The Best Eye Shadow Palettes, According to Allure Editors
To all the palettes we've loved before...
When it comes to highly coveted makeup drops, nothing tugs at the heartstrings of beauty lovers quite like a shiny new eye shadow palette. Aesthetically, they're a feast for the eyes, visually and literally, but one could even go so far as to call them pragmatic. (Don't @ me — they're travel-friendly and take up the least amount of space in your carry-on with a wide variety of shades.)
However, perhaps more than anything, a good eye shadow palette is usually more of an investment purchase than a lipstick or eyeliner. When we take a look back at the record-breaking, best-selling, can't-keep-them-in-stock palettes, you'll find that the ones that came out on top are a delightful hodgepodge of highly pigmented goodness. With Flower Beauty's Best of Beauty-winning $11 palette, Huda Beauty's miniature curations of nudes, and Pat McGrath's luxury palette to end all luxury palettes, we've swatched every inch of the market to come up with our favorites.
If you've hit pan and repurchased one (or several) of the palettes below, this will be a fun stroll down memory lane for you. In case you're an eye shadow palette newbie, overwhelmed by the cornucopia of shades, take a deep breath and relax — we got you. (We love introducing people to makeup they become obsessed with.) These 17 palettes are our favorites, and here's why.
All products featured on Allure are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
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1/11
Huda Beauty Nude Obsessions Mini Eye Shadow Palette
It isn't the buttery texture of these Huda Beauty Nude Obsessions palettes or the way all nine of its shadows melt into the skin that makes it such a staple to Allure editors — it's the fact that it comes in light, medium, and dark iterations that let all skin tones have their own nude shades to choose from.
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2/11
Morphe 351 Icy Fantasy Artistry Palette
If you like playing with bright colors and different shadow textures, there's not much you won't find in Morphe's shimmering Icy Fantasy Artistry Palette. Curated by one of Allure's favorite makeup artists, Pony Park, this 35-shade palette is the perfect complement to a dewy skin finish.
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3/11
E.L.F. Cosmetics Bite Size Eye Shadow Palettes
There's a reason the super-affordable Bite Size Eye Shadow Palettes from E.L.F. have gone viral on TikTok — well, there are actually multiple reasons. For the handful of spare dollar bills sitting in your pocket, you could have one of eight available color schemes. Regardless of whether you pick one that's neutral, bright pink, or subdued purple, you'll get nothing but full pigment and zero fallout.
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4/11
Charlotte Tilbury Instant Eye Palette in Pillow Talk
Considering the shimmering, buildable payoff of Charlotte Tilbury's eye shadows, it's no shocker that the brand's latest launch has become an instant hit. The Pillow Talk Instant Eye Palette, inspired by her best-selling lipstick shade of the same name, features 12 matte and metallic pink shadows in pink-leaning hues like champagne, rose gold, and magenta.
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5/11
Jouer Cosmetics Rose Gold Matte & Shimmer Eye Shadow Palette
Allure's digital editorial director Sam Escobar doesn't wear shimmery eye shadow all that much, but they still can't help but dip into the ones from Jouer's Rose Gold palette. "Each of the shadows is nicely pigmented and pairs well with all of the other colors, even the more unconventional shades like the goldenrod and fuchsia," they say.
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6/11
Too Face Born This Way The Natural Nudes Eye Shadow Palette
For 2020, Too Faced is taking its all-inclusive approach to the Born This Way foundation shades and applying it to The Natural Nudes Eye Shadow Palette, a lineup of 16 neutral hues in pigmented matte and buttery metallic finishes. The brand claims this palette has "the only nudes you'll ever need," and we're inclined to believe it.
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7/11
Kaja Beauty Bento Bouncy Shimmer Eye Shadow Trio
OK — so these compact, stacked eye shadows from Kaja don't technically count as palettes, but our editors love their subtle shimmer so much, we just couldn't exclude them from this list. Consider one of the eight Bento Bouncy Shimmer Eye Shadow Trios a top priority for your next big travel plans.
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8/11
Natasha Denona Sunset Eye Shadow Palette
A go-to brand for makeup artists and serious beauty insiders alike thanks to its ultra-pigmented, long-wearing formulas, Natasha Denona's now-iconic copper eye shadow palette sold out in a single hour upon launching. (Yep — it's that good.)
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9/11
Lorac Pro Palette
Another tried-and-true makeup artist favorite, Lorac's Pro Palette continues to be a Sephora best-seller even after being around for years and launching several offshoots. If you're not sure what keeps fans coming back for more, velvety-feeling, plush powders in 16 versatile shades is a pretty good guess.
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10/11
Huda Beauty Rose Gold Remastered Eye Shadow Palette
This Best of Beauty Award winner is the well-lauded encore to Huda Beauty's popular, discontinued Rose Gold Palette. They look similar enough, but the Remastered palette gives us a few major upgrades — most notably a smoother and more pigmented powder formula as well as some shinier shade replacements in the collection of 18. After all, if you're getting a rose-gold eye shadow palette, you want to see that gold, you know?
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11/11
Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Eye Shadow Palette
Before rose-gold beauty was everywhere, Anastasia Beverly Hills kicked the trend into high gear with the launch of its Modern Renaissance palette, which features 14 shades of rose gold and nude matte and metallic gorgeousness.
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Source: allure.com
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