What is your all-time favorite makeup palette? Share!
It would be between Urban Decay’s Naked and Guerlain Turandot. The latter is something that really works well for my skin tone and isn’t just neutrals, but I so frequently travel with Naked because it just works.
Thanks to Rosie for today’s question! Do you have a question idea? Submit yours here.
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
The Naked Palette has become my favorite, and I haven’t even had it for very long. The shadows are just perfect for the color range I like to use. I feel like if I could afford to make my own MAC palette that it’d be my favorite just because they’d be colors I specifically chose for myself and knew I liked.
Urban Decay Naked 1!
Can something I’ve only been using for a little over a month be considered an “all-time favorite?” If so, LORAC PRO PALETTE! For me, this is better than all the other neutral palettes out there. Prior to this palette, I would have said the Naked 2, though. I still love it, but it’s not a complete palette to me, so it’s not something I can just grab and use without having to pull out other shadows, which is perfectly fine when I have the time to go through all my makeup… I bought both Naked palettes knowing that I’d need to supplement them with other shadows, but I don’t have to do that with the palette from LORAC which makes me love it just a little more. I just have everything I need in this one palette, which makes it perfect for me for everyday.
I love the Too Faced natural eye palette, it’s perfect for travel and has more matte shades than the Naked 1 palette. Also the brown shades work perfect for the brows!
Naked palette for sure!!!! Bare minerals cocktail hour is a second close
I’m actually reaching a lot for my naked 2 palette! More than my original naked palette so I guess it is my fave so far.
naked 1 for me 🙂
I bought an eyeshadow quad from L’Oreal in the shade ‘Earthsquape’, which contains really pretty and subtle champagne nudes and taupes. It has a surprisingly buttery and smooth texture. Even though I own the naked 2 palette (and tons of other natural-themed eyeshadows), I find myself reaching for this most often!
Uhhh…
Tough. I love both my Naked palettes (both 1 and 2) to death but I also love my Stila In The Know palette because it’s a perfect, basic, all matte palette that is just so useful. Can’t decide :/
U.D. Naked 1 palette. I use it because I am lazy in the morning…not much fuss…unlike those bare Escentuals loose powder. Brush some color on…and it doesnt even matter what color and you are ready to go…not much thought when I am half awake.
I purchased Guerlain Turandot based on your review and I must say that aside from my customized Bobbi Brown palette (Bone, Heather, Taupe and Naked), it has become my favorite palette also. I love how it looks and all the colors in the palette compliment each other well. Btw, I’m an NC30 in MAC Studio Fix Powder and Warm Beige in Bobbi Brown foundations and concealer. 🙂
Chanel Sable-Émouvant Eyeshadow Duo.
Not reviewed here, but very pigmented and versatile. Great for everyday and it can be used wet for intense evening looks.
I know everyone likes the naked but I actually never got it. Instead I picked up the LORAC PRO palette and I love it! I still secretly want to buy the Urban decay one, but not sure if I can justifty having two neutral palettes!
While I love my UD Naked palette, the Lorac Pro Palette blows it out of the water.
Definitely Bobbi Brown Day to Night Warm Eyeshadow Palette.Most perfect neutral-warm palette ever!
I also have Naked but BB is just the top!! I love it 🙂
Btw, if anyone is interested, Christine already reviewed it. I’m glad that she gave an A 🙂
http://www.temptalia.com/bobbi-brown-day-to-night-warm-eyeshadow-palette-review-photos-swatches
For a full face palette, it would have to be Too Faced’s Enchanted Glamourland, with the first Balmbini palette coming in a close second. For an eye shadow palette, that’s a tough one…it would be a toss up between the original Naked Palette and Naked2, but I also really, really love Tarina Tarantino’s Dreamy Palette and, from the drugstore, Maybelline Caffeine Rush! But I also really like UD’s 15th Anniversary Palette. This is a tough choice….
lorac pro palette or dior mitzah palette
The Smoking Quad by MAC released with the Smoke Signal Collection back in 2007. I have never used a quad that often.
UD Smoked without a doubt!
Naked 1. You just can’t go wrong with it.
Up until recently, I would have said UD Naked, but now it’s definitely the UD Naked Basics. My usual everyday look is a matte skin tone lid with a matte light brown to dark brown gradient in the crease, matte black in the outer corner and a shimmery light tone in the brownbone and inner corners. I used to carry around an Inglot four palette with some Inglot shades that allowed me to create this look, but UD Naked Basics has the same colors and it’s def more travel friendly!
