Share: Tell us what you love and hate about Pastel Eyeshadows!
my answer: When they’re REALLY pigmented with smooth consistencies, they can be really fun ways to incorporate color into a look that isn’t neon. I tend to prefer my pastels with some shimmer, just because they’re often better quality! Otherwise, they can be really chalky when they miss!
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I tend to agree with your assertion that pastels are often better with shimmer. I can think of exceptions to this: the blue in the Shu Uemura Shupette palette which appear as as a robin’s egg blue but blends nicely; I’m also a fan of the turquoise shade in the Stila Body palette (despite the fact that I’ve seen bad reviews of this, I have no problem working with it and find it makes my eyes “pop” esp. when used with the emerald in the same palette.) A few notable misses in my opinion are the lavender shade in the MAC Rocky Horror palette and the entire Dior Jardin palette – I found neither to be pigmented enough.
If they have a shimmer to them then I’m ok. But if they are matte…forget it. Against my skintone they come off looking ashy.lol
They can look cute on others, but I find it tricky to make ’em work on me.
I agree with shimmery pastels! Mattes are almost always too chalky!
I generally prefer bold eye colors, but I have a couple pastels that work really well as brow bone and inner corner highlighters.
They can look really fresh and brightening when I wear them on my “mobile lid”. What I don’t like is when they’re patchy and sort of insipid looking. I like my pastel shades with a bit of shimmer/sheen in them.
Rant: I’m a vampire. Sometimes they literally do not show up on me, or just add a weird whiter cast to my already pale eye area that makes me look like an extra from Labyrinth or something.
Rave: I’m a vampire – it’s can be easier for me to do *colourful* looks for daytime without overwhelming my face!
There is absolutely nothing wrong with looking like an extra from Labyrinth! 😀
Haha, true 😉 It just makes it difficult to get taken seriously at lab meetings, sadly :-/
Matte pastels are just grey on me. Shimmer at least gives them a fighting chance on me.
I find most pastels are dry and chalky, with cheap looking shimmer or glitter. Speaking of pastels, any plans to review the new Laura Mercier Watercolor Mist Eye & Cheek Palette for Spring 2015? It’s so unusual to see pastels that aren’t almond joy colors, and mattes, too!
Hi there! I have it and I’m in Love! I immediately knew that was definitely in my favorites range and immediately bought it! It’s just as lovely as the high quality lighter yet muted pastel colorful shadows of the 90’s! One is even a dupe for my HG color! 😀 I’d not say it’s a brown eye palette as easily as it flatters & pops teen, blue & gray eyes! 😀 Soo perfect a palette for once! 😀 I hope that helps! 🙂
Thanks, Lotus! Really appreciate your feedback! I’m going to definitely check this one out before it’s gone. Good pastel shadows are so hard to find, especially matte ones. If I want shimmer, I can just layer them over a shimmery cream base. I bet this type of palette only comes out once in a blue moon, and we’ll be drowning in a sea of neutral palettes for a while……
I want this palette so badly. It even has that fake water droplet effect, right? I am a total sucker for that, it’s ridiculous…
Although that last sentence was structured kind of weirdly, I should clarify that what excites me most about that palette is the ‘unusual’ muted colours, and that it isn’t yet another &#^$% neutrals palette (i.e. all brown). 😀
I love the raindrops, too – goes well with the fog and mist theme. I have too many brown shadows already, and with brown eyes, I need some color to make them pop
I really like pink and light purple eyeshadows, they’re pretty flattering on me. I just wish they could be a little warmer toned.
My language is always goimg to fail to me when trying to convey how much I HATE pastels. I just find them ugly, powdery, difficult to apply… Non flattering… Tacky…uuuuuggghhhh… I hate! I hate! I hate!
I think you have to be careful with non-neutral pastels, they can easily look too mumsy and retro (in a bad way).
Lol!
I love them but so many companies make them too sheer an dpatchy.
Rave – love how some pastels can be very subtle for daytime looks and brighten your eye look – Benefit’s Shamrock mint green comes to min.
Rant – how some of them are too neon and powdery.
Aside from very sparkly pale skin tones and highlight colors, I can’t do pastels. They have to be at least my skin tone or darker or they just look too weird.
Rant: I find them hard to pull off, especially if they are matte or super-frosty. I’m not a huge fan of pastels and don’t wear them much in my clothing, or as home decor, etc. I like icy pastels and more washed out, muted pastels rather than Easter colors or pastels with a lot of white base.
Rave: When they’re done right, they can be extremely pretty, and a nice change of pace. They’re nice alternatives to white or nude highlight colors.
I adore pastels with depth! Anything actually lighter than my skin color is aptly brightening and beautiful! 😀 I prefer mattes that I add shimmer to as I’d like, according to highlight and lid placement, pastel shades have a remarkable way of bringing life, glow, and an ethereal lightness to the face! Forget the trends & just play! Maybe you’ll like them! (To those who don’t) 😀 *Rave*
I adore pastel yellows, peaches and oranges. They’re very brightening on the eye but the sheer base keeps them from being harsh or garish. Oranges especially make my blue eyes pop.
Echoing your sentiments about chalky, lower quality matte pastels, I really dislike when I have to use a base like NYX milk to get even passable color. Especially with a midrange product, I don’t feel like I should have to go above and beyond for it to look just OK. Pastels are often disappointing for me because I prefer the look of mattes but agree that they tend to perform worse than their shimmery counterparts.
Matte pastels are very retro. Reminds me of early 70s Twiggy and flower child culture. I don’t know if the pale blue-lavender that was big in the 70s (think Meryl Streep’s shadow in the latter part of Kramer vs. Kramer) is pastel but I’m a big fan of that single- color all over the lid. Shimmery pastels tend to remind me of the eye shadows they market towards children.
I find Pastel shades difficult to use on myself but i love the way other incorporate the shades in their makeup.. <3
I agree with you. I have such a hard time finding pastels I like, which is a shame because I do like those colors.
i typically don’t like pastel anything-if i’m going to do color, i want color:) i tent to prefer deep, saturated colors (not only for makeup, but for clothes, home decor, etc). that being said, i have this huge elf palette that i got to use on the kids for my son’s school play. there is a pastel purple that i really like…but only if i put it over a white base (like nyx milk) to give it some more oomph.
Mint green – all day every day.
Icy, cool-toned pastels (especially shimmers) — think icy green, blue, blue-violet, even icy yellow — can look really great on the inner 1/3-2/3 of my mobile lid (I’m fair-light with cool undertones and brown eyes that are actually hazel with grey and olive green in them if you can see them up close). Pinks, orchids, and peaches just add too much pink to a face that already has rosacea and is going to have some kind of pink/red on cheeks and/or lips (‘nude’ lip colors make me look sick/dead). These kinds of colors are surprisingly difficult to find, and I treasure them when I do! I love saturated, bright versions of the same colors, but get more dimension and depth when using them with pastels. Really dark eye shadow colors are difficult for me to wear for day, I just look overdone, and what you notice about them is just that they’re dark, not really what color they are. I cannot for the life of me figure out why ‘cool’ palettes always seem to include pink, it’s not a very cool color, just less warm than yellow is!
They’re not for me 🙂