One of the most creative and expressive products in the makeup industry and beauty world is eyeshadow. They come in many forms and combinations, but if you’re looking for the best way to create gorgeous looks, you’re going to want a palette.
However, you should know that not every palette is made the same.
They vary widely in shades, contrast, texture, and much more. So, which are the best eyeshadow palettes? Stay tuned, because we have them all right here for you!
The 6 Best Eyeshadow Palettes For 2022
| Eyeshadow Palette | Type | At a Glance | |
|---|---|---|---|
| L.A. Girl Beauty Brick | Nudes | Extremely affordable, dimensional shimmers, smooth mattes, very pigmented shades, magnetic case with mirror, comes with double-sided eyeshadow applicator | |
| Shany Natural Fusion | n/a | Huge variety of shadows, great for complete looks and professionals, combination shimmer/matte shades, heavily pigmented, long-lasting, very affordable | |
| Urban Decay Naked Petite Heat | Warms | Excellent for travel, extremely portable, 6 different shades, great for all eye/skin colors, 5 matte shades, one demi-matte, very pigmented | |
| Jaclyn Hill x Morphe | n/a | 35 gorgeous shades, excellent color payoff, easy and smooth application, matte/shimmer/satin/foil/glitter, wide variety of shades and moods | |
| Urban Decay Naked Palette (Editor's Pick) | Warms | Magnetic closure, beautiful array of warm shades, very highly pigmented, mattes/shimmers/satins/sparkles, universally-flattering, long-lasting, great wear time, easily blendable | |
| Pat McGrath Mothership III | n/a | Very bold colors, comes in 10 vivid shades, vibrant color saturation, very sparkly, seamless color transitions, versatile looks, matte/pearl/sparkle finishes, creamy and soft texture, great stay time |
Now that you’ve had the opportunity to take a quick overview of each of the best eyeshadow palettes, you’re probably interested in hearing more about each one. Without further ado, we present to you, the best eyeshadow palettes currently on the market, today!
L.A. Girl Beauty Brick – Best Budget Product
About The Product
If you’re on the hunt for one of the best eyeshadow palettes for beginners or are looking for a high-quality product on a budget, then welcome to the L.A. Girl Beauty Brick Eyeshadow Collection Palette.
The palette is very cool; more appropriate for daytime ventures or the office, but still lets you create impressive looks. You’ll see nudes, brights, shimmers, and mattes, so you do have a good amount of difference in what you can do with this set.
Despite being so inexpensive, the shadows are anything but cheap.
The kit features 12 different shades; starting at a white, and going all the way down to a dusky greyish-brown. So, if you want, you could even wear these on a night out or go for more dramatic looks. If you are aware of the Naked 3 Palette, it’s actually extremely similar to those swatches (albeit much less expensive).
While the actual wear time isn’t the longest, the pigments in themselves have a great color payoff, and you only need a bit to create powerful looks.
Our Experience
We have to say that we were quite impressed with this best affordable eyeshadow palette from L.A. Girl Cosmetics. It’s pretty much impossible to find another palette at this level of quality, at such a low price.
Let’s talk a bit more in-depth about the shades, themselves.
The palette features 9 shimmer shades and 3 matte shades. You’ll receive: Strange, Dust, Burnout, Limit, Buzz, Trick, Nooner, Liar, Factory, Mugshot, and Darkside.
The shades start at a shimmery white, progressing through light pinks and pinky-browns, into golden yellows, dusky browns, and finally, purple-browns and grey-browns. They all work together to create an excellent dimension and interest.
They do go on relatively easily and can be blended well, but you do have to put in a bit of additional effort.
How long did they last?
They stayed on pretty well for almost 5 hours without an eyeshadow primer, and while there was a bit of fading, we felt that was pretty generous, all things considered.
How’s the packaging?
It’s not quite as sturdy as most palettes we used and is a bit flimsy, so don’t be too harsh with it. If you’re going to take it on your travels, make sure it’s not bouncing all over the place.
Our conclusion?
It may not be the absolute best of the best in terms of quality, but considering it’s less than $10, it’s actually impressive how good it is.
