The cohesion of the color story; that doesn’t mean brow bone/transition shades to me, but it does mean a good balance of depth, undertone, and actual shades that creates a versatile offering that can be used standalone.
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High pigmentation with flakes and lots of fallout. Durable, long wear. No to little creasing. Quality palette casing (& mirrors like PML’s earlier Motherships really are a plus). And I agree after reading your opinion that color scheme and cohesion are important, but I could still deem a palette great if I have the other elements mentioned and can’t use it as a stand-alone palette.
A good palette has good quality eyeshadows, a great palette is customizable. It’s easy nowadays to have a good quality eyeshadow formula, for me the real differentiator is being able to make it my own.
1.) Versatility that allows me to get more than just one or two very solid looks.
2.) A cohesive color story that even though it permits several seamless colorways, it still somehow flows.
3.) Excellent quality with smooth buttery buildable mattes and smoothing, highly pigmented metallics and shimmers that don’t give me a lot of fallout.
4.) That its shades work very well with my coloring.
5.) And DEFINITELY something that I will use like crazy!
A superior formula with little fallout and mattes that blend easily. Shades that work beautifully together to create multiple looks. A variety of shades and finishes.
For me, a great palette is one that has my kind of colour preferences, very few or no mattes, in satin, soft shimmer and metallic finishes. I would want it to have at least an A rating from you Christine.
There are lots of good eye palettes around and I have many of them. These are those that have received a good rating, but contain quite a few matte shades and the inclusion of a matte black or a couple of shades that typically I would not use (eg pink, red).
I have really become particular to be polite on my eye shadow palettes.. I have tried I think them all. I started off with MAC eye shadows and I still enjoy them however the formula is dry (not powdery) although MAC is kinda dry it seems to last and stay in place on my eye lid.
I expect a pigmented formula that does not oxidize into another color. I expect it to be smooth, have opacity and be easy to blend. I expect it to stay put. One of my pet peeves is that I apply my eye shadow and it turns into a blended muddy mess on my eyes.. as if I did not even try. I like a more satin finish overall… of course I need some mattes, but I really just use them on my crease and liner. The shimmer/glittery shades need to stay in their place. I am not fond of shimmers that drop to my under-eye. So far my favorite palettes are my Pat McGrath, I still enjoy my MAC, I like my Natasha Denona. People don’t talk about Dose of Colors but her eye shadow is nice. I loved my HUDA desert palette but it dried out and was totally different so I have not bought any more of her palettes. I find that I really don’t like the makeup made in China.. sorry… the common denominator of all my declutters –
Not powdery/weak formulas, especially good mattes. And for me it needs to be compact, if it can give me what I want in 4 shades it’s amazing. Long gone are the days of huge bulky palettes, I want tiny and with a mirror. Of course shade selection, black is an automatic no buy for me, I need a pearl light color that’s not white, a shimmer medium color, a medium dark matte color and a pop or something fun or transition. Huda’s small 9 color palettes are almost perfect, and the Natasha denona’s tiny ones are on my list too