My inglot freedom system palette.
Too Faced Eye Love palette!
My favorite palette is Bobbi Brown Mauve. I love the dusty plum shadows, and the lip colors are perfect for me. This is a very cool toned palette, and I get a lot of compliments when I wear it.
I love that one too! Not only is it great for cool tones (which is more difficult to find), it includes three shadows, three lippies and a blush, making it a perfect all-in-one soft, neutral palette for traveling light.
Burberry LE Sheer Summer Glow great for blush, bronzer and eyeshadows
Urban Decay Naked 1 and the Tarte Eye and Cheek Palette. The Urban Decay palette is so great for the range of looks you can do. The shadows are so buttery too. The Tarte palette has 6 shadows, and I use all of them (I don’t use all of the colors in Naked) They are really pretty (and one is purple) and you can create daytime and nightime looks. In addition to the shadows, it has 2 Amazonian clay blushes. I think that’s great for travel. So, it’s a toss-up!
I think my favorite is the Smashbox Studio pop Ultimate palette, simply because the range of products and shades, and quality is great all around. But I do agree with everybody that UD’s Naked paltte is right up there, I always seem to go back to it and like Christine said, “it just works”.
Currently Chanel Harmonie du Soir, very long-wearing and easy to wear.
I have only 3 palettes, so it’s a tricky question. I have Bobbi Brown Rich Caviar, Naked 1 and Smoked (both by UD). The one I use the most is Naked. Even when I use other palettes and shadows, I often find myself also using a shade from Naked (I’m talking about when I really do my makeup, not just putting on a quick wash of eyeshadow for work). So, buy default, Naked won. It isn’t that Naked isn’t great. But if and when I do find myself in the market for a new neutral palette, I do plan on trying something different.
I go back and forth between the Urban Decay 15th Anniversary palette and Naked 1. They both have great neutrals in them, plus 15th anniversary has some awesome bright colors as well. I’ve been considering the Lorac Pro palette for a while and I’m so tempted to get it after seeing how many people mentioned it!
The palette I’ve used the most is UD Mariposa, it’s so versatile whilst still being small and light enough to carry around easily. I actually even bought a backup. The other palette that’s wowed me lately is a Nars one (don’t know what it’s called but it has Himalayas, Ondine and half of the Surabaya duo), I’ve used it every day since I got it and have never had a palette where I love and use all the colours. I might end up getting a backup of that too.
About 10 years ago MAC had a collection for Liza Minelli. The Liza Daytime palette is my all-time favorite. It had a matte neutral shade that matched my brow bone perfectly, and the deep brown/black color was great on my brows. It had a pretty pink and a light brown as well. I used every bit of shadow in the palette. All 4 shades were limited editions; I have never found a good dupe for the deep brown/black. I also loved the red Ready to Kiss lipstick with the collection.
Hands down, Urban Decay’s Naked 2 🙂
I don’t own too many palettes, because I’ve noticed that I tend to use shades in palettes much less often than singles.
From the ones I do have, it’s probably a tie between the Wet ‘n’ Wild Walking on Eggshells trio and the Wet ‘n’ Wild Comfort Zone palette. I keep the trio on top of the counter for easy access and it’s great when I’m in a rush–I couldn’t possibly mess up using it. Comfort Zone has beautiful colors which I could use every day and not get bored–it has amazing colors I love, but I think the reason I don’t use it often is simply because it’s a bigger palette.
Dior Rosy Nude eyeshadow quint from a few spring collections back. I’m starting to hit pan on a few of the colors, and I’m so sad! They’re the most perfect eyeshadows for every day.
This is like asking a woman to pick her favorite child… If I *had* to choose one, I’d go with UD Smoked, just because of it’s versatility, and the fact 99.9% of all skintones can find some use for it. As far as a *personal* favorite, I’d have to say UD Black Palette, but mainly because it’s not something that’s done very often, and Jet & Libertine are just so gorgeous. LORAC Private Affair is another favorite, but as with UD Black, I have to pull in other shadows, which makes them less than “perfect”, but since the shades are what I lean to, I love both.
It’s not an actual “palette,” but I made a MAC quad consisting of “All That Glitters,” “Quarry,” “Satin Taupe,” and “Shale.” It’s a stunning combination for every day!