What We Loved
- Extremely affordable
- Wonderful shade options with various mattes and shimmers
- Create complete looks for day or night wear
- Excellent color payoff with all shades
What We Didn’t Like
- A bit sticky until you wipe it off
SHANY Natural Fusion Palette – Most Versatile Product
About the Product
Another one of the best budget products out there is the SHANY Natural Fusion Palette.
If you want a huge variety of shades at a low price, then this is without-a-doubt one of the best ways to do it. If you’re a beginning makeup artist or want a kit to travel with, this is also an excellent choice, as you get a ton of colors at a fraction of the cost.
Despite being so inexpensive, they actually look really good, too. You can easily create countless looks and moods with so much variety available to you.
How many colors are there?
A whopping 88. They consist of 29 matte shadows and 59 ultra-shimmer shadows. They all are highly-pigmented and are wonderful in terms of blending and creating smooth, soft transitions.
The palette was created in the US, and they are members of PETA, as all of their products are cruelty-free which we love!
Our Experience
Ranging from a soft neutral to bolder retro metallics, you can create pretty much any look your mind can think up. From more neutral daytime looks to going out at night, you’ll find that this palette is ideal for any of your needs.
Each shadow is made from a natural mineral oil base, which allows for a smooth application, as well as helping to create heavily-pigmented shades that are difficult to smudge or fade, so you don’t have to worry about having to reapply throughout the day.
Plan on traveling?
No worries! Despite there being so many shades, the compact is surprisingly slim and can easily be slid into a purse or placed in a suitcase with no issue. It also has a good-sized mirror in the top portion, and they’ve thoughtfully included two different applicators.
How do they wash off?
They are actually pretty easy to take off, so you don’t have to spend a ton of time removing it.
So, was there anything we didn’t like?
Really, the only thing that we felt could’ve been improved upon was the wear time. It was by no means bad in this aspect, but it could’ve been improved upon. However, as it is so inexpensive, we feel that it’s definitely worth it.
What We Loved
- Excellent budget product
- Includes 88 shades in a huge variety of colors
- Can be easily traveled with
- Includes large mirror and two applicators
What We Didn’t Like
- Wear time could be improved upon
Urban Decay Naked Petite Heat – Best Product for Traveling
About the Product
It may be small, but it sure is mighty. The Urban Decay Naked Petite Heat is absolutely something you should be taking along with you, no matter where you go.
This palette is one of the best eyeshadow palettes for brown eyes, blue eyes, green, or really any color of eyes. It surprisingly works well to make eyes pop, no matter the skin or eye colors.
This compact palette features six scorching neutral shadows, which is inspired by their original Naked Heat palette. This compact has five stunning shades, that work for the lid, crease, and liner, along with one demi-matte highlighting shade.
Despite there only being a few colors, it is surprisingly versatile, and you can create daytime looks just as well as bold night looks.
The packaging is so tiny that you could even fit it in your wallet if you really wanted a convenient way to take your favorite shades anywhere you need them. It’s also very sturdy and protective, so you don’t have to worry about them getting squashed or cracking.
The palette does contain full-size pans just like the popular Naked palettes.
The shades included?
Inhale (cream demi-matte), Vibrate (soft nude matte), Hot Spell (terra-cotta matte), Wild Thing (scorched orange matte), and Heist, which is a rich cayenne matte.
Our Experience
Yet another one of the best eyeshadow palettes of the year, the Naked Heat Petite really impressed us.
It gives you everything you need to create soft looks, to sultry, to runway-worthy looks.
The ultra-compact packaging is perfect for travel and can fit just as easily in bags and suitcases as in pockets and whatnot. Use the shades alone, or combine them to create complete, interesting looks that are scorching hot.
Each of the shades has an excellent color payoff. Truly, you just need the lightest touch of product and it will go a long way. However, they are also buildable, so you can go as soft or bold as you’d like with ease. Use them wet for even more vividness and versatility. They blend easily and create seamless transitions.
How is wear time?
Excellent. It’s one of the most durable products we’d experienced, and we went almost 9 hours without even having to touch up. Add a primer, and you could practically go all day with one application!
So, what were the “cons”?
Really, the only thing is that you only have a few shades available to you, so if you want a look other than with warm tones, it’s not going to be possible.
