Eye shadow palettes…one of my favorite things in the makeup world. I grew up in an artsy family and dabbled in all manner of art mediums throughout my childhood and continue to do so in adulthood. Opening a fresh box of Crayola’s or mixing oil paints as I approach a fresh canvas gives me a similar satisfaction to when I find a great eye shadow palette. I even love the word palette. All those gorgeous colors lined up in a row, numerous combinations just waiting to be discovered. If you are a lover of palettes, you know what I mean. Today I want to share with you what I currently consider to be my favorite eye shadow palettes as of summer 2015.
A few of these I’ve reviewed on the blog before so I’ll link to each below. All are free of parabens, petroleum, phthalates, and all are cruelty free. I’ll do my best to list all the individual accolades of each palette (some are vegan, gluten free, etc.). I try to choose shadows that contain as few toxins as possible, though completely non-toxic not always possible. This post is going to to be a bit long, so grab a drink and here we go! Off to palette-land! Plus make sure to come back tomorrow to see how I turn my Pacifica palette packages into bookmarks!
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Julep Long Weekend Eyeshadow Palette ($54 or $43.20 for Mavens): This has become my favorite everyday palette over the past few months. This might be too plain for some people, but for those that love a natural, simple look it is great. It contains 11 colors that are all neutrals and so perfect for a daytime look. Though you could create a light nighttime look with the darkest shade, Bask. I love that the darkest shade isn’t that dark though – a medium chocolate. I use the five shades on the left (Friday, Getaway, Sunset, Saturday, Low Tide) the most, though I also love the eighth one over (Brunch) and tenth (Monday). I think the only one I haven’t used is Sunday, a greyish shade. But this is a palette I would use every single color! The formula is easy to blend and contains rosehip seed oil (delivers essential nutrients to soothe and repair), Malvaceae Lipid Extract™ (improves barrier function so skin retains moisture), and green coffee bean oil (invigorates skin & promotes cell turnover). The brush it comes with is my favorite ever!!! Huge bonus with this palette. This is not marketed as an “all natural” palette, but it is free of talc and parabens.
theBalm Nude ‘tude Eyeshadow Palette ($36): This is a fun palette to have in my collection because of the sassy vintage-style pinup girls in the design. More importantly though it contains a dozen beautiful shadows of great quality. I use the eight on the left mostly and rarely touch the four darker ones on the right but in case I ever want to do a really dark smoky look its nice to have them there. Sassy and Stand-offish double as beautiful highlights. I originally reviewed this palette here.
jane iredale Perfectly Nude Eye Shadow Kit ($55): This beautiful gold palette contains five shades: Cream, Foxy, Cappuccino, Antique Gold and Copper. These shades are beautiful on their own or blended together. The three on the left (cream, foxy, cappuccino) create the perfect light daytime look, and then antique gold and copper are shimmery beauties that are out of this world. Adding just a smudge of antique gold (a shimmery deep brassy greenish-brown) at the outer corners deepens the look. Copper which has a gorgeous orange/rust hue really made my green eyes pop. Not a color I would have normally thought to wear but such a cool addition to my collection! Vegan, and cruelty free, also free of parabens, talc, and wheat. Only downside is the brush isn’t great, I mostly used my fingers and other brush to blend this palette.
Ofra Radiant Eyes Signature Palette ($29.95): If you love shimmer shadows and nudes then this is the perfect blend of both! It contains five shimmering shades in Gold Rush, Bliss, Bohemian, Plastic, and Essential. I bring this out when I want my eyes to sparkle! These can be applied wet or dry (like most shadows) for an intense shimmery/smoky look. See swatches and my original review here.
Pacifica ($14-17): You might have noticed from the first photo in this post that nearly half of my favorite palettes are all from Pacifica. There just aren’t enough great things I can say about these coconut-infused mineral eye shadows. Seen here is (from top to bottom) Power of Love, Charmed, Enlighten, and Gossamer Wings palettes. They’re all vegan, cruelty-free, formulated without FD&C color, phthalates, talc, parabens, or petroleum. Their formula is velvety, silky, highly pigmented, and radiant. I am in love with the colors, especially in the Charmed, Enlighten, and Gossamer Wings palettes. I can’t wait to see what Pacifica comes out with next! I am addicted to their shadows. You can see a review + swatches of the Enlighten and Charmed palettes here. I also love that these are lightweight and good sizes for travel.
Tarte Limited-Edition Energy Noir Clay Palette ($38): This is a very recent addition to my palette collection as it just came out last month. I was instantly smitten with the amethyst and gold case, and the purple shadows! This is seriously a purple-lover’s palette. It’s inspired by the energy of the night and has a mystical, sultry vibe. It is formulated without mineral oil, parabens, phthalates, sulfates, or gluten. Cruelty free, but not listed as vegan. It contains eight shades: full moon (matte beige), charged up (silvery taupe), dark drive (matte dark chocolate), stone unturned (matte taupe), up too slate (smoky plum), misty mauve (matte mauve), power plum (matte dark plum), and lunar eclipse (matte black). On the right side of the palette are, crystal spark (champagne highlighter) and unearthed (pinky nude blush). This palette does contain talc (which I typically try to avoid) but this one was just so gorgeous…so purple… that I made an exception.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! I’d love to hear from you what your favorite paraben-free and cruelty-free eye shadow palettes are 🙂 xo – Naomi