Trying to create a yum new recipe without the right ingredients is a one-way ticket to frustration-ville. Likewise, you’ll be hard-pressed to master spring’s eye trends without a proper palette. Drumroll, please! Presenting the latest must-have eyeshadow palettes for the season, whether you’re looking for a rainbow of shades or prefer something more straightforward with a few beautiful basics. Either way, it’s time to play and see what kind of eye magic you can create.
Byredo Prismic Eyeshadow Palette
Byredo may be known for fragrance, but the brand’s latest shadow palette is splurge-worthy indeed. Makeup artist Jezz Hill says there are two ways to use this versatile palette: “Dry allows you to play with soft pastel colors; when using wet, you can create dense color with metallic textures.” The 18 colors with matte, glitter or shimmer textures “allow you to play with no limits.”
Want a more natural look? “Stick to the gold, copper, peach and brown colors,” says Hill. On the other hand, go bold with a powerful disco look, a la Miley Cyrus. To get the look, her makeup artist, Janice Dauod, “combines the four purple shades from the palette to the lid, crease, lower lash and inner corner.” Or she recommends using the metallic shades directly on top of the matte shades “to create full intensity. Try Venus over Lager or Sloe Gin over Dart Frog.”
Chantecaille Butterfly Eye Quartet
This neutral four-pack was inspired by the shimmer of a butterfly’s wings. Each shade can be worn alone or layered, per brand founder Olivia Chantecaille. She applies “the peach shade to my lid; next, I brush the upper-left matte taupe shade into the crease for a natural, not-too-dramatic contrast, then the deeper rose-earth shade as a liner for definition. To finish, I open the eye with a pop of the prismatic green shade in the inner corners,” she tells Sunday Edit. “Even though I use four hues for this look, it isn’t overly made up — it feels fresh and light, just like early spring.”
The butterfly theme of this limited-edition line brings awareness to butterfly protection and supports the Xerces Society’s Pollinator Program.
Urban Decay NAKED Wild West
Picture the wild west and this is what you get: Twelve highly-pigmented shades to mimic sandy deserts, green succulents, the horizon and a hit of turquoise. If you want to capture the bold eye trend, try one of the metallic sand shades all over the lid, then line the eye with the turquoise shadow. Check out the video below for tips.
CHANEL Les 4 Ombres Multi-Effect Quadra Eyeshadow in 374 Allure et Eclat
Fans of Chanel’s eye quads love that these powders are long-lasting. The new spring collection takes one of Gabrielle Chanel’s favorite pieces of jewelry — pearls — as inspiration. This quad hosts peachy-pink, sparkly pink, sparkly white and copper rosewood shades, which can be worn alone or layered. The two sparkling hues are particularly great for highlighting and illuminating eyes that need an instant pick-me-up…the same effect Mademoiselle Coco believed a pearl necklace imparts.
Sephora Collection Bouncy Eyeshadow Palette in Dragonfly
What you will find in these shadows: A heavy dose of pearl to add a beautiful shimmer to eyes. What you won’t find: A list of over 50 potentially-toxic ingredients, as this is part of Sephora’s clean collection of products. Helen Phillips, Sephora’s national makeup artist, says the “bouncy texture” of the six shades in this palette “effortlessly glides on using just your fingers, with zero flakes or fall out.” The purple, olive and bronze tones