What We Loved
- Super easy to travel with
- Can be used to create soft to bold nighttime looks
- Excellent color payoff; very long wear time
- Easily blendable with seamless transitions
What We Didn’t Like
- Only a few shades available
Jaclyn Hill x Morphe Eyeshadow Palette – Most Durable Product
About the Product
Containing 35 colors ranging widely from cool blues and purples to warm siennas, to deep browns and blacks, this Jaclyn Hill and Morphe collaboration was long-awaited, and pretty much no one was disappointed.
Not only do they have some of the best color payoff out there today, but also amazing applications. You’ll find gorgeous mattes, shimmers, satins, foils, and glitter all in one palette, and all pressed perfectly.
Whether you want a more soft look for heading out to lunch or a meeting, or perhaps going to the clubs or a show, you’re going to love this best long-lasting eyeshadow palette.
Don’t have time to step into the washroom to touch up your shadow?
No worries! This palette is the most long-lasting product out there, and you will rarely have to touch up your applications.
Our Experience
To be honest, we hadn’t tried many Jaclyn Hill products before this palette, but that will definitely be changing, now.
This palette impressed us on just about every level.
The colors range widely, and you can create bold blueish looks, dark and sultry smokey eyes, light and summery vibes, and more. No matter which color combinations you choose, you can rest assured that they’re going to be very rich in pigmentation and will stay all through the day.
The color scheme is largely comprised of warmer neutrals, however, there is a good mix of shimmers and mattes with some pops of vibrant shades thrown in there.
We did notice that the shimmery tones had a heavier, more creamy consistency, and works best with more sturdy brushes. These ones you will need to put more product on, or else you won’t see as much pigmentation.
How about the matte shadows?
They weren’t quite as creamy, but they did vary widely in terms of how opaque they were. They are all buildable and cover a wide surface area. You can use these with lighter brushes, as you just need a tiny bit to get you going.
Now, let’s move onto the downsides.
Number one is that it is a bit pricey. No, it wasn’t the most costly one out there, but it is notably more expensive than many other products in this range. Perhaps the part we disliked the most, was the packaging.
It is made up of cardboard, and actually got super dirty without us even realizing. Other than that, we loved this palette!
What We Loved
- Made up of a variety of different beautiful shades
- Excellent color payoff; wear time averages between 7-9 hours
- Applies and blends very easily
What We Didn’t Like
- Cardboard construction of packaging gets dirty easily
- Not the most affordable product
Urban Decay Naked Palette – Editor’s Favorite
About the Product
Quite possibly the most well-known and best eyeshadow palette for the makeup artists and amateurs alike is the original Naked Palette by Urban Decay.
We all know that Urban Decay has been producing high-quality, unique makeup products for a while now, and have gathered an almost cult following, with good reason!
The universally-flattering bronze-colored shades allow for a wide variety of looks, depending on your mood and outfit!
You’d think that since they’re all warm neutrals, you’d be limited in what you can do, but in this case, you’d be wrong! With the wide array of finishes (matte, satin, shimmer, and sparkle), the original Naked palette takes neutrals to a level we’ve never seen before.
You can go from work to a night downtown seamlessly, as the shades vary from soft and light, to dark and sultry.
What shades does it include?
Virgin (cool pale/beige satin), Sin (pale nude shimmer), Naked (nude matte), Sidecar (beige shimmer with silver micro-glitter), Buck (fawn brown matte), Half Baked (golden bronze shimmer), Smog (deep coppery bronze shimmer), Darkhorse (deep mocha shimmer), Toasted (antique copper penny shimmer), Hustle (plum-brown satin), Creep (onyx shimmer with gold sparkle), and Gunmetal (dark metallic gray shimmer with silver micro-glitter).
It also comes with a double-ended shadow/blending brush. One side is a bit longer and is great for wider surface areas, while the other is better for really upping the pigmentation and intensity.
The downside?
It is a bit more expensive. However, considering how long-lasting and durable each application is, the actual price per application is quite inexpensive.
Our Experience
From first glance, we fell in love with this best eyeshadow palette brand.