Maybe I’m seriously challenged but I don’t use my Naked 2 palette all that often because it doesn’t seem to combine that well without digging out a bunch of other shades to go with it. I’m also not that impressed with the quality.
I find myself reaching for my Chanel Eclosion palette frequently. It’s easy to make a soft daytime look or a more dramatic evening look and the textures are much more refined. I’m probably going to invest in Raffinement for something more neutral that I’ll probably reach for the same way I do Eclosion.
Wish I had the skin tone for Turnadot or Harmonie du Soir but being cool-toned I don’t think they’d work very well.
Dior Dior and Dior again! If I had to choose only one among the many Dior palettes I own, I’d say Sunset Cafè. Truly the colours of a sunset captured for you by an artist.
I guess I’m just not really a palette girl!! I Recently loved Chanel Eclats de Soir and Dior Night Golds, but they have both moved to the back of the drawer now the festive season is over. I don’t have the Nakeds. It seems I should. I often eventually throw palettes away barely used, ot with one one shade finished.
So here, I’m going to say Les Sourcils de Chanel brow powder!! I’m on my second one…
URBAN DECAY NAKED2
It’s a bit small, but The Star Treatment one from Bare Minerals. The looks you can create with it are all so beautiful and I actually consider it pretty neutral in the scheme of my eyeshadow collection.
I’m still so surprised by all the love for the Naked palettes, I am considering selling mine for half price to a friend because I have SO MUCH fallout 🙁 I want to love it, but I just can’t.
I can’t decide on just one. My faves are Lorac Pro Palette, theBalm Nude ‘Tude, bare Minerals the Elements & Silent Treatment, UD 15 anniversary………ahhhhhh so many more!!!
I meant Star Treatment!
The Naked 2 palette! I’ve been trying to find Turandot with no success. I thought it wasn’t limited edition so I didn’t buy it immediately. I guess it was limited 🙁
You can find the Turandot palette on Nordstrom.com! I got it there and LOVE IT! It’s my new all-time fave. I have a neutral skin tone and green eyes and it is perfect. Good luck!
Probably the one I use the most is my UD Book of Shadows IV, but the 15th Anniversary palette I like the most.
Naked Basics Palette is my new go to palette! Very neutral and basic for any occasion and you can smoke it out and I add MAC shimmertime pigment on lid for more excitement. It goes with any blush or lip color and it’s small and compact!
The brown quad from MAC Smoke Signals. Satin taupe is permanent and two of the other shades are dupable, but not next to nothing. Never found anything as good on me. And the lipstick (brew) and blush (emote) I bought with it also are not dupable. They go so perfectly together that I don’t know what I will do when they will run out. I envy you people who have as favourites a permanent palette. Sigh.
Urban Decay Naked 1 and Smoked Palette! ^^
I have the Naked palette, but I use Too Faced’s Smokey Eye and Matte Eye palettes so much more. I LOVE using grey colors with a colored liner much more then wearing browns and golds. In fact, the Naked palette is too shimmery for me at times and can be overpowering. A soft matte grey is definitely my go-to color right now.
Without a doubt, it was Laura Mercier’s Mercury Rising palette. It was my first NM purchase, in the late 1990’s I think, $50.. It had shadows, including my fave: Mermaid, bronzers and lip colors, housed in a coppery red lacquered case. It was perfection, and I have not found anything close since then.
Definitly not an eye palette.
– Laura Mercier Bonne Mine Crème Colour Palette
– Sleek blush by 3 in Pumpkin
Any of Illamasqua’s quads. They’re really good because they have a mix of textures, so within one palette you can use a cream base, powder or top with glitter. My favourite colour-wise is the Complement palette, but for versatility, I’d go with Empower.
UD’s Naked (the first one), no contest.
I second Eclosion! I love it. I know it’s not perfect, but it works amazingly well for me- and I’m rather warm-toned!
Guerlain liu calligraphy. Beautiful taupes and golds that can go from a low-maintenance one-color wash to a full on glam look. And the red lipsticks are gorgeous as well.
