Back to the Basics: Palettes 101

Until recently, the makeup industry created palettes with only light skin in mind. Light skin was also heavily favored in magazines and on runways, meaning that for us brown girls, we didn’t have a lot of good inspiration or guidance.

If you’ve been attacked or brainwashed by some Sephora or department store makeup counter employee into buying all the wrong colors for your brown skin, you might not even understand where to begin finding palettes that complement your complexion, undertones, and features.

I’ve been immersed in this industry almost my entire life, so I’ve gotten pretty good at navigating how to find what’s best for you. And thanks to more attention on darker skin tones, there’s plenty of options available to suit any style or budget!

Keep reading while we take you back to school. Welcome to Palettes For Dummies 101.

A Brief Makeup History Lesson

12,000 years ago. Ancient Egypt. That’s how far back makeup goes.

The Egyptians used materials like lead, mercury, copper, berries, ashes, and even arsenic to line their eyes, darken their eyelids, color their lips, and overall enhance their beauty. Urine was even used to fade freckles!

In India, cosmetics use dates back to at least 2500 BC where butters, herbs, and oils were often used for skin beautification and hair purposes, as well as in rituals. Our ancestors exfoliated, covered grey hairs, used face masks, and more (though sometimes those pesky ingredients lead and copper made appearances, too).

These days, thank goodness, the makeup industry has come a long way. You’re not left using blown out matches as eyeliner or risking cancer by putting on a little eyeshadow or lipstick.

Now let’s get into palettes

Now unless you live under a rock, I assume you know what I mean when I say eyeshadow palette.

If anyone is unclear, an eyeshadow palette is a unified collection of pressed powder (or glitter, etc.) pigments. This could mean anything from a palette of 3 colors to ones with 50 or more. These collections are designed together to be used to create multidimensional looks using several of the shadows.

Got it? Good.

Now just because you can buy palettes with 12-18-20-24+ shadows doesn’t mean you should. In my experience, these palettes are a waste of time for individual use. Leave these to the pros. All you need is 4 to 6 colors MAX.

It’s important to go shopping for palettes armed with the knowledge of what color tones and family best suit brown skin. No matter what some clueless beauty mega store employee tries to tell you, the best shades for brown skin are warm tones like:

* Orange

* Peach

* Apricot

* Copper

* Olive

* Yellow

* Terra Cotta

Below, I’m going to lay out my favorite travel-friendly and versatile #TriedAndTested eyeshadow palettes that anyone can use to create a beautiful look for their complexion.

Patrick Ta Beauty – Major Dimension Eyeshadow Palette

I’m totally obsessed with Patrick Ta’s collection of products. I’m a warm colors kinda gal. Silvers and grays just ain’t my thing. Warm colors bring a glow to brown skin. Cool colors bring an ash-grey undertone to the olive skin girl and can make you look a little like a corpse.

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Mented Cosmetics – Everyday Eyeshadow Palette

Been using this daily for 4 years now. It’s a part of my travel trolley. Big fan of the Everyday palette and now they have the Everynight palette for some fun!

Fenty Beauty – Snap Shadows Eye Palette

Rihanna and her beauty team truly understand the brown girl’s dilemma.

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Natasha Denona – Biba Palette

For the makeup lover that feels 6 colors is never enough. Pricey but worth it! Nobody beats Natasha’s quality.

There’s also a Biba Mini version to get the best of this gorgeous palette!

Buy the Biba Palette

Dominique Cosmetics – Transition Palette

Current favorite palette! It’s probably the most versatile multi-function palette I’ve used so far.

Seriously everything you need is right here: Range of warm to cool neutral matte shades. Define. Contour. Brighten. Highlight. Play up your eyes. Enhance your brows. Choose daytime no-makeup makeup looks or go full-on sultry, smoky glam.

Plus they’re all super blendable, long-wearing pigments.

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Charlotte Tilbury – Super Nudes Easy Eyeshadow Palette

Go from basic to BOMB with these shades. Easy peasy.

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Lawless – Mini The Little One Eyeshadow Palette

For the clean AF beauty consumer, Lawless products are talc free, cruelty free, contain no SLS, aluminum-free, mineral-oil free, etc. The list goes on and on as to how much TLC they put into making sure your cosmetics have harmless ingredients AND still make an impact.

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Elcie Cosmetics – The Minimalist Eyeshadow Palette

This palette was truly made for ALL skin tones…so long as you have a great brush set and some basic eye makeup skills. I’m a huge fan of Lilit Cardanian’s collection. A true artist!

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