Palette Passion

Palette Passion by embellishedangel featuring a matte eye shadow

I have a pretty deep love for eye shadow palettes. I love the ease of a palette for traveling purposes. I love having several eye looks come from one stellar palette. Today I am rounding up THE four BEST neutral palettes in my humble opinion. Now you may ask, why would one need FOUR different neutral palettes? My gut reaction is to say, "Why not?" But the real answer is....you don't need four neutral palettes. One really great one will totally do the trick. These palettes all have similar shades and any one of them will offer you tons of eye look options.

 I will admit however that each of these palettes has its one little sweet spot that makes it different from the others. I do own all four and rotate them on a pretty regular basis. I firmly believe in subtle, neutral eye looks and I adore experimenting with each of these and even mixing them together. Each of these palettes are considered "high end" and do cost a pretty penny. However, the quality and staying power of each is not easily matched by a drugstore version. Be patient and wait for an Ulta or Sephora coupon and you'll be golden!  I'll share the unique features of each and link you to a great tutorial on how to create an eye look for each! 

1. Naked Palettes (Naked 1, Naked 2, Naked 3)

I personally only own the first version of this uber popular palette. My oldest daughter owns the Naked 2 and speaks highly of it was well. This is probably the ultimate neutral palette. Soft, creamy shadows in several matte and shimmer shades. The color payoff of each shadow is super and they blend perfectly. The names of the shadows are a riot too! Let me know if any of you have purchased the Naked 3 palette--I am hesitating as it has an overall rose tone to it and worry about its versatility! 

2. Too Faced Chocolate Bar (Get it here!)
Before I purchased this palette I got one of Too Faced's limited edition Christmas palettes called A Few of My Favorite Things. This palette was unbelievable and I became a huge fan of Too Faced instantly! I also have there Chocolate Soleil bronzer and use it religiously everyday for contouring. Too Faced believes in the antioxidant power of chocolate and incorporates it into many of their products. So...guess what? This palette is not only shaped like a chocolate bar but it SMELLS like chocolate. No lie! It is sooo yummy. On top of the chocolate goodness, the shadows are dreamy and creamy. The shimmer shades are not glittery at all and have a perfect iridescence to them that is hard to resist.



3. IT Cosmetics Naturally Pretty (Get it HERE!)
This is a recent palette discovery of mine and I sought it out because I feel like other palettes never have enough matte shades. A really good palette should have at least 3-4 matte shades that can be used for your crease and blending. This palette is all MATTE with a twist. All 14 matte shades are silky and smooth and are perfect blended. The twist?! The palette comes with a pearl transforming shade that turns any of the matte shades into beautiful shimmer versions of themselves! Sweet! Video is a review of the palette--its pretty new so there are not a ton of tutorials yet. I will post one when I find a good one!



4. Lorac Pro (Get it HERE!)
This is a perfectly balanced palette. It has 8 matte shades and 8 shimmer shades. The shadows are extremely pigmented and go on so effortlessly. I love the gradation from light to dark and find this palette to be very versatile in creating looks. I find myself reaching for this palette whenever I want a simple, put together look.