My favorite nowadays is Tom Ford Enchanted for a natural day look. I am also loving Bauhaus Kaleidoscope from LMdB, just had it today, by layering the colors, one can get many looks.I don’t get how everyone else is using UD’s naked palette so often as mine makes my eyes wrinkled on the lid as if I am 30 years older. As a consequence I stopped using it, fallout was also an issue, during the day the shadow was moving from above to under my eye 😉
For more neutral colors – it’s a tie between UD Naked and Pur Minerals Color in Numbers… the colors are different so it’s hard to say which I prefer, but both are beautiful and are wonderful for every day or to take somewhere where I might be concerned about coming off too colorful
For something more “colorful” – The Ben Nye Grande Lumiere Palette – LOVE
I also really love MAC’s Graphic Garden Palette for something travel-friendly, the quality of the shadows in it is very good, and the colors are very “me” – there’s a teal and blue in there, which I adore but there’s also silver and black if I want more of a smokey eye.
Naked 1 and Chanel Mystic Eyes. Both are terrific.
UD Smoked for sure. I have a few palettes in my collection, including UD’s Naked 1, but I was never really that crazy about it. But Smoked is perfect for me. I love all the colors on me, and the black one is wonderfully pigmented. I could do my makeup every day using just that palette and not get bored with it.
It’s funny, I thought about this and I couldn’t think of one. I use the Naked palette more than any others, but I still feel it’s a little bit warm-toned for me. I feel like I’m still waiting for my ultimate palette…
I don’t think I can consider this my all time favourite palette, it’s just my favourite right now – Bareminerals the Truth quad.
http://www.temptalia.com/bare-escentuals-bareminerals-truth-eyeshadow-quad-review-photos-swatches
I’ve just hit pan on Serendipitous! I need to get a dupe for it in a single.
I have and love the Naked palette (the original), but my FAVORITE palette would have to be the MAC one I put together myself (or is that cheating?): Nylon, Blanc Type, Dazzlelight, Naked Lunch, All that Glitters, Satin Taupe, Patina, Omega, Wedge, Soft Brown, Amber Lights, Sketch, Espresso, Smut, and Black Tied.
I currently have no beauty budget and there are a lot of awesome looking palettes that have come out that I missed getting like some from The Balm, a ton from UD and the new Bare Minerals pressed ones…
From what I do have though, my UD Deluxe shadow palette is my fave. Some nice neutrals, vibrant colors and a black that works for setting liner, using as liner or smoking out…
Nars Danbari Blush Pallet. Has everything I need to travel. Actually, has everything I need.
Asking me to pick an eyeshadow pallet is just not fair! I have a drawer full of ones I love, picking one is not possible!
Lorac Pro Palette because it has every shade I need to do almost any look with. I love that there is a good amount of highlight, midtone, and contour shades and that there are 8 matte shadows and 8 shimmery shadows. Plus the pigmentation and buttery-ness of the shadows is awesome. I love UD Naked–it’s a great staple, but if I had to chose between the two, I’d go with the Pro Palette.
I like the Hello Kitty Head of the Class Palette in black/white ($36 original price at sephora). The colors are surprisingly good in my opinion and the fluorescent blue-white is a great unnatural-looking highlighter (I like unnatural colors) and the palette is super cute!
I have so many (eyeshadow only) palettes – including multiples from Dior, Bobbi Brown, UD, theBalm, Stila, Mally, Too Faced, Lancome Color Design, etc… but my all-time favorite winner is (drum roll please)…
Too Faced Naked Eye Palette. Sooo much better (than UD Naked) for us cool-toned ladies! L*O*V*E – it had me at hello! It’s a great all around basic palette.
3-way tie for 2nd place are Dior Quint #808 Pink Design, Kevyn Aucoin Essential #2, and Wet ‘n Wild’s Silent Treatment (if you count a trio as a palette).
My favorite is my Too Faced Natural Eye palette. Urban Decay’s Naked was good but I felt there weren’t many colors good for daily wear 🙁
Where can I order Turandot? I havent seen on any websites, or in SAKS in New Orleans..or the Guerlain spa there.
It was up on Nordstrom a week or so ago, but I didn’t see it just now!
darn..I’ve been looking…
I’d have to give my Ben Nye Theatrical eyeshadow palette the award. It’s got a great mix of nudes and a bit of color from a brick and a grape color to break up the neutrals. I use it 99.9% of the time to make a look.
My favorite color wise: Burberry’s Smokey Grey
I love silver/grey/gunmetal shadows in general and I love Burberry eye shadows in particular, so it’s the perfect palette for me.
The one I use most often: LORAC’s PRO Palette
Cream is my perfect brow bone highlight which I use every single time I wear eye makeup.
I use Mauve, Taupe and Sable a lot as blending shades.
Nude is my favorite inner corner highlight.