Eyeshadows | 2014 Editor's Favorites
It was tough, but here’s my list of favorites for individual eyeshadows (which means they aren’t only available in duos, quads, or palette — see Best Makeup Palettes of 2014 for those!). As you might expect, it was hard to narrow it down, and I’m a fan of variety and spreading the love around, so I chose favorites across brands and formulas (though some got two picks!). Some of the formulas where I felt like I could have picked another dozen favorites out of, I linked below so you can see the full range and explore options that might better align with your personal tastes, too.
I’m not sure exactly how many individual eyeshadows I reviewed this year and often review three or more in a single post (eyeshadows from palettes are all in the same category), but I have 306 posts categorized under “eyeshadow” and 26 for “cream eyeshadow,” so probably in the neighborhood of 1500 eyeshadows for the year (including palettes). I like to reflect back on what was covered over the year, because it helps me compare year over year how productive I was 🙂 Numbers like that always fascinate me!
- Ardency Inn Rose Gold — a brilliant rose gold plum with a metallic sheen (the entire line Manuka Honey eyeshadows are amazing)
- NARS Subra — a rich burgundy with a pearly finish
- Giorgio Armani #16 — a cool-toned purple-taupe with a pearly sheen
- MAC Fathoms Deep — a frosted, muted purple
- Tom Ford Platinum — a chameleon of a color that changes from bronze to taupe to purplish-taupe
- Make Up For Ever D716 Crystalline Papaya — a sparkly, golden beige that I find myself reaching for to highlight the inner corner or lower lash line; brightens everything! (I’m basically in love with Artist Shadows, and I could have filled this list twice over, at least, with them!)
- Gucci Sasso — a cool-toned, light-medium taupe with a frosted, metallic finish (that’s hard to dupe)
- Ardency Inn Heaven — a bright, metallic antique gold
- Make Up For Ever ME624 Black Gold — an intense, olive-toned blackened brown with a pearly sheen (one of the more unique shades I reviewed in the range)
- Burberry Storm Grey — a cool-toned taupe with a satin-matte finish
I’ve fallen absolutely in love with MAC’s Paint Pot in Groundwork, this year. It is equally great to be worn alone or as a base for other colors, and I really enjoy the formula. My favorite eyeshadow color has been Garnet from the Lorac Pro palette, but I have also really enjoyed MAC’s All That Glitters, for a classic staple.
Always fun to discover a new, permanent favorite 😀
i just bought myself four burberry singles. i love them!!! i am also getting a ton of use out of tom ford platinum (love spice too). its so easy just to throw on and go, but still look really nice.
just a question about your pictures…when i click the link to the burberry shadow in graphite, the shade you used in the list picture looks more like storm grey. graphite looks likes a darker brown-grey and storm grey looks more like the cool-toned taupe you described. i can’t imagine how difficult this task must be for you. i have FAR fewer shades than you and would still have a hard time picking favorites:)
It’s Storm Grey! Thanks for catching that! 🙂
Just wondering if that image you have that is supposed to be Burberry Graphite is actually of Burberry Storm Grey. I think your description also implies Storm Grey. Graphite is a lot darker. Love this post though. 🙂 Keep up the awesome work!
It’s Storm Grey! Sorry about that!
The top 3 are amazing for sure and I’d like to own all of them. NARS Lhasa and Chanel Tisse Poésie were my favorites this wear!
I love the concept of Lhasa!
But not the application?
Yeah, it’s not quite as pigmented as I’d like sometimes! At least from what I remember!
I definitely agree with the choice of Ardency Inn Heaven. The moment I put it on, it was LOVE. I’ve wanted Rose Gold forever, but it’s been out of stock for months! I like the MUFE artist shadows too, but none of them have blown me away the Heaven did.
I hope they figure out how to get those produced faster, because once they’re OOS, it seems like it takes awhile to get back in stock!
I loved the look of a lot of the Ardency Inn and MUFE (though the Sephora oversea shipping costs kept me from getting them).
Here’s hoping 2015 brings some global distribution!
I’m still bashing my head for missing that Mac collection… At least I managed to get Platinum…
And Black Gold… And Subra… I’ll live…
You got some good ones 😉
Andrea, have you looked at the Estee Lauder Cyber Lilac eyeshadow? Its from their gelee powder eyeshadow formula. This is an excellent alternative. It is just a touch more vibrant than Fathoms Deep. I have both and it is really so close. These were released in a LE collection but have now been made permanent. It is OOS at sephora at the moment, but IN STOCK at esteelauder.com
Thank you! I’m just seeing this. I will definitely check it out.
Ugh, way to feed my lemming for Heaven, Christine. lol. I’ve been eying it since your review initially came out. I’ve been looking for something similar to MAC Powersurge pencil but in powder form, and it immediately caught my eye. I think it would be beautiful for a soft but ever so slightly grungey smoked out look. I’ve done it with just the pencil, but it creases and feels rough on the eyelids to apply so heavily.
