Top Ten Favorite Eyeshadows (That Are Still Available)

Thursday, March 14, 2019

I recently posted a photo of my entire eye shadow stash on Instagram and it prompted a question from @anafterglow: what are my top ten favorites? I decided to pick ten that were still available, though truthfully many of my most unique powder shadows were limited edition and long gone. Nothing is worse than seeing something you really like, only to find out that there's no way of getting it - a tad cruel for me to do that to you, right?

I set aside about twenty shadows and over the last couple of weeks, eliminated and swapped shades in and out. Here's my final ten!

Four of my faves are mattes.

Starting from the bottom left we have Laura Mercier Plum Smoke. I use this a lot with sparkly taupes and glittery cool shades. Available in the Artist Eye Palette, $55 (mine is an earlier one from 2011) and as a single, $25.

Above that, we have Devinah Cosmetics Courtney, $5. The formula on this is ok, it's the color that stands out. I love that pea soup green!

To the right and above it is Rouge Bunny Rouge Raw Garden Luna Palette (press sample). I actually already owned Blackpepper Jay as a single long before this palette came along, but was happy to get another. It's a dark smoky color that looks beautiful in the lash line as liner, or for softening a stark smokey eye. Available as a single, $25 and as a refill.

The faded mustard from the Viseart Warm Mattes Palette, $80. Beautiful shade to use as a transition, it's a bit softer and easier to use compared to MAC Goldenrod.

Three of my favorites are gold, but they couldn't be more different kinds of gold.

The top left is Cozzette Beauty Niobium, $12 for the pan. This creamy soft yellow gold is a vivid metallic with undertones of ochre. Stunner!

Next to that is Rouge Bunny Rouge Abyssinian Catbird. This is a brown with gold, khaki, olive undertones. Sometimes it's more dirty green, sometimes it's more dark brown. $25 for the compact.

Below that is the only shadow I've ever finished, at least the only shimmer shadow. Fyinnae Polar Bear is a pale white gold in a sheer ghostly grey base. $6.95 for the full size.

The final three are also pretty light catching, are they not? These three have duochrome properties.

The Colourpop shade on the left is called Moonwalk. It's a rusty brown base with a yellow light green duochrome. $5.

Above that is the dazzling multichrome shade Looxi Omega, $5. It looks intense green, turquoise, but also purple depending on the angle.

The last and final shade is one from Pat McGrath's Subversive MOTHERSHIP Palette. VR Pink as a favorite shadows is a bit unexpected, but I just can't get over this shade. It's big chunky particles that flip from pink to orange. The whole palette is $125.

Left to right: Pat McGrath VR Pink, Looxi Omega, Cozette Beauty Niobium, Colourpop Moonwalk, Fyrinnae Polar Bear, Rouge Bunny Rouge Abyssinian Catbird, Laura Mercier Plum Smoke, Rouge Bunny Rouge Blackpepper Jay, Viseart Warm Mattes

All these swatches were done with a brush, over primer. Most of the sparkle shades would be further enhanced over a sticky base like Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy, like below:

Here I've used Polar Bear, Moonwalk, and Omega over Pixie Epoxy for a very metallic lower lid.

The interesting thing about all ten of these shadows is that they are pretty much an accurate sampling of that shadow (for that finish) all across the brand - like the mustard Viseart shade, the texture and application of the matte shadows is consistent shade to shade.

What kind of shadows would make your top 10?

Products featured were purchased by me, with the exception of the Rouge Bunny Rouge Luna Palette. Post contains affiliate links. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.