I think it depends on the size of the palette for eyeshadows–if it’s a quad, I don’t particularly want a highlighter. I think with perhaps a few staple quads that are geared around a smoky eye or neutral eye, having everything in one go is helpful, but often, I’d rather four interesting colors. In larger palettes, I think there is room to have a bit of everything. For face palettes, again, smaller palettes don’t need everything, but I do like a highlighter/blush combo. The smaller the palette, the less broad I want it to be; the larger the palette, the more comprehensive I’d want it to be.
— Christine
I really like palettes that are versatile. I like to see maybe one lid shade and a few different options for darker shades. I can never afford large palettes, so a quad should fulfill that sort of need for me. As far as face palettes, the generic contour shades don’t normally work for my pale skin, so I’m less likely to fork out for one with them in it. Ideally, I’d probably want a palette with two or three decent and versatile shadows, a colour that can work for blush or shadow, and a highlighter that works for eyes and face.
I tend to avoid palettes because there tends to be one or two shades that I don’t really use, so yes, I like a palette where I’d use all the colors equally, if that’s what you mean by having everything I need in it.
When palettes are too large I tend to neglect them due to the sensation of being overwhelmed by options.
My only real opinion on palettes is that I want them to have good quality! And then, personally, I purchase ones that I believe have nice colors.
It’s always good to have one or two in a category that take care of everything, so you can simplify when traveling. But when I’m at home, I often mix and match between a couple palettes or a palette and a stand-alone product, anyway. So I mainly worry about value for the money!
I’m the opposite; if it’s a larger eyeshadow palette, I see it as more of a “sampler”, or a value product, as typically the pans are a bit smaller. Also, they’re not usually “travel-friendly”, so if I use it, it’s not something I’ll toss in my bag, and if I have to go outside the palette, I have the “extras” at hand. With quints & smaller, I prefer to have everything in there, especially if it’s marketed as a “complete” palette. Either way, as long as I like the colors, I won’t nit-pick. Also, if a brand is particularly known for doing palettes a certain way, I’m not going to get upset that I have to supplement it (ie, Urban Decay=shimmers/glitters, mattes are very limited).
When it comes to face products, palettes are usually larger, so I prefer to carry around individual products, and I can mix it up a bit day-to-day. I don’t actually even own any face-specific palettes, and the few all-in-ones that I have are too big to travel with, so if I have to take an extra 2 seconds to grab another compact, it’s really no big deal.
I actually have a few eye highlighters & transition shadows I really prefer, regardless of how “complete” a palette is, so I leave those in a small basket away from my palettes, and they’re easy enough to grab. I just don’t like carrying around too many singles, and if I can get by with a quad or quint in my purse, I’d much prefer that.
What are you favorite transition shadows? : )
No. otherwise, it would be gynormous even larger than UD BOS.
What works for one person may not necessary work for someone else…color wise also. Make your own z-palette.
Great question, Priti!
Christine, you pointed out some great things. I agree that with a larger palette there’s more room, so it makes sense to add everything, but no, not all palettes need to be “complete.” I think people need to look at a product, learn to see and accept it for what it’s offering, and not expect it to be something it’s not then decide whether to take it or leave it. I’ll never understand why people will buy something, knowing full well what it’s offering, and then complain that it’s not what they want…LOL. For example, I’ll read reviews on Sephora, and see comments on the UD Naked Palettes that there are “too many neutrals.” Or someone will buy a peach blush then complain that it’s peach, and I’ll be like…if you don’t like peach then why did ya choose peach *head scratcher moment*? I don’t get those kind of things. Why do people expect products to be something they’re not? Like for me, I wish the NARS cheek palettes they came out with wouldn’t have included the highlighter and bronzer, but rather included maybe a peach or coral other than Orgasm or Deep Throat; I’m sure some people loved that included the highlighter and bronzer, too, but I didn’t…so I didn’t buy it. 🙂
To sum it up, I’m glade we have so many options to choose! If we want a complete eye palette, we can choose that, or if we want a palette with all bright colors then that’s available, too, and so on and so forth.
