Massive Beauty Purge Project: Powder Eyeshadow Singles
Beauty spring cleaning continues, and in today’s edition we’re talking about one of the hardest categories for me to purge: powder eyeshadows. I have a special place in my heart for eyeshadow singles. I actually didn’t own any palettes until maybe 5 years ago when I bought my first one. I always thought that palettes were a waste of my money because I couldn’t find any that would meet 2 main criteria:
- All of the shades must be something I would love and use often.
- The quality of each pan has to be outstanding.
It’s also so much easier to create the perfect makeup kit by buying a bunch of singles, because some brands excel at mattes and others at shimmers. And some brands might not have the color I want at all, even if I love the quality. That’s why even to this day I continue using eyeshadow singles to complement shades that I don’t have in my palettes. They’re really great to travel with, too!
Also…
I don’t know how that happened, but somehow I failed to take the ‘before’ photo, and I already gave away or tossed the ones I didn’t keep, so the picture above is the ‘after’. I started with 16 eyeshadows, you can check out their names, swatches, and mini-reviews below.
STARTING POINT:
Glo Skin Beauty Mineral Eyeshadow ($20) – I have these in Haze, Orchid, Vintage, Sand Pebble, Twig and Coy, and as you can probably tell, I really like the way they perform since I own so many. These pressed powder eyeshadows come in matte, shimmer, and satin finishes, and feel almost cream-like on the lids. I am a big fan of this brand in general, and plan to mention them a lot more often on this blog. At this time, Twig is the only one available for sale. Good news is, you can use code GLAMORABLE15 to get 15% off your total purchase at gloskinbeauty.com [no minimum, you can get just 1 thing if you want to!]. I also highly recommend trying their lipsticks and Gentle Cream Cleanser for soothing the skin.
Le Métier de Beauté True Colour Eye Shadow ($30) – Colors I currently own: Tamarack, Goldstone, Milan, Peachy Keen, VIP Shimmery Sand-White (2015 LE). I used to subscribe to the yearly Le Métier de Beauté Vault VIP program during the first 2 years, and I really enjoyed my experience. It allowed me to add some beautiful high performance pieces to my makeup collection, but I haven’t been reaching for most of them lately. Back in the day LMdB used to have some of the highest quality eyeshadows on the market, but I feel like in the recent years the formula got a bit inconsistent, and after being disappointed several times, I decided to focus on other brands instead. These are the remnants of the previous purge when I got rid of a dozen or more True Colour singles, and it’s time to narrow down my collection yet again. I must say, even after all these years, the quality is still outstanding. This makes me happy, because I can actually give these to someone else to enjoy instead of just tossing them.
NU Evolution Eyeshadow ($20) – I was really excited to try NU Evolution eye shadows when I decided to start using cleaner beauty products last year. I did some research online, and saw a lot of people say they are just as good or even better than most conventional products. I must admit, I am very impressed with the way these perform, and couldn’t recommend them enough. I currently own two shades: Chocolate Mousse, which I also use as an eyeliner and for my brows, and Mica that looks absolutely beautiful on its own. It’s one of my go-to products for a quick 5-minute makeup routine when I’m in a rush.
black|UP Eyeshadow ($21) – I’m not one to use bold colors in my makeup – definitely not purple – but I love using matte blackened purple 09M to line my eyes when I feel like doing something different than my usual neutrals. The formula is weird. It’d pigmented, but it really sticks to the skin and doesn’t budge, so it would be very hard to blend I imagine. I use it exclusively as an eyeliner, and it works like a charm.
Benecos Natural Mono Eyeshadow ($11.99) – Choco Cookie is probably one of my favorite eyeshadows, ever. I don’t know if you can tell in the group photo, but I made a pretty big dent in the pan already! The formula is sublime: it coats my lids like silk and stays on all day without gathering in the crease or creating fallout. The ingredients are clean and non-toxic, and the performance is definitely a lot better than many brands I tried in the past. This shade is very close to NU Evolution Mica, but Mica has a little bit of rose gold hint to it, while Choco Cookie is more beige. If we use Pantone color wheel, Choco Cookie would be similar to Warm Taupe, and Mica is closer to Desert Taupe.
Milani Bella Eyes Gel Powder Eyeshadow ($4.99) – I had a Milani phase a couple years ago and I pretty much bought the brand’s latest releases all the time. My spending habits have changed since then, so I haven’t actually purchased anything from them in a while, but I still use some of the products in my stash, like their famous Luminoso blush. I also used to own a bunch of their wonderful eyeshadow singles, most of which are totally fabulous and you won’t regret giving them a try. I actually gave away most of them last year when I realized I barely use them anymore, but I kept 01 Bella Ivory because it worked really well as a tear duct highlight. I found a few other products I prefer more, so I’m going to give this one away as well.
WHAT’S LEFT:
Like I said, I don’t know how I managed to forget to take the ‘before’ photo, but all we have is the ‘after’, and you can see all of the remaining shades if you scroll up to the very beginning. I also can’t explain what in the world Rodial Eye Sculpt [the sole survivor of the cream eyeshadow purge] is doing in the group shot. I must have been very tired that day, lol!
The colors I kept are as follows:
- NU Evolution in Chocolate Mousse and Mica
- black|UP in 09M
- Benecos in Choco Cookie
- Le Métier de Beauté in VIP Shimmery Sand-White and Tamarack
- Glo Skin Beauty in Twig, Coy and Orchid
These are the softest, creamiest formulas, that feel like pure silk on my lids. They don’t crease, stay put all day even though my skin tends to get oily, and blend beautifully. The only one that doesn’t blend easily is the black|UP, but I kept it to use as a deep navy eyeliner. I just love lining my eyes with powder products, because it looks much softer in real life. It doesn’t really translate to photos as well, though. It’s kind of like heavily contoured, caked on foundation that looks flawless on Instagram, but not so much outside in the daylight, if you know what I mean.
I know I kind of kept a lot, but I just couldn’t decide with some of these. I use all of them pretty often, so I’ll probably give them another few months and purge again.
What brand makes your favorite powder eyeshadows? Have you tried any of the products mentioned in this post? Let me know in the comments below!
*Indicates PR samples.
