My All Time Favourite Eye Shadow Formulas & Palettes With Swatches

Oh, how I love a good eye shadow! I have had my fair share of testing and trialing different eye shadows and I thought that it was about time I share some of the best eye shadows I have tried so far. I have a mixture of single shadows and eye palettes for you all and a mixture of high end and drugstore so there should be something for everyone.

Shades (top to bottom) - 208,226

Starting with some single eye shadows that are such staples in my collection. The Kiko Wet and Dry Eye Shadows. I discovered these at the start of this year and even though I am slowly growing my collection, I wear them so often and I have so many shades on my wishlist. Even though I am a total matte girl when it comes to eye shadows, when I do want a shimmery shade, I want it to be intense and that is where these come in. These shadows are so metallic and reflective and that is exactly what I want when it comes to an all over the lid shade. You can use these wet or dry, I prefer them wet as they are just that little bit more reflective but their way, they have such a beautiful finish to them. I am pretty sure that they retail for about £6 each and they are so worth it. As you can see, I have two shades and I love that top shade also as a face highlighter as it is so reflective, so they are great multipurpose shades as well. Even down to the packaging, it is super sleek, compact and features a mirror.

Shades (top to bottom) - Come and Get it, Best Coast Scenario, Centrefold
I have spoken about these a lot recently, but I wanted to give them another mention. For the products I have already reviewed, I will be sure to leave the links below so I don't have to repeat myself. Anyways, of course I am talking about the Colourpop Pressed Eye Shadows. These are very new as I am pretty sure that they were only released this year but I know so many people that are as obsessed with them as myself. The price for a start is just incredible for the quality you get but like I said, the quality is something else. They are so creamy, pigmented and blendable, just everything you could ever want. I really can't say enough good things about these shadows and I recommend them to everyone. The shade range they offer is great also, and I find that a lot of the shades I last picked up, I reach for daily and get so much use out of. 

Shades (top to bottom) - Cocoa Bear, Early Bird, Creme Brulee, Shimma Shimma, Luna (foiled)
For the longest time, these shadows had been on my wishlist so when I finally got round to getting some, I was expecting nothing but the best and I was right. The Makeup Geek Eye Shadows have so much hype around them, and rightly so as they are probably some of the best quality shades you can get when you are on a budget. Maybe building a huge collection of Makeup Geek eye shadows, can come to quite the price, but building up the collection slowly and surely will make you realise that they are worth every penny. I have tried a lot of Makeup Geek shadow formulas and I definitely do have my favourites. The mattes definitely stand out to me as the best shadows from Makeup Geek just because I know just how hard they are to get right. I am so picky when it comes to matte shades as I know exactly what I want. Makeup Geek Matte shadows are pigmented but they blend like a dream and not to mention their shade range. I will also point out though, that one of my all time favouirte Makeup Geek eye shadow shades is Shimma Shimma which is a shimmery shade as the name suggests, but sadly that is the only shimmery shade I own from them, so I can't really speak behalf of the whole range but that one shimmery shade is freaking incredible.

Shade in photo - Luna

Carrying on with the Makeup Geek theme, a new discovery of theirs that I am totally hooked on is the Makeup Geek Foiled Eye Shadows. A bit like the shimmery shadows, I only own one currently, but I am definitely looking into getting some more. The one shade I do have in this formula though is breath taking. A bit like the Kiko shadows, it is super reflective and pigmented which is what I need, except I don't find myself having to wet my brush for this shade. One thing I will say about this formula though, is that they are very sensitive in the sense that if you were to drop this, like I did, then you will have a little bit more fallout because it is like a pressed glitter. Before I stupidly dropped this shade, I didn't get any fallout, but after dropping it, even though I didn't loose too much product, I do get a little fallout because I have obviously separated some of the powders especially on the top surface so I will just point that out.

Shades (top to bottom) - Gold Digger, Bad Behaviour, Sweet Life
Some more single shadows I had to mention are the Freedom Single Eye Shadows. These have their own review which I will link below, but they are just so good. The price of these are just complete madness for the quality you get, I am pretty sure a set of five shadows are like £5 or something, madness! Anyways, I wanted to mention these because I don't think that they are spoken about enough, they are fairly new but still, they are amazing. So far, I have tried two of heir different finishes, the foiled and the mattes, both of which, I really get along with. The mattes, are pigmented but maybe not as pigmented as the Colourpop or Makeup Geek ones but they blend really well and are great to work with. The foiled shades, again have pigment, are super reflective and metallic looking. Are they the best shadows ever? probably not, but they are not half bad. I love a lot of their shades and I find myself reaching for a lot of their colours daily. I also think that these are a great formula for beginners because they are super easy to work with, but that isn't to say that an expert can't use them because they would probably really enjoy them.

