Matte eye shadow palette comparisons and reviews – Boots No. 7, Ulta, e.l.f. & Hard Candy

I don’t know whether it’s my age or personal preference, but although I think shimmery eye shadow looks great on other people; I don’t feel it suits me, so I’m always on the look-out for eye shadow palettes in matte – particularly if they’re not nude colours. As make-up is usually a bit cheaper in America , when we were there on holiday in summer, I bought a few to try …..

I’ll start with e.l.f. The packaging is cheap and cheerful, with a clear lid though, it’s pretty handy to see which colours you’re after nice and quickly. I really like the fact that there’s room for an applicator and if you wipe the dust away, there’s a tiny mirror you can use on the go in an emergency. I also like the way it guides you in which colours are suitable for base, lid, crease and liner so you have a complete eye look in one small pallet that’s perfect to travel with you in your handbag. The pigmentation is fairly good, however, regardless of whether or not I use eye-shadow primer or powder base; not very long after applying the eye shadow, it forms a very thick and obvious line in the crease of my eyelid. For that reason I can’t wear this make-up for a day out and would not buy it again. (I won’t discount e.l.f. products altogether though as Rain bought me the mineral powder foundation and I loved it!) The pallet is called Matt for Plum and is available in the UK online.

Hard Candy seems to be the pallet I go to for most every-day looks and I suppose would be called a nude pallet as most of the colours are shades of brown or grey. I really like the stylish rock-stud style packaging and would be happy to get it out in public! The makeup stays put and doesn’t crease in my eye-lid crease, however the pigmentation of this eye-shadow is absolutely rubbish. I can layer and layer on the base shades and look no different. The colour doesn’t come off on the brush at all so I have to use an applicator, which, I’m glad to say, are included. It’s very frustrating and time-consuming to keep applying the make-up and still only have a very subtle look, so I’m unlikely to be buying this brand again. The pallet is called Birthday Suit, and I found it from this UK website. Although it ships from America, you’re not spending a fortune on customs and shipping.

Ulta seems to be the slightly cheaper version of Sephora in America, though correct me if I’m wrong as I’m not particularly knowledgeable on American shopping. Unfortunately Ulta isn’t available in the UK as this is probably actually my favourite of them all. The pigmentation is very good and I love the colour combination in this pallet. It’s a small handy size for taking around with you, but unfortunately there’s no applicators or a mirror included, so you have to take that with you separately. It also doesn’t crease and has been the pallet I’ve used over Christmas as I can get a lovely smokey evening out look with this pallet. It’s called Romantic Complete Eye. I’ll definitely have another look at Ulta products next time I’m in America.

I bought the Boots No.7 Stay Perfect trio eye shadow palette in the UK when I had a birthday beauty splurge in April. I’ve been after a good brown eye-shadow pallet for a while, so I thought I’d buy this one, called Tea Party. I’m disappointed. About eighteen years ago (I remember having a kid in a pushchair, but I can’t remember which one), I bought a lovely No.7 make-up palette in Boots in the January sale and in it is the most gorgeous eye-shadow I’ve ever owned. It’s so soft, matt, and heavily pigmented and I love it! I still have it now and it’s a lovely autumn burgundy-brown with a paler beige. (The other colours were shimmery.) So I thought No.7 would do a good matt eye-shadow still – if not, better. Although the eye shadow looked matte in the shop, it turned out not be completely, but not really shimmery either. I can’t really complain about that because it doesn’t claim to be matte. However it’s the lack of pigmentation I can complain about. It’s another one I have to layer on and on and on and still only have a subtle make up look. On the plus side, the packaging is lovely and it doesn’t crease at all, but I won’t be buying it again.

If you’re interested in any of these eye shadows, and would like me to go into more detail with swatches and photos of them actually on my eyelids, please let me know and I’d be happy to do a more in-depth review of them individually.

As you can probably tell if you’ve read all the way through; I am not overly happy with any of them! I would really appreciate your help on this, so please leave any recommendations for matte eye shadow palettes in the comments. Rather than buy several medium priced pallets, should I have just bought one really expensive one? I do struggle to spend a lot of money on make-up, but maybe I need to!