The Naked Palette features a chocolate velvet case, which features in big, bold, gold letters, the word, “NAKED”. The mirrored case is magnetic, so you don’t have to worry about it coming wide open. We also noticed that the pots stay in very well, unlike the Naked 2 and Naked 3 palettes.
The downside to the velvet cover is that it does attract dust and fuzz.
Not only is it one of the best eyeshadow palettes for blue eyes, it’s just the best all-around.
Rocking bronzes and neutrals are much easier to pull off than bright, more bold colors. However, they still give a certain natural intensity that looks good on any skin or eye color.
Inside, you’ll find the 12 warm-toned full-sized pots of color, along with the large mirror and double-ended application brush. While they vary widely in finish and tone, they are all very soft and somewhat-powdery. You’ll find a more creamy consistency rather than chalkiness, and they all blend very easily with an excellent color payoff.
Want even more intensity?
Go for some wet application! The options are endless!
So, just how long does each application last?
Without the addition of any primer or base, we found that they held up well for around 6 hours. Throw in a primer, and you’re good to go for up to 9 hours, easily.
What We Loved
- Very highly-reputable brand and product
- The excellent color payoff with wear time between 6-9 hours
- Gives widely-varying looks from daytime to nighttime
- Comes with large mirror and a double-ended brush
What We Didn’t Like
- Case gets a bit dirty easily
Pat McGrath Mothership III – Most Unique Product
About the Product
The Pat McGrath Mothership III (Subversive), is truly unique to the entire market. If you’re looking for rare shades that will literally turn heads on the street, then this should be your next purchase!
The palette contains a provocative collection of 10 cult-classic shades, from vivid purples to off-blues, deep greens, and signature matte neutrals which provide vibrant color saturation with diamond-like sparkle.
The shades include Skinshow Fever, Night Creatures, Deep Shade, Gigabyte, VR Pink, Astral Ghost Orchid, Blitz Amethyst, and Black Metal.
While they may all seem very bold (and they are), they can be used in combination to create seamless color transitions, along with a ton of versatility in terms of building and color schemes.
6 of the shadows are powderluxe pressed eyeshadows with innovative formulas (matte, pearl, and sparkle finishes).
The creamy feel improves even more upon the high pigmentation and works to really give you those intense, out-of-this-world looks.
Our Experience
Let’s start this off by saying that this is undoubtedly the most expensive eyeshadow palette we found out there. Despite this, we had to add it on, because it is so high-performing and exciting!
The palette has a variety of warmer finishes, along with a few unique pops of intense and unique color. The combination of hybrid shades and Powderluxe shades are interesting and can be easily applied together or on their own. They can also be used wet or dry, as well, so you really have a lot of versatility.
How’s the packaging?
Definitely, the best we’ve seen. You can tell that the high price is partially influenced due to this high-quality packaging. It is hefty, and features a metal-like plate on the outside, along with a faceted mirror on the interior.
The color payoff is extremely impressive, and you only need the tiniest bit of product on the brush to make some bold moves. They all blend very well together, but despite this, they do not smudge or come off easily throughout the day.
What We Loved
- The excellent color payoff with unique color options
- Long-lasting throughout the entire day
- Applies smoothly and blends seamlessly
- Comes in different finishes
What We Didn’t Like
- Very expensive
Next up, think about how much you’re willing to spend. Don’t just look at the price tag price, but also take into consideration how much it costs “per application”. For example, many of the least expensive products are actually going to cost more per application, due to having to retouch frequently and having an inferior color payoff.
Conclusion
Now that you’ve had the chance to look at each of the best eyeshadow palettes, which one is the best for you? If you’re still undecided or on-the-fence, allow us to guide you a bit in the right direction. Makeup is a very personal decision, however, we feel you can’t really go wrong with the Naked Palette.
It’s comprised of shades that are easy to wear, and can be used just as well during the day, as it can be at night. They each have an incredible color payoff, and wear time can let you go without any touch-ups practically all day long.
Naked Palettes are probably the most well-known in the world, and there are plenty of reasons why. If it’s not for you, though, not to worry! You can rest assured that no matter what you select in this list, you’ll be receiving one of the best eyeshadow palettes on the market, today!