Moving onto the palette portion of this post, one I have been hooked on since I bought it is the MUA 15 Shade Eye Shadows in Fire Vixen. You have heard me go on and on about this palette, a lot like everything else in this post but it is a favourite. As soon as I had worn this, I was just obsessed, the colours were so beautiful and I think the whole scheme of this palette was really well put together. The colours are so unique and I love the use of unusual but still neutral combinations like the pinks and mauves paired with the grey and warm brown shades. This palette is a whole mixture of cool and warm tones, colourful and neutral tones and even matte to foiled finishes. I have never known such an affordable brand to release foiled shadows, especially in a palette but MUA have done it, and they did it well. As well as the mattes being super pigmented, creamy and easy to blend, the foiled shadows are so metallic and pigmented, it is unreal. I do find that they apply best with your finger as with a brush they tend to cause quite a bit of fall out but for the finish it gives, you need too try it. The photo of the swatches doesn't really do the foiled shades justice to be honest but trust me, they are intense, metallic and super reflective, plus I think the colours that are in a foiled finish were chosen really well since all of them, I would wear on the lid over the crease

A palette I have not been giving enough love recently, but one I still adore has got to be the Morphe 35O. I would consider this as more of an autumn/ winter palette so maybe that is why I have not been wearing it too much, but I needed to give it a little mention. I mainly love this palette for its value, you get 35 shades and the palette is around £25 which is a little mad considering the quality of the shades. For the colour scheme, of course, the 35O, the "O" stand for orange, which we all know I flipping love a long with a lot of other people. I love how Morphe have incorporated some really bright and unusual shades of orange and red in this palette as well as some cooler browns and even some dark greys to cater more to the people who love cooler tones. As a whole though, it is a very warm palette, very flattering on every skin tone and eye colour. For formula, there are inconsistencies in the mattes I have found particularly but as an overview, pretty good. The mattes are pigmented, they blend really well and they are not patchy, I do find some to be powdery at times but it isn't anything that I can't work with. This palette also features some foiled shades and some more just shimmery and satin shades. Like I said earlier, if I want a shimmery shade then I want it to be super intense and super metallic, so I don't really reach for more satin shades. Saying that, the foiled colours are beautiful, they do remind me a lot o the MUA ones, because they do work better with your finger, but these have a little bit more of a glitter-like finish I think. Either way, this is a beautiful palette, one I have loved dearly since I bought it and one I cannot wait to pull out again in the colder months.

I have not spoken about this palette in so long but that doesn't mean I don't love it. This is the Freedom Pro 12 Eye Shadow Palette in Secret Rose and it is so underrated. It is such a classic neutral palette with mattes and shimmers, both super pigmented and blendable. I love how this palette it more on the cool side because I feel like a lot of palettes, especially drugstore, don't release enough cool-toned palettes. This does feature some warmer shades, but for the most part it is very grey and mauve based, which I love. It is something different for me but it is so much fun to play with these shades. Each colour complements one another and you can create so many looks with these 12 shades. This palette is crazy affordable, I think it is like £4 and it is so amazing. I always recommend this palette to beginners because it is so easy to work with but even if you are great at eye shadow, you would still enjoy using this. As always, I love the mattes the most, they are pigmented, blendable and feel like butter but also the shimmers are super shimmer and pigmented, they are a little more powdery but I'm not mad because you get great pay off. I have been using this palette for years and I am so surprised that people still have never seen it. 

Considering this is probably the only main eye shadow palette I have that is high end, I am definitely tempted to invest in more considering this quality. It is no lie that I love the Too Faced Sweet Peach Eye Shadow Palette. I got this about a year ago and it was probably my most used palette of 2016, saying that, I still use it now and I love it. The shades are so unique and I think the colour combination that have included are so original but still so wearable. I obviously love the peach shades, but I love the pops of green and purple. Once again, the mattes are everything! They are probably the best I have ever found in a palette, they blend so well and the are so pigmented, you need the smallest bit. As for the more shimmer shades, they are super beautiful, I find them to be very creamy and metallic looking on the eyes. Honestly, a few of the shades are a little funky to me so there are inconsistencies but as and all round palette, it is great. I use this in both winter and summer and I think it flatters both seasons in a different way. Saying that, I definitely use it more in summer as I love those warm browns and pink shades, but the purples and greens look so amazing in winter. Basically, I love this palette and as a first high end palette, it did not disappoint me and I am definitely tempted to try some more. 

What is your favorite eye shadow formula?

Grace xx

Reviews of products mentioned:

Makeup Geek Shadows - http://gracexkate.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/5-products-5-first-impressions.html

Colourpop Shadows - http://gracexkate.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/colourpop-my-thoughts.html

Freedom Shadows - http://gracexkate.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/freedom-pro-artist-hd-eye-shadow-and.html

MUA Palette - http://gracexkate.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/mua-15-shade-fire-vixen-eye-shadow.html

Morphe 35O Palette - http://gracexkate.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/day-21-most-wanted-palette-of-year.html

Too Faced Sweet Peach Palette - http://gracexkate.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/too-faced-sweet-peach-eye-shadow.html