How I Use Single Shadows

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the trick

I have always found it hard to use my single shadows. They are so darn pretty but its such a pain to open all the little compacts and use them and then close them (hopefully, on a good day). I end up just pulling out a palette and giving up.

Lately a slew of amazing quality, compact, mini-palettes have been released. From the NARS Smokey Eye Kit to the Urban Decay Naked2 Basics. I have found that pairing a single with a all-in-one kit like those just makes it so easy.

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it works!

All the problems I had with singles goes away when you pair one with a mini-palette (thats what I’m calling them, but they are really just smaller palettes). The ideal mini-palette will have a lot of mattes (at least my ideal one would) to help blend and add depth. This is because most of my singles are shimmery all-over-the-lid kinda shades. But if you love a certain matte single, pairing it with just about any mini-palette will work.

I dunno, maybe I’m late to the party and everyone has already been using this trick. But its awesome. I hope you try it or, if you have already been using it, then let me know what singles and mini-palettes you love (because I have been all over this lately).

6 thoughts on “How I Use Single Shadows”

  1. I agree that this is an excellent idea. The palettes I use most often for this are not quite as small as the Naked Basics — my favorites to use are Tarte’s Be Mattnificent palette (unfortunately limited edition, these are some really high-quality mattes); Too Faced’s Boudoir Eye (cool-ish neutrals in matte and shimmer finishes), Natural Eye (warmish neutrals in matte and shimmer finishes), and Matte Eye (all matte); a make-your-own palette from Bobbi Brown with Ivory, Cement, Blond, Grey, and Heather eye shadows and Desert Rose blush; and a Z-palette with shades 352, 328,344, 390 (beige/tans) and 324, 387, and 339 (grays) from Inglot. And silly me still wants to make palettes from Laura Mercier (Vanilla Nuts, Morning Dew, Buttercream, Cashmere, Plum Smoke or Sable, and Twilight Grey) and Make Up Forever (still obsessing about which shades to get for this — so many nice neutral in that line)! I also would love to have Too Faced’s Smokey Eye and Natural at Night to use for this purpose for more dramatic looks. Slightly larger but still useful for this are LORAC’s PRO palettes and IT Cosmetics’ Naturally Pretty palettes. This is pretty much what I like to use neutral palettes for — I do love color! But sometimes a girl wants to wear red lipstick. Or purple. Or shocking pink. And then neutral eyes look nice.

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      1. I have a ridiculous number of them for someone who likes bright colored eyeshadows! But, seriously, you need some neutrals to set off the bright colors and make a complete look, warm neutrals look better with some colors and cool neutrals look better with others. That’s how I rationalize this, I guess! Makeup is a creative outlet for me on a daily basis.

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  2. P.S. I also love the Ardency Inn pressed pigments (I have Royal and Disco, craving Heaven, Hell, and Sunday) and the NARS Dual Intensity eyeshadows (I have Callisto, Dione, Lysithea, and Giove, lusting after Phoebe, Himalia, and Andromeda).

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