What is your favorite holiday palette of all time?
Natasha Denona Metropolis. It was unexpected, but it has so many interesting shades and textures.
— Christine
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I don’t usually fall for Holiday palettes (which isn’t to say that I don’t fall for LE palettes!). I think the only one I’ve ever bought that was “Holiday” was from waaaay back in the dim and distant past – the Everything Nice palette from Too Faced. It was both a face and cheek palette, which made it really nice to have. It also contained some pretty crummy brushes but, well, everything else in it was really nice and there was SO MUCH to love!
I was thinking of commenting “Too Faced A Few of My Favorite Things” palette and I saw your comment! Same about the holiday palettes – I don’t usually go for them as much anymore, other than maybe the Pat McGrath Celestial. But the Too Faced one was one of my first memorable higher end purchases and will always have a place in my heart. Blushes + Bronzers + a good mix of textures, colors, and finishes that all mixed together well.
Nice to share such a sweet memory (weird how attached to and sentimental about our makeup we can be!). I think I also chose it because, to be honest, while I’ve probably purchased other “Holiday” palettes, because they don’t have Holiday names or graphics, I have a hard time remembering if any of the other ones I have are actually Holiday releases! I do have Dior’s 5-pan “Celebrate in Gold” from 2020 and every time I see that message on the surface of the shadows, the bitter irony (that’s when the Pandemic hit HARD) hits home!
MAC Holiday 2017 Gold palette. It’s a simple 5 pan palette but gives a nice grungy smoky look
For Christmas, I love this discontinued tarte Christmas palette my husband bought me as a gift years ago. It was really such a cute gift because he looked in my makeup bag and tried to pick something similar so I’d like it! That does mean that I have better formulas in the same shades elsewhere, but I love the tarte because he put so much thought and effort into the gift (when he knows nothing about makeup!). it warms my heart!
I loved the nutcracker collection from mac as a whole, but specially the peach face palette with the highlighter shade Tutu. That still is my favourite highligher ever, and the package is the prettiest!
How could I pick just one?MUFE 2014 Studio Case, KVD Saints + Sinners, Urban Decay Vice 4, PML x Star Wars MTHRSHP: Dark Galaxy, PML Sublime Bronze Temptation MTHRSHP Eyeshadow Palette, and PML Bronze Seduction Mothership V Eyeshadow Palette all stand out for me.
I haven’t been wowed by a lot of holiday makeup over the years. I do love a Dior palette that I purchased back in about 2016 and it had a beautiful white pearl, a more shimmer gold, a pink gold, a matte beige and a beautiful matte black. I can’t remember the name of it but I still have it here somewhere!
I so want to buy some holiday makeup but nothing is wowing me. I hope that PMGL, Chanel, MAC and some of the more reliable brands put out some stunning holiday makeup. I spent yesterday watching videos on Chanel’s Holiday release and while it isn’t groundbreaking, the eyeshadow palette is one that I would use a lot. It is essentially a neutral palette and I like the Chanel formula. I think it is all shimmer so not a stand alone palette but it has a couple of one and done shades that I would use to death, I think. I didn’t get to see it in store and I am not even sure it is going to come to the USA. Michelle Wong, YT, used it and she has a connection at a Chanel Boutique store in Florida that got hers for her and she left contact information so maybe forced to do that. I can remember being excited to see the holiday releases here on the blog and I know that there use to be so many that Christine would try and prioritize them. It just doesn’t feel that way now.
If you like cool tones, Dior’s holiday Backstage palette, Silver Essentials, is beautiful! It’s a mix of purples, silver, grays and neutrals and goes from a very pale pearly white to a deep eggplant. I bought it from Dior’s site bc they have free shipping (and my mother says it’s against our religion to pay for shipping!) and have been loving it. I also have the Cool Neutrals Backstage palette and this is better.
Thank you so much for the information. Yes, I love cool toned shadows. I will go and check it out now!