Definitely! IMO it’s not a great eyeshadow palette if I have to reach for another product to complete the eye look. I prefer everything to be included in a face palette as well, but the most important thing to me is that the shades go well together and that it doesn’t seem like they’re just randomly thrown in there.
I’m a bit opposite of you, Christine, for quads I NEED a highlighter, crease and lid color. I want my quads to be basically a fast go-to product that requires no thinking and can function as the only eyeshadows I bring on vacation or grab on very stressful mornings. With larger palettes all I care about is liking most ot the colors, how unique they are, etc. Both diversity and themes work for those palettes. I wouldn’t mind one with only medium toned brights for instance, but one with only purples from the very lightest to almost black would alsi be nice.
Actually I have one big palette for eyeshadows but I prefer little ones with 3 or 4 colours. When I go shopping I usually buy mono shadows since I think they’re more comfortable to use cause if one shadow doesn’t work (or when it stops working)I throw it on its own…Despite this I love Benefit sets, cause when I am in a hurry, I can find quite all I need in a one 🙂
I do think it’s nice if a palette is sort of “grab and go” so you have everything you need for some basic eye looks all in one palette – even a quad. Makes it easier for redoing a look at work (if heading straight out to dinner or the theatre, etc.) or for taking on a trip…it’s nice not to have to take 3 eye shadow palettes and a few single shadows. Face palettes, I’m less fussy about since I don’t wear bronzer and usually wear the same blush and almost all my blushes are in the same “colour family” so I can basically take one blush and one highlighter on a trip. One of the best palettes, IMO, was the first Balmbini palette from TheBalm. Packaging was slim, practical and clever and it held 2 blushes, 2 eye shadows, a highlighter (that worked for face and eyes) and 2 lip products. While not all the colours were to my liking, it was still a brilliant little palette. Just by adding a liner,mascara,concealer and foundation/BB cream, you could actually go away for 2 weeks with this and while it might not give you the variety you’d probably crave, you could very easily get through 2 weeks away with just the palette and those 3 or 4 other things (and that’s coming from me, a died-in-the-wool makeup lover).
I tend to use just 2 or 3 colors of a palette at once, so I like more interesting color combinations that I can play around with. Example: Guerlain’s Coup de Foudre palette! I’ve used each of the colors individually, as well as combinations of two. I love that it can look so different depending on how you wear it, instead of just having colors that are different saturation levels of the same shade. Plus the coral is multi-purpose!
From the perspective of it being something to take with you while travelling, yes. But on the other hand, I frequently get suckered in by pretty palettes that look like complete looks and then find myself not using only one of the shadows. This happens to me far too often. I prefer build you own palettes. Exceptions to this: Illamasqua’s Neutral, Empower, and Complement palettes. I would take any of these quads over the many many more expensive, larger palettes I have in my collection. The Empower and Complement palettes did not get very good reviews, but I always use a primer and a wet base to good success. The Neutral palette seriously rocks. Seriously! Illamasqua combos just seem to tune into my brain and create colours that work really well into full eye looks for me. The other exception being the Lorac Pro which I’ve raved about endlessly before. It’s a definite one stop palette and flat and skinny enough to easily pack for longer trips.
I have never purchased a contour/highlight/cheek colour palette ever because the combination of products rarely completely appeal to me. Wouldn’t it be amazing if every cosmetic company provided standardized clip-in products that could be ported into custom build you own palettes so you could have the Guerlain bronzer with the TF blush and the Cantecaille highligher, the Hourglass finishing powder, for example in one take with you palette. A girl can dream.
meant to say I frequently end up using only one shadow in most eyeshadow palettes.. on my first coffee.
I think so. At least when it comes to eye palettes (don’t own any face palettes).
One of the selling points of a palette for me is the ability to just grab it and a brush and take it with me on a trip without having to grab anything else in order to complete an eye look.
