- Drug Store & High End
A couple of posts ago, I made it quite obvious that I was a huge lip junkie. If there's anything I adore more than my lip products, it has to be my eyeshadows; whether it's a palette, duo, quad or singles, I love, love, loooove them all! Over the years, I have tried many, many products, some are great while others were flops. Nothing annoys me more than eyeshadows that are unpigmented, flaky or dried and fall outs...those darn fall outs. But that doesn't stop me from venturing out to try new brands and products.
In today's post, I will share with you my current favorite go to eyeshadow palettes, nude edition. I've been into the nude eyes lately, it just makes life so much easier and if done right, can transform your eyes from sleepy to totally bright and awake.
I feel so bad for having this many "go to" products, but I really do use all of them on rotation. I really cannot choose a favorite, but if I was told to throw everything away and was only allowed to keep one and ONLY one, I think I will have to choose the Sonia Kashuk Eye on Neutral Shimmer. That palette is seriously very versatile, I can get the natural look by day and transform it into a smokey for night. Sonia Kashuk's eyeshadows are so creamy, so buttery, so very pigmented; I've said it before and I will say it again, her products never disappoints me.
You'll probably notice that I did not include, probably the most popular nude palettes known in the make up world, the Urban Decay Naked, Naked 2 and Naked 3 palettes. Like I said, they're so popular and well known that I don't think I need to mention them as a favorite. I will say, however, that out of the three Nakeds, Naked 3 is my favorite. I really like the rose-gold shades, it's so pretty.
Let's start with what I did mention. First up are my high end pick, Urban Decay and Lorac. I chose to mention Naked Basics out of all the Nakeds because I find this cute little thing very handy and portable. Although it does not have as many shades to choose from, it does have the basics...hahaha. I can easily create a simple natural eye with this effortlessly. Not my all time favorite but I do reach for it when I am in a hurry to do an eye look, no brainer. The convenience of the Lorac Pro palette is that it has both matte and shimmer shades, equivalence to each other all in one palette. It also ranges from hightlight shades all the way to a deep dark black shade; again, it is one of those day to night type palette.
- Urban Decay Naked Basics and Lorac Pro
NYX has got to be the most favorite over-all-products brand of all time for me. Lipstick, lip balm, lipgloss, eyeshadows, foundations, eye liner, blush...I can go on and on about everything that I love about NYX. Here are my NYX pick, The Runway Collection in Caviar & Bubbles and Butt Naked Eyes. I have traveled with just the Butt Naked palette before, no need to bring blush, bronzer and hightlight either because it is ever so conveniently in the palette as well. These blushes are no different from their original blush sold separately, same quality.
Physicians Formula is a hit and miss brand for me. I can love one product but absolutely hate another. Its never been a brand that I check up on constantly. Even though it is a drug store brand, the prices are on the higher end. For a brand whose quality isn't constant with a price like such, it's not hard to understand why. However, I absolutely love their shimmer strips custom eye enhancing shadows, Nude in particular. It's not the best of the best, say, compared to Sonia Kashuk or NYX, or even Wet N Wild, but for Physicians Formula's standard, this is good. Physicians Formula has one thing right, their cute packaging. It is one of the few brands with impressive packaging currently out there...that isn't Asian brand related.
- NYX 10 Color Eyeshadow Palette in Caviar & Bubbles, NYX Butt "Naked" Eyes and Physicians Formula Nude
Sonia Kashuk, please repeat after me guys, has never disappoint me! Case in point, two of her palettes made it on my list. Eye on Neutral is all matte shades while Eye on Neutral Shimmer are all shimmer shades. The shades from both palettes correspond with each other. How these two palettes work hand in hand like this, it reminds me a lot of the Lorac Pro. This can actually be Lorac's dupes because both have the same consistency, same creaminess; Sonia Kashuk is like the Lorac of the drug store. One down side is that since one palette is all matte while the other is all shimmer, you'll need both to mix and match, which is an inconvenient, especially for traveling.
- Sonia Kashuk Eye on Neutral 02 and Eye on Neutral Shimmer 03
The last bunch of nudes. Maybelline and Cover Girl are basically two of the few great drug store brands out there. They have way more hits than misses so that's okay; their prices are average, though it will become costly to buy all of their new products... Marketing done right. Maybelline Eye Studio Color Plush is one of the best line Maybelline has in my opinion. Every single one of the quads, limited edition included, are always a must buy for me. The shadows are so silky and it's crazy how pigmented they are. To represent Maybelline in this Nude battle, I selected three quads, two regular and one limited edition.
I enjoy Maybelline eyeshadows more than Cover Girl, not saying that Cover Girl does not have great eyeshadows; they do but they just never have that appeal to me. I own maybe four or five and I make good use of all of them. This Cover Girl Eye Enhancer in Fard Accent is one of the most basic quads I have. The shades are all nude-ish, nothing too dark, nothing too shimmery. It is basically the go to quad to brighten up your eyes after pulling an all-nighter.
I don't know how Wet N Wild does it, but I'm glad they do. Because of their super affordable prices, I purchase every single eyeshadow that they put out. They have out many trios, ranging from nudes to tropic to rainbows of colors. Even though they're one of the cheapest drug store brand, they have qualities that can be matched with high end brands like Urban Decay or Two Faced. I really had a hard time choosing which trios and palettes to show because there are quite a few good neutral, nude shades but I ended up choosing these three because they match with this post more. These are more nude tone while the ones I didn't choose are more bronze, copper-ish.
Next to last, my Hard Candy Baked Eyeshadow duo in Peace. I absolutely love Hard Candy's Baked line, blush, bronzer, highlight and eyeshadows; actually, the Baked line is basically all I love when it comes to Hard Candy. Wait...no, I lied, I like their Glamouflage heavy duty concealer, primer and Glow All the Way. So quite a few, but eyeshadow wise, I only enjoy their baked line. This is a shimmery duo but it can give you what you need. I create eye looks with just this duo all the time. When you use these baked shadows wet, it will give you an entirely different look then when you use it dry. It's pretty interesting. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a shadow that you need to use it wet in order to pick up the pigment, it's just another method to use it.
Lastly is this quad I got with a purchase from Ulta. I believe this used to be a quad from their eyeshadow line, but got discontinued or something. I'm not sure, but I got this quad maybe one and half years ago. I don't really use this when I'm at home, because of its small size, it's always in my bag for back up. It served me well a couple of time when there was an emergency so I felt like I need to add it to the list, as a thank you. Ha!
- Maybelline Eye Studio: 50 Taupe Temptress, 100 Cozy Cashmere (Limited Edition), 70 Copper Chic
Cover Girl Eye Enhancer in Fard Accent, Hard Candy Baked Eyeshadow in Peace, Ulta Eyeshadow Quad in Good Girl
Wet N Wild Color Icon: Sweet As Candy, Comfort Zone, Walking On Eggshells
And there ya have it. I find it really fun to share with you all my current faves, I might do another one soon. Yeah?
Can you believe it's Thursday already? This week kinda just flew by. But it's almost weekend again, yay! Thank you for reading guys. :)
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