My standout eyeshadows this year have been MAC Haux, UD Naked 2, Sugarpill Magentric, Urban Decay Crystal, Sugarpill Lumi, and UD Crave (the first black e/s I’ve tried so far that I’m genuinely happy with in terms of blending and pigmentation). I’ve been really impressed by Sugarpill’s pressed shadows too. It’s been a good year in makeup. 🙂
Heaven is… heavenly. Ha, ha.
How do you like to wear Lumi, Nikki?
It’s one of my go-to products for tasteful but unexpected inner corner highlights (the other is UD Cuff pencil). I also like to add it on the center of the lid and browbone on an otherwise very basic, matte, cool toned cateye. I’m sure other people don’t think of it, but I feel like it lends a sort of funky sci-fi vibe. 😛
Ooh, very cool!
Powersurge is the bomb!
Beautiful choices, Christine. I’ve got try some of these once I’m in “buy” mode again. Heaven and Subra are definitely calling my name.
Thank you, Rachel! 🙂
I love the selection od shades here – they’re kind of like ‘neutrals’, but also subtly smoky, and also super elegant. 🙂
My favourite single eyeshadow this year is hands down Laura Mercier Amethyst (especially in conjunction with African Violet!). They are truly my HG eyeshadow combo! <3
Aww! So glad you found your HG combo! 😀
MUFE Black Gold is one of my favorites too! i’m also obsessed with Golden Khaki and Golden Beige. this trio is my most reached for combo!
i’m planning to pick up Nars Subra via palette later this year.
Love all three of those 😀
2014 was a great eyeshadow year! My favorites were definitely the entire MAC Alluring Aquatic collection. So many gorgeous eyeshadows!
The best thing that happened in makeup this year is imo the release of the MUFE Artist Shadows. Amazing quality and a huge selection of shades. It just can’t get any better!
Alluring Aquatic was such a fantastic collection.
I totally agree – Artist Shadows were a major highlight.
Burberry Pale Barley, NARS Kalahari and Brousse duos and the MAC An Amorous Adventure quad have been my favorites. I think I’ve replicated your eyeshadow look for the MAC quad about 20 times – I just love the way you put in color accents!
Great picks, CJ! 😀
Thank you!!
I really want those two Ardency Inn ones. I also really loved the Artificially Wild shadows. I got Marsh and Natural Wilderness and am considering backups. They are such neat colors, neutrals but slightly edgy and super easy for all over one-shadow looks. Natural Wilderness is one of my favorites of all my shadows.
I really love Ardency Inn’s formula (well, except the satin/mattes, I liked a lot but didn’t LOVE LOVE! those).
Lots of lovely muted shades here that go with everything. I love them all, especially the Storm Grey colour.
Were there any blues or greens that were in the running Christine?
To be honest, I don’t remember. I’m sure there were, though 🙂
I’ve heard nothing but good things about that Ardency Inn shadow and it looks so pretty. I’ll have to check it out one day in person
The texture of them is AMAZING!
It would have been so hard to pick just a few of these.. loved those pretty MUFE eye shadows.. <3
I was really obsessing over Mulch by mac…oh so many nights thinking about this eyeshadow!
I finally bought it and since then I wear it frequently with woodwinked and blanktype.It is such a beautiful colour!!
Beautiful shade!
I resisted buying Mulch years ago, until my daughter was wearing it (same colouring as mine) and talked me into it. It’s one of my most used MAC shadows and it’s in a self-made quad of my 4 most reliable shadows – it’s the quad I take if we’re suddenly going away for a few days with little advance warning!
How did I ever miss THIS feature? My best shadow choices of those from 2014 and SINGLES would be MAC Sea Worship (sigh…it should be permanent and I wish I’d got more shadows from that collection!), MUFE I628 Reptile and S556 Taupe Grey, as well as the new Clarins Ombre Matte shadows in the shades Taupe and Earth. Ahhhh – so many eyeshadows, only 2 eyes!
LOL! There were a lot of posts going up on that day. Not a surprise it was missed 😉
That reminds me of when I was in college, and I had this thing about pretty bras, and my mom was like, “But you only have one pair of breasts!”
Loved the Sharon Osbourne palette for Mac called Duchess. Gorgeous nude, peachy copper, light golden brown (most gorgeous brown I’ve ever seen) and dark reddish brown. Just looking for a mattte base color to wear with these, because the light colors are very sparkly. But a great line from start to finihsh. Why can’t all LE lines be this good?
It’s so rare, but it would be great if they were all that good!
I’ve come to appreciate Too Faced palettes this year. They are great for travel, one small box with nine shadows to mix and match! My favorite was the Bonjour palette from last summer, three perfect browns, two great base shades and a highlighter, and a couple of brights to experiment with. That with the neutral palette took me to every away event I had this winter. Then the matte neutral palette was updated. I love it!!! Unfortunately, they left the first row exactly as it is in the original neutrals, but the replacements for the second two rows are amazing!!! Love the mauve crease shade, the toasty peach shade and the amazing reddish brown deep shade. Have to also give a shout out to Sharon Osbourne’s palette for MAC. I actually bought a back up!!! Three perfect peachy and reddish browns, with one sparkly shade that won’t get too much use, but the other three are incredible for redheads with green eyes!!!