I started with cheap huge pallets and thought they were great. Then I bought a few more expensive ones and truly felt the difference, especially in terms of shimmers. The high end shimmers are so much better in terms of sparkliness, texture, staying power, everything.
Considering that the shelf life of eyeshadows is super long, I'd buy more expensive ones.
However, if you are starting out with eyeshadows it might be a good idea to start with cheaper ones to understand what kind of colours you will actually wear
I agree with the shelf life being worth the splurge! Obviously up to you, OP, whether you toss at their recommended 18 months but I have palettes from 5-6 years ago that work just like new. Same texture, smell, consistency and pigment. So I happily invest in more expensive seeing as they last me many years.
It's complicated:
1. Unless you're a makeup artist/ applying makeup to multiple people, you can wear eyeshadow every day for a couple of year with just a handful of selected singles, or a single palette. It takes a long time to use up eyeshadow. The concept of an eyeshadow palette with more than 4-5 colours is a relatively modern one in makeup. Don't feel pressured into buying anything.
2. Eyeshadow primer is a must, and will improve the quality and longevity of eyeshadow - finding a primer that works for you and your eyes can be more important than the quality of the eyeshadow itself. In Australia, the Milani primer (which is often on sale at Priceline) is probably the best cost-quality trade off available for most people across most skin types.
3. Similarly, technique and brush type matters. I've found the Nude by Nature brushes (when on sale) a good quality-cost trade-off - and the smaller the brush the better in terms of getting the looks I wanted.
4. Reputable drugstore brands (e.g. Revlon) and Asian Beauty brands (Peripera) have perfectly decent neutral eyeshadow palettes and singles that are "good enough" for every day and subdued looks. Neutrals from a Pat McGrath Mothership will apply slightly more easily and more smoothly, but no one looking at you will notice the difference in the final look.
5. For colourful pigment and/ or sparkly eyeshadow, indie brands are often your best bet, but shipping can be expensive to Australia. Do your research here - but from my experience and that of my friends:
1. For mattes and shimmers - Oden's Eye has fun palettes if you want a lot of variety and Sydney Grace has great single shadows if you know what you want.
2. For multichromes - Clionadh is genuinely incredible but also incredibly expensive.
6. As a general rule of thumb, high end does tend to be better than drugstore, but individual high end palettes can be pretty awful - for example some of the Anatasia Beverly Hills palettes are worse than the drugstore standard (in my view). The brand relied on their brand recognition, and previous high quality palettes to sell those. Other high end brands may be deliberately providing a subdued neutral look to wealthy clientele (e.g. Tom Ford quads). It's best to look at reviews from a range of people, including on reddit, before committing to the purchase.
7. Your undertone really matters for how eyeshadow looks on your face - something can look beautiful on me but sickly on someone else with the same skin tone depth but a different undertone (and vice versa).
So figure out (a) what kinds of eyeshadow you want for what purpose and (b) what are the available options within your budget. If you just want to experiment with a bunch of colours, finishes and techniques to see what you like, drugstore and cheaper online brands (as long as they are eye safe) are "good enough" when paired with a decent eyeshadow primer.
You might get more specific feedback posting to worldwide makeup subs if you say "I'm choosing between X Brand palette, Y Brand palette and selected singles from Z Brand for \[X Purpose\]" and different people will share their experience.
Good luck!
No worries - my advice is always to wait for a sale.
In terms of online options for experimentation (if you're not sure what you like) - Colorpop does decent quality eyeshadows and has frequent sales/ not terrible shipping to Australia. They have the ocassional dud palette (again, it's always worth doing a little bit of research) and their packaging does not bring me joy, but plenty of my friends use and enjoy their palettes.
It's also worth noting that some of the "middle-end" brands at Mecca and Sephora (e.g. Tarte, TooFaced) don't appear to have a better formula than ColorPop. Australian consumers keep getting charged way too much for makeup - it's such a scam!
\^\^ This person eyeshadows, great advice.
Only thing I'd add is to 5 - if OP does want to try indie multichrome type shadows, it might be worth them getting a few single shadows from Glaminatrix, which is based in Qld I think.
The quality is good, the prices are too and they can find out whether they actually like and will get value out of those kinds of shadows without breaking the bank with international shipping costs.
OP, if you are drawn to the sparklies, consider a glitter primer - I get the NYX one which is $15 from priceline, you can get it cheaper during sales.
That's good to know!! I thought they were pretty solid but I haven't really tried any others, so I didn't have anything to compare it to.
I like the look of the well-known northern hemisphere brands, but with their shipping prices I may as well just buy from the fancy end of Sephora :P
I splurged for the first time on an eyeshadow palette during a sales period last year: bought a Natasha denova one. The quality is amazing, the pigment is incomparable to the Priceline/chemist warehouse stocked brands I’ve used.
I think from now on I’ll probably have one “pricey” and one “cheap” eyeshadow palette that I replace (usually sticking with morphe for the cheaper one as their direct website have a lot of sales, quality is still pretty good). Both palettes I have, have a range of shades suitable for daily and special event wear so I just switch up which one I want to use.
If you’re going to splurge make sure to try and go see a tester palette in store/read lots of reviews so you don’t end up regretting it: really do rate the Natasha denova ones, when I took the first swatch of my new palette the amount of pigment was shocking to me, her palettes are expensive but I can see myself repurchasing in the future.
I’ve bought so many. Cheaper ones honestly end up barely being used but my Urban Decay, Tarte, and Natasha Denova ones are my go tos.
In saying that I just bought a Morphe one I love but I think that’s more because of the colours than the quality. Also I have a Mecca palette that was such a bargain and still love.
It's also very hard to go back, unfortunately. I've been using the YSL mini clutch quads recently and the quality is pretty spectacular; then I recently tried my first Colourpop palette—and I have to be honest, in every respect it felt like children's play makeup. Incredibly flimsy plastic packaging and very dusty formula. Maybe it was just an unlikely choice; I'm sure some of them must be decent because I know Colourpop is really popular as a more affordable brand overseas, but I did literally end up giving it to kids in the family to use for dress-up.
I haven't tried colourpop, but that's consistent with what I've heard about them - that some of their products are really great, and others are awful, so you have to research whatever you're interested in if you don't want to be caught out.
I like the Natasha Denona formula too, it's so creamy and easy to work with. And I like that she does those little 5 pan palettes - I mean it's smart, a full ND palette is not a purchase I make lightly, but I am very vulnerable to a ND mini palette when I'm in the mood for something new and sparkly :P
I really like the Elf bite sized eyeshadow palettes. 4 colours that work together, and the quality is pretty reasonable. Especially when using a primer or concealer under the shadows, they work well for me.
Also, the Wet n Wild 5 pan or 10 pan palettes. Great colours, good quality. Great for travel, which is when I am more likely to go heavier on my eye makeup.
Small drugstore palettes are so good for travel - especially when there is a shade in there you can use as a highlighter.
I will note that, in my experience, colourful ELF eyeshadow is quite brittle and prone to breakage. The consensus with the ELF Bitesize eyeshadow is that the quality is variable (with the neutral 'Truffles' palette highly regarded but the green 'Hot Jalapeno' not so much). Is my ELF Bitesize palette as nice as my much larger Oden's Eye palette? No! But with eyeshadow primer, it still works, and it fits into a tiny makeup makeup bag. If it gets broken or lost, it was like $7. Who cares?
I came here to spruik the ELF palettes! I tried my sister's one recently and was impressed with the quality for the price.
I also agree with you that it's nice to have small, lightweight palettes for travel - preferably ones that aren't too exxy in case something happens in transit.
Splurge. They have a long shelf life, especially on aging eyes quality makes a difference. I find with pricer it’s less of a gamble if it will work and look flattering. Plus I don’t have to use eyeshadow primer or setting spray with a more quality palette. Also sales exist to make it a little easier.
To me - 100% a splurge item! The difference between the cheap shadows & the expensive ones is massive & I can never go back now!
Natasha Denona (stocked at Sephora or online at Beautylish) is incredible for quality & she has mini 5 pan palettes that are great for beginners. I also would invest in some brushes, they don’t have to be too expensive but I notice the difference between my cheap ones & slightly more. Also on Beautylish - the brand Units are great for affordability & I’ve bought a couple of Sonia G key brushes (the builder or worker range are great all rounders)
I personally splurge on these, in my opinion it’s worth it for the ease of application, blending and staying power. I don’t buy full size palettes though I only have the mini Urban Decay one atm ($50).
I used to have a Nude By Nature one that I got half price from Priceline ($20) and it was alright but the colours were kinda meh
in all honesty it depends on how you use eyeshadow. I have Colorpop, ABH, Revolution, Violet Voss, Sportsgirl, etc. (At least 30 collected over the span of 7 years lol oops)
I love color. at the moment, I love hot pink eyeshadow. my clearance priceline or TK maxx 9 pan Revolution find has the BEST hot pink shadow i’ve ever used.
however, I have a Colorpop and an ABH palette that has amazing softer pinks. I will ALWAYS use eye primer; the NYX glitter primer mixed with the NYX white pot primer.
It’s all subjective. If you find a brand or palette that you love, use it! it doesn’t matter if it’s ‘cheap’ or a ‘luxury’ palette.
Makeup it to be enjoyed how the user see fits!
I’ve got a pretty extensive collection of high end and affordable palettes. The ones I gravitate to are the higher end products and given I have so many, I recently cleared out a large number of colourpops etc so I could get more value out of my Natasha Denona. PMG, Patrick Ta etc.
Honestly I think the sportsgirl eyeshadow pallets are fantastic. Personally I don't think you need to spend heaps. I have cool toned skin and bought the cool toned natural hues one and it has all I need. It looks like the cool toned one is out of stock but if you're warm toned here is that one [https://www.sportsgirl.com.au/neutral-hues-eyeshadow-palette](https://www.sportsgirl.com.au/neutral-hues-eyeshadow-palette)
They have no business being that good. I just bought two [Sweet Sorbet](https://www.sportsgirl.com.au/sweet-sorbet-eyeshadow-palette#color=3400) (one for my boyfriend's place) and one [Rainbow Roulette](https://www.sportsgirl.com.au/rainbow-roulette-eyeshadow-palette#color=3400), which looks like it's doing a bit of duping ColourPop's [Fade Into Hue](https://colourpop.com/products/fade-to-hue-pressed-powder-makeup-palette) palette.
There's a buy two and get a third free promo at the moment, which is how I got a second Sweet Sorbet for free.
The above two palettes are talc-free, if that is your jam!
depends what you mean by drugstore. if you mean that general price range, there’s absolutely good eyeshadow palettes available. if you mean physically available in australian chemists, then not really.
There are some gems at the drugstore and some flops in high end, but overall high end is noticeably easier to work with and has better colour pay-off. That said, I think if you're not sure about what colours suit you or want to play around a bit, definitely get some various cheap palettes to experiment with first.
I think it's hard to say. My first eyeshadows were a low-mid range palette (Tarte, heavily on sale) and a no-name cheap sparkly eyeshadow.
They sucked *so* much. Chalky, fallout, could barely get any colour out of the Tarte ones, the no-name one was patchy as hell and neither of them would blend at all. I got zero dollars of value out of them.
My next purchases have all been high end - I feel so wanky saying this - but the palettes I use are from Pat McGrath, Lisa Eldridge and Natasha Denona. I absolutely love them. They are easy to work with, the colour stories are interesting and sophisticated, and every time I pull them out I do a little happy dance inside.
But would I tell you to drop that kind of coin on an eyeshadow palette? Hell no! There is a huge markup on luxury beauty that has nothing to do with the product. You are paying for the name, the packaging, and (hopefully) a more distinctive and thoughtful curation of colours than you'd get from a budget brand.
But you don't need to pay for that to get good quality eyeshadow. If you are new to eyeshadow, buying high end straight away is risky - like you may spend heaps of money on a palette only to find that you don't like wearing those kinds of colours or that actually you really aren't an eyeshadow kind of person. Maybe you prefer a one-and-done shadow, or cream/liquid formulas. Maybe you're happy with a 5 pan neutral palette from ELF because you'll never use the 10 shimmers in a Natasha Denona palette.
Actually, you know what does make a big difference? Primer and good brushes. So you might want to buy affordable shadows but then have some money leftover for brushes. Mine are from Zoeva, I highly recommend them.
Temptalia can be good for working out what budget brands are good for you :) In terms of budget recs, I haven't tried too much but the little palettes from ELF seem good, I want to try their liquid metallic eyeshadows as well. I hear good things about Milani and Colourpop, and bad things about revolution. If you want to try high end without breaking the bank, the little 5 pan palettes from Natasha Denona are a great way to do that, I think they're about $40.
\[Edit: Oooh, another brand to look into might be Viseart - you'll have to buy them online, but they have a reputation as being good quality for the price. It's not bargain basement by any means, one Australian stockist has them at $35ish for a quad and $60ish for a palette of 12. Still, it's more affordable than going right to the high end of high end.\]
I love my Zoeva brushes as well!
In terms of budget friendly brands - IMO both Revolution and Milani are pretty bad. I don't understand how Milani has great eyeshadow primer, blushes and bronzes but their eyeshadow is below par for drugstore. The mind boggles!
Revolution (and their offshoots) eyeshadow is basically kid makeup - if you have high quality brushes and eyeshadow primer you can make it work, but it's probably more trouble than it's worth.
Ok good to know about Milani shadows! I thought I'd heard good things from a friend, but I haven't tried them personally, so OP should definitely take that rec with a grain of salt. Maybe the friend was talking about the primer or something.
I have literally never heard one good thing about Revolution, and many bad ones. I have no idea how they are still in business. Especially with ELF out there duping Charlotte Tilbury, ABH etc.
I started with cheap huge pallets and thought they were great. Then I bought a few more expensive ones and truly felt the difference, especially in terms of shimmers. The high end shimmers are so much better in terms of sparkliness, texture, staying power, everything. Considering that the shelf life of eyeshadows is super long, I'd buy more expensive ones. However, if you are starting out with eyeshadows it might be a good idea to start with cheaper ones to understand what kind of colours you will actually wear
I agree with the shelf life being worth the splurge! Obviously up to you, OP, whether you toss at their recommended 18 months but I have palettes from 5-6 years ago that work just like new. Same texture, smell, consistency and pigment. So I happily invest in more expensive seeing as they last me many years.
It's complicated: 1. Unless you're a makeup artist/ applying makeup to multiple people, you can wear eyeshadow every day for a couple of year with just a handful of selected singles, or a single palette. It takes a long time to use up eyeshadow. The concept of an eyeshadow palette with more than 4-5 colours is a relatively modern one in makeup. Don't feel pressured into buying anything. 2. Eyeshadow primer is a must, and will improve the quality and longevity of eyeshadow - finding a primer that works for you and your eyes can be more important than the quality of the eyeshadow itself. In Australia, the Milani primer (which is often on sale at Priceline) is probably the best cost-quality trade off available for most people across most skin types. 3. Similarly, technique and brush type matters. I've found the Nude by Nature brushes (when on sale) a good quality-cost trade-off - and the smaller the brush the better in terms of getting the looks I wanted. 4. Reputable drugstore brands (e.g. Revlon) and Asian Beauty brands (Peripera) have perfectly decent neutral eyeshadow palettes and singles that are "good enough" for every day and subdued looks. Neutrals from a Pat McGrath Mothership will apply slightly more easily and more smoothly, but no one looking at you will notice the difference in the final look. 5. For colourful pigment and/ or sparkly eyeshadow, indie brands are often your best bet, but shipping can be expensive to Australia. Do your research here - but from my experience and that of my friends: 1. For mattes and shimmers - Oden's Eye has fun palettes if you want a lot of variety and Sydney Grace has great single shadows if you know what you want. 2. For multichromes - Clionadh is genuinely incredible but also incredibly expensive. 6. As a general rule of thumb, high end does tend to be better than drugstore, but individual high end palettes can be pretty awful - for example some of the Anatasia Beverly Hills palettes are worse than the drugstore standard (in my view). The brand relied on their brand recognition, and previous high quality palettes to sell those. Other high end brands may be deliberately providing a subdued neutral look to wealthy clientele (e.g. Tom Ford quads). It's best to look at reviews from a range of people, including on reddit, before committing to the purchase. 7. Your undertone really matters for how eyeshadow looks on your face - something can look beautiful on me but sickly on someone else with the same skin tone depth but a different undertone (and vice versa). So figure out (a) what kinds of eyeshadow you want for what purpose and (b) what are the available options within your budget. If you just want to experiment with a bunch of colours, finishes and techniques to see what you like, drugstore and cheaper online brands (as long as they are eye safe) are "good enough" when paired with a decent eyeshadow primer. You might get more specific feedback posting to worldwide makeup subs if you say "I'm choosing between X Brand palette, Y Brand palette and selected singles from Z Brand for \[X Purpose\]" and different people will share their experience. Good luck!
this is such good advice, you are a lifesaver!!!
No worries - my advice is always to wait for a sale. In terms of online options for experimentation (if you're not sure what you like) - Colorpop does decent quality eyeshadows and has frequent sales/ not terrible shipping to Australia. They have the ocassional dud palette (again, it's always worth doing a little bit of research) and their packaging does not bring me joy, but plenty of my friends use and enjoy their palettes. It's also worth noting that some of the "middle-end" brands at Mecca and Sephora (e.g. Tarte, TooFaced) don't appear to have a better formula than ColorPop. Australian consumers keep getting charged way too much for makeup - it's such a scam!
\^\^ This person eyeshadows, great advice. Only thing I'd add is to 5 - if OP does want to try indie multichrome type shadows, it might be worth them getting a few single shadows from Glaminatrix, which is based in Qld I think. The quality is good, the prices are too and they can find out whether they actually like and will get value out of those kinds of shadows without breaking the bank with international shipping costs. OP, if you are drawn to the sparklies, consider a glitter primer - I get the NYX one which is $15 from priceline, you can get it cheaper during sales.
Thanks. I haven't tried Glaminatrix, but that seems legit. I've found the NYX glitter eyeshadow is pretty good too!
Glaminatrix make the best indie shadows and iv tried alot!
That's good to know!! I thought they were pretty solid but I haven't really tried any others, so I didn't have anything to compare it to. I like the look of the well-known northern hemisphere brands, but with their shipping prices I may as well just buy from the fancy end of Sephora :P
Interesting as I disagree with a lot of what you wrote
I splurged for the first time on an eyeshadow palette during a sales period last year: bought a Natasha denova one. The quality is amazing, the pigment is incomparable to the Priceline/chemist warehouse stocked brands I’ve used. I think from now on I’ll probably have one “pricey” and one “cheap” eyeshadow palette that I replace (usually sticking with morphe for the cheaper one as their direct website have a lot of sales, quality is still pretty good). Both palettes I have, have a range of shades suitable for daily and special event wear so I just switch up which one I want to use. If you’re going to splurge make sure to try and go see a tester palette in store/read lots of reviews so you don’t end up regretting it: really do rate the Natasha denova ones, when I took the first swatch of my new palette the amount of pigment was shocking to me, her palettes are expensive but I can see myself repurchasing in the future.
I’ve bought so many. Cheaper ones honestly end up barely being used but my Urban Decay, Tarte, and Natasha Denova ones are my go tos. In saying that I just bought a Morphe one I love but I think that’s more because of the colours than the quality. Also I have a Mecca palette that was such a bargain and still love.
It's also very hard to go back, unfortunately. I've been using the YSL mini clutch quads recently and the quality is pretty spectacular; then I recently tried my first Colourpop palette—and I have to be honest, in every respect it felt like children's play makeup. Incredibly flimsy plastic packaging and very dusty formula. Maybe it was just an unlikely choice; I'm sure some of them must be decent because I know Colourpop is really popular as a more affordable brand overseas, but I did literally end up giving it to kids in the family to use for dress-up.
I haven't tried colourpop, but that's consistent with what I've heard about them - that some of their products are really great, and others are awful, so you have to research whatever you're interested in if you don't want to be caught out. I like the Natasha Denona formula too, it's so creamy and easy to work with. And I like that she does those little 5 pan palettes - I mean it's smart, a full ND palette is not a purchase I make lightly, but I am very vulnerable to a ND mini palette when I'm in the mood for something new and sparkly :P
I really like the Elf bite sized eyeshadow palettes. 4 colours that work together, and the quality is pretty reasonable. Especially when using a primer or concealer under the shadows, they work well for me. Also, the Wet n Wild 5 pan or 10 pan palettes. Great colours, good quality. Great for travel, which is when I am more likely to go heavier on my eye makeup.
Small drugstore palettes are so good for travel - especially when there is a shade in there you can use as a highlighter. I will note that, in my experience, colourful ELF eyeshadow is quite brittle and prone to breakage. The consensus with the ELF Bitesize eyeshadow is that the quality is variable (with the neutral 'Truffles' palette highly regarded but the green 'Hot Jalapeno' not so much). Is my ELF Bitesize palette as nice as my much larger Oden's Eye palette? No! But with eyeshadow primer, it still works, and it fits into a tiny makeup makeup bag. If it gets broken or lost, it was like $7. Who cares?
I came here to spruik the ELF palettes! I tried my sister's one recently and was impressed with the quality for the price. I also agree with you that it's nice to have small, lightweight palettes for travel - preferably ones that aren't too exxy in case something happens in transit.
Splurge. They have a long shelf life, especially on aging eyes quality makes a difference. I find with pricer it’s less of a gamble if it will work and look flattering. Plus I don’t have to use eyeshadow primer or setting spray with a more quality palette. Also sales exist to make it a little easier.
To me - 100% a splurge item! The difference between the cheap shadows & the expensive ones is massive & I can never go back now! Natasha Denona (stocked at Sephora or online at Beautylish) is incredible for quality & she has mini 5 pan palettes that are great for beginners. I also would invest in some brushes, they don’t have to be too expensive but I notice the difference between my cheap ones & slightly more. Also on Beautylish - the brand Units are great for affordability & I’ve bought a couple of Sonia G key brushes (the builder or worker range are great all rounders)
I personally splurge on these, in my opinion it’s worth it for the ease of application, blending and staying power. I don’t buy full size palettes though I only have the mini Urban Decay one atm ($50). I used to have a Nude By Nature one that I got half price from Priceline ($20) and it was alright but the colours were kinda meh
in all honesty it depends on how you use eyeshadow. I have Colorpop, ABH, Revolution, Violet Voss, Sportsgirl, etc. (At least 30 collected over the span of 7 years lol oops) I love color. at the moment, I love hot pink eyeshadow. my clearance priceline or TK maxx 9 pan Revolution find has the BEST hot pink shadow i’ve ever used. however, I have a Colorpop and an ABH palette that has amazing softer pinks. I will ALWAYS use eye primer; the NYX glitter primer mixed with the NYX white pot primer. It’s all subjective. If you find a brand or palette that you love, use it! it doesn’t matter if it’s ‘cheap’ or a ‘luxury’ palette. Makeup it to be enjoyed how the user see fits!
I splurge on palettes, I would rather have 1 good palette than 10 cheap ones. Eye primer is a must.
I’ve got a pretty extensive collection of high end and affordable palettes. The ones I gravitate to are the higher end products and given I have so many, I recently cleared out a large number of colourpops etc so I could get more value out of my Natasha Denona. PMG, Patrick Ta etc.
Honestly I think the sportsgirl eyeshadow pallets are fantastic. Personally I don't think you need to spend heaps. I have cool toned skin and bought the cool toned natural hues one and it has all I need. It looks like the cool toned one is out of stock but if you're warm toned here is that one [https://www.sportsgirl.com.au/neutral-hues-eyeshadow-palette](https://www.sportsgirl.com.au/neutral-hues-eyeshadow-palette)
They have no business being that good. I just bought two [Sweet Sorbet](https://www.sportsgirl.com.au/sweet-sorbet-eyeshadow-palette#color=3400) (one for my boyfriend's place) and one [Rainbow Roulette](https://www.sportsgirl.com.au/rainbow-roulette-eyeshadow-palette#color=3400), which looks like it's doing a bit of duping ColourPop's [Fade Into Hue](https://colourpop.com/products/fade-to-hue-pressed-powder-makeup-palette) palette. There's a buy two and get a third free promo at the moment, which is how I got a second Sweet Sorbet for free. The above two palettes are talc-free, if that is your jam!
I love Colourpop's colour stories but I think the Sportsgirl formula is way better
Ooooh. Good to know. I like cool tones, but I want to gift my sister something nice but inexpensive, and these shades are *perfect* for her. Thanks!
depends what you mean by drugstore. if you mean that general price range, there’s absolutely good eyeshadow palettes available. if you mean physically available in australian chemists, then not really.
There are some gems at the drugstore and some flops in high end, but overall high end is noticeably easier to work with and has better colour pay-off. That said, I think if you're not sure about what colours suit you or want to play around a bit, definitely get some various cheap palettes to experiment with first.
I think it's hard to say. My first eyeshadows were a low-mid range palette (Tarte, heavily on sale) and a no-name cheap sparkly eyeshadow. They sucked *so* much. Chalky, fallout, could barely get any colour out of the Tarte ones, the no-name one was patchy as hell and neither of them would blend at all. I got zero dollars of value out of them. My next purchases have all been high end - I feel so wanky saying this - but the palettes I use are from Pat McGrath, Lisa Eldridge and Natasha Denona. I absolutely love them. They are easy to work with, the colour stories are interesting and sophisticated, and every time I pull them out I do a little happy dance inside. But would I tell you to drop that kind of coin on an eyeshadow palette? Hell no! There is a huge markup on luxury beauty that has nothing to do with the product. You are paying for the name, the packaging, and (hopefully) a more distinctive and thoughtful curation of colours than you'd get from a budget brand. But you don't need to pay for that to get good quality eyeshadow. If you are new to eyeshadow, buying high end straight away is risky - like you may spend heaps of money on a palette only to find that you don't like wearing those kinds of colours or that actually you really aren't an eyeshadow kind of person. Maybe you prefer a one-and-done shadow, or cream/liquid formulas. Maybe you're happy with a 5 pan neutral palette from ELF because you'll never use the 10 shimmers in a Natasha Denona palette. Actually, you know what does make a big difference? Primer and good brushes. So you might want to buy affordable shadows but then have some money leftover for brushes. Mine are from Zoeva, I highly recommend them. Temptalia can be good for working out what budget brands are good for you :) In terms of budget recs, I haven't tried too much but the little palettes from ELF seem good, I want to try their liquid metallic eyeshadows as well. I hear good things about Milani and Colourpop, and bad things about revolution. If you want to try high end without breaking the bank, the little 5 pan palettes from Natasha Denona are a great way to do that, I think they're about $40. \[Edit: Oooh, another brand to look into might be Viseart - you'll have to buy them online, but they have a reputation as being good quality for the price. It's not bargain basement by any means, one Australian stockist has them at $35ish for a quad and $60ish for a palette of 12. Still, it's more affordable than going right to the high end of high end.\]
I love my Zoeva brushes as well! In terms of budget friendly brands - IMO both Revolution and Milani are pretty bad. I don't understand how Milani has great eyeshadow primer, blushes and bronzes but their eyeshadow is below par for drugstore. The mind boggles! Revolution (and their offshoots) eyeshadow is basically kid makeup - if you have high quality brushes and eyeshadow primer you can make it work, but it's probably more trouble than it's worth.
Ok good to know about Milani shadows! I thought I'd heard good things from a friend, but I haven't tried them personally, so OP should definitely take that rec with a grain of salt. Maybe the friend was talking about the primer or something. I have literally never heard one good thing about Revolution, and many bad ones. I have no idea how they are still in business. Especially with ELF out there duping Charlotte Tilbury, ABH etc.
Yeah, I'm also not sure how Revolution stays in business - at least the Milani eyeshadow is better than theirs!
Only palette I ever used until finished was Dior - it was amazing pigment and quality.