No. the smaller it is the more focused I want it to be. I would love a small basics palette (blush and neutral eye shadows combined) to throw in my purse!
I can’t stand mixed formula palettes (cream and powder don’t play nice) and I’m not a fan of palettes that have spots for anything other than a brush- I don’t want a spot for mascara that’s gonna be trashed in a few months, a lipstick slot that only fits that particular tube or a crummy foam applicator.
And hurray for UD’s Oz palettes;the lipstick spot is a perfect size for a small eyeshadow brush!
I like quads that are a set and have everything you need to do one look (highlighter, lid colors, crease color) so you can just grab and go. But for bigger palettes that I’m just gonna use a few colors from, I’m fine if they don’t have everything. Like maybe a palette of brights (like a lot of the Urban Decay palettes) that I’ll use a different highlighter and crease color with.
i like quads to be complete so i can travel with them or use them on the go.. bigger ones i do not care for honestly as i tend to not use them as much. my biggest complaint about palettes is that quality is normally not as good
Nah. The types of makeup I use are pretty limited, so it doesn’t matter to me. There are so many types of “standard” makeup I don’t use that including them in palettes would be a waste. For example, I have no need for matte highlight shades, since I never highlight my browbone and I have 237445 shimmery whites/off-whites anyway. In a face palette, I’d ignore everything but the blush and the highlighter. Honestly, I just prefer to buy single products I know I’d use. I usually only need one color at a time anyway.
I don’t like face palettes because I don’t wear bronzer, and I use highlighter sparingly. For travel, I’d rather just grab one or two basic blushes and call it a day.
For eye palettes…
It should if it has been marketed that way. Anything sold as a “look” palette (i.e. Smoked) or travel palette should be able to function independently.
Anything else is fair game. I *personally* want at least a highlight in every eye palette, because the wrong shade of highlight can look weird, and my collection isn’t large enough to guarantee that I already own something that would work.
I’m not a huge fan of those beige/buff/caucasianskin colors that are everywhere. I guess you’re supposed to apply them from lash to brow, and then apply everything else on top to blend?
I never use them. They usually look too orange and dark for me, and I’m sure it’s rare for them to be the right color for anybody, so why waste a spot?
I don´t have any palletes, eyeshadow or otherwise lol. But when I do buy one, I will first look for quality before quantity, so an eyeshadow quad would be enough to cover my needs. I also would like the colors of the quad to complement each other, to be possible to easily use on a make up look. So my answer to having everything on a pallete would be no, however I wouldn´t mind a blush, what I would really dislike would be lipsticks, gloss, or cream products because they could become a mess.
I don’t like versatile palettes. I much prefer eye palettes, lip palettes etc…apart. I never buy a palette where there are products for cheeks, eyes, lips.
For eyeshadow palettes, yes, absolutely. If if doesn’t contain a highlighter color (and I am ghostly enough that often intended highlighter colors are darker than my skin tone), I have no interest. I refuse to use more than one eye palette precaffeinated. I do have a highlighter eye shadow pencil that I can use easily, but I really just don’t want to have to switch gears.
Other types of palettes tend not to interest me, because eyes are the only area where I’m really likely to be combining colors and therefore there’s not really any benefit to me in getting them instead of picking out the perfect colors for me separately.
I suppose I do fundamentally view palettes as something that should give me a complete look as far as it goes, now that I think about it.
the best palette ever was by, of all people, ELF, and has been discontinued for reasons I don’t know – maybe they can be convinced to bring it back? It had several highlighter/gloss creams (in gold, pink, and white; the pink one also made a great blush!); a number of concealers – the darkest of which made a good cream eye shadow and could be topped with one of the highlighters for an easy eye look; and a blusher/bronzer duo (bronzer also good on the eyes). Basically, it had everything, was incredibly flat and lightweight for travel/carrying around, and I am just very grateful I bought a backup. All the elements are good quality, too boot.