They have put me off baked eyeshadow entirely.
Underrated: Inglot shades are beautiful and the palette quality plus the shade range and price make me wonder why the brand isn’t up there with MAC and Urban Decay in terms of hype. I own a couple of NP Set shadows, and I was actually immensely impressed by how unique the colours were and how cheap they were for the quality, but I’ve never heard anyone rave about the brand.
Well, Christine has here a lot of Inglot swatches. I actually check them before going to the store, and other makeup lovers I know do so too. I think Inglot isn’t widely known because they don’t have stores all over like Mac. However, you’ll find many raves about Inglot in many makeup devoted sites, like here or Makeup Alley.
Overrated: UD palettes. I only have one (the ammo palette) but it is so glittery and I can only use 2 or 3 of the shades. I mean I guess I was asking for it buying a palette with such shimmery shades. But yeah, doesn’t work for me.
Underrated: NARS eyeshadows in general are just so amazing. Their consistency is wonderful and smooth and the colors are really unique and flattering.
Completely agree! You took the words from my mouth 🙂
Overrated-UD Naked
Underrated-Estee Lauder Limited Edition Palettes with the Gelee formulation. The color payoff is great for day if used dry, and much more intense if used wet, so great for evening…and they last a LONG time. I can create so many different looks with them.