Sorry for the double message here Cara but have you used the lavender shade in the palette? I have been looking for a good lavender shade and I actually purchased a palette on an Asian website, had it shipped to a friend in Japan as the seller wouldn’t ship to the USA and she shipped it to me. It had three lovely tones of lavender in it and I was so disappointed when I tried to use them. I know that Asian pigmentation is usually very light as they don’t like the deep tones that we like and I would have been happy with that but they were so dusty, didn’t have pigmentation and when I did get them to show up on my lids, they were gone in an hour. I tried everything from primer to MAC Fix + and no go. The palette was from a very well respected Asian brand, Canmake. I was surprised. Anyway, just hoping this one would be better. I like all the other shades and have it in my basket awaiting your response, although I probably should just get it as I do like the color story.
Hi Deborah,
The lavender shade at the bottom is a satin/matte that applies beautifully all over the lid with a finger but does need to be built up if applying with a brush. I use an eye primer (Nars Pro-Prime or Hourglass Veil) and it lasts at least 6 hrs before starting to fade but it has good adherence so a primer may not be necessary. If you’re looking for a shimmery lavender/lilac, my favorites are ColourPop Super Shocks The Griffith and Angelic (more icy than Griffith), Ritual de Fille Eye Soot in Flora and Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Orchid. All are fully opaque, high shine and easy to apply with fingertips or from the stick.
Thank you so much. I am convinced and will pick it up.
I wish now that I should have purchased Metropolis – even though it was at a horrendous price here in Aus at the time it was at Sephora Aus. It was indeed a stunning palette.
I have a feeling that Lorac’s Noir and Soleil palettes were part of a holiday release and they are both lovely – especially Noir.
Pat McGrath 1st large palette i guess 2 years ago- i love it and still use it all the time
It’s a dead heat tie between UD Vice 3 and CT Bejewelled palette from 3 years ago! Both still look great with my blue-green eyes and coloring, too. UD Vice 2 is also a big-time favorite of mine!
It was ages ago and an Estée Lauder. It was perfect. I used everything in it. I still go to Lauders site at the holiday, but nothing interests me. When there were many Lauder counters they always went all out with displays and beautiful packaging. Sadly, their are no department stores around me any longer.
I enjoy the hourglass holiday palettes and see they have increased their offerings to suit more people. They are $$$ for amount of product but allow for having different products together in one place
A Bare Minerals palette popped out after the move called Aurora Lights. Dominated by lighter shades, with a close shimmer version for most mattes. Runs very light, with two deepening shades, a midrange shiny-but-not-metallic silver rose taupe, and an accent green and subtle darker silvered rosy purple. Runs cool or cool-leaning. It softened when packed up. But it’s a perfect old lady palette, which is just what I need now! Thanks for the stimulus question, Christine.
I love the Aurora Lights palette!! I’m vampire pale so the mattes work for me but the shimmers are the stand out; they’re smooth and pigmented and apply high shine on the lids with a dry brush. If BM was smart, they would have made that formula permanent and expanded their eyeshadow palette line
I know, I know, I’m a broken record and I need to move on but the Vieve Ninetease palette from last yr is not only my favorite holiday palette but it’s one of my favorite palette in my collection. It’s a truly cool toned color story but isn’t the typical boring browns and grays that many brands lazily throw together to get consumers to stop asking for cool tones. Also, the shimmers are smooth, pigmented and high shine, not textured, sparkly and/or sheer toppers. I don’t buy backups because I have a large collection and don’t finish much (anything) but I love this palette so much that I’m considering getting one before it’s discontinued, like everything else I love.
I’m not sure it was a “holiday palette” per se, but KVD’s Spellbinding Shadow Book was gorgeous. I can’t let go of it even though it’s 10 years old and KVD herself is so problematic.
Wow, Metropolis was my least favorite from her, though I agree the color scheme was very different when it came out. I think it’s because most of the colors are similar and very true to theme, dark and grungy. I would have an appreciated a few more lighter tones.
That said, you asked for our fav, so I’ll say that it was the Too Faced Boss Lady due to it being a “holiday” palette and that the variety of colors worked well together. Sadly, I didn’t use it much, but now that you asked, I may revisit it. 😉