What ratio of shimmer/matte do you prefer in an eye palette?
For a quad, I like three shimmers and one matte, but for larger palettes, say 10 or more shades, then 1/2 to 2/3 shimmers to mattes.
— Christine
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A 3 to 1 ratio or even 5 to 1, with the shimmers being the larger # and the mattes the lower number would work for me. I love shimmers and satiny/sheen shades and have a smaller need for mattes in a palette.
smaller palettes, I prefer higher matte to shimmer ratio. Bigger palettes, I like to see at least 1/2 in matte or satin. It also largely depends on the style of the palette. Some are just add-ons and in these cases, I’m usually looking for something special in terms of finish so mattes become far less important.
I usually like a 50/50 ratio. I actually love palettes where the top row is mattes and the other row is shimmers. Kind of like the OG Lorac palettes.
Honestly, the more mattes the better as I would get more milleage out of it. I already have enough shimmers to last me a lifetime.
Mattes I can wear every single day, regardless of where I’m going. Even sultrier and darker matte colours are fine to just go the supermarket but- on me anyway, because I think this a personal thing- shimmers are just too noticeable and flashy to wear every time. I also think mattes are more forgiving with application and, quite frankly, good mattes are hard to come by -they’re often powdery and don’t blend well.
If I couldn’t escape shimmers I’d be happy with just a light one for highlighting and a dark one (and I’d add a medium one that tied up well with the rest of the pallete in order to cater to most people). Emphasis on “dark” as I find a lot of brands don’t do dark colours well- e.g. it looks navy in the pan and medium blue on my skin.
For me 50/50 or 40/60 matte to shimmer, with the shimmers ranging from satin/pearl to metallic. For large palettes, maybe a duochrome or two, but no glitters. For me, glitters are a waste of space.
Maybe it’s because I own so much eyeshadow now but I feel like I have enough mattes and if I were to buy a large palette, I would want it to be mostly shimmers. No more than a quarter mattes.
Half matte and half shimmer for me. I’d rather have more mattes than shimmers in larger palettes.
Probably 50/50 in many cases, especially any larger palette of 10+ shades. In smaller palettes, I’m figuring that I will be bringing in some favorite mattes and matte-like satins, so I don’t mind an all shimmery quad or quint.
I like between half and 3/4 to be shimmers (or shimmers and other special shades), but that’s by no means set in stone. It depends on the palette’s color story and intended use.
Personally I’m not a fan of shimmers, 25% shimmers is more than enough for me. Even in a quad, I see no purpose of more than 1 shimmer 😅; what I need is a light matte shade to add highlights to the look (which can arguably be a satin, but a matte would still be my first choice), a medium matte transition / crease shade and a dark matte shade to deepen the crease or use as a liner.
But I’m just that kind of person who would buy only matte palettes…
I think half and half is my favorite. But if I had to choose between all matte or all shimmer, I choose all shimmer, like those two rare beauty palettes.
As a proud OLD. I prefer foils to shimmers as they are much more forgiving. 2/3 Mattes. 1/3 foil or satins. No shimmer or sparkle.
Personally I like ALL shimmer, metallic, pearl or satin eyeshadows with no mattes. That’s my favourite. I have used a matte eyeshadow perhaps once or twice in the past few years, so they are a waste of space in a palette for me.
For a workhorse palette or a palette I might give to someone who doesn’t have an extensive collection I’d say 50/50 up to 70/30 mattes to shimmers.
However, for myself personally at the stage of my makeup collection that I have right now, I’m looking for probably 30/70 mattes to shimmers/metallics or even a full shimmer/metallic only because I have so many singles of great workhorse and transition shades that work for me that I can only handle so many palettes that have the same black, mid-tone neutral brown, taupe, and peachy beige mattes over and over again. So unless the mattes are outside the box with some wow-factor, I’d rather stick to my tried and true singles and keep the palette to more creative options and additional finishes to supplement my workhorses.
Zero…I want shimmer everything! Matte shadow and matte lipstick have no place in my life!
Mattes would be a quarter of the palette the rest shimmers, but honestly it would depend on the color story of the palette in general.
Just to clarify it, do satins go with the shimmers, the mattes or in their own little group? I’ve always included them with the mattes because I see them as a sort of “glossier-ish” matte (but without the sparkle I’d expect in a shimmer) but a lot of you see them as a shimmers…?
I generally prefer to have more shimmers than mattes in all palettes. For a quad I think I’d like it to be two of each.
Even though I like shimmery shades better than mattes I have a lot of palettes with more mattes than simmers, and I really like them, so it also depends on the colour story.
I think the three Temptalia palettes have a perfect ratio. But I also think ND Retro is perfect and it has a lot of mattes.
I would love if there were more satins though in all palettes. I find satins rare, and they are my favourite formula, both for eyeshadow and lipstick, actually.
For a “perfect palette” for me it has to have one matte transition shade (medium )taupey grey brown) and a matte black (I realize that’s controversial for some, but I use matte black every day so….) after that it can be all shimmer for all I care.
25% matte, 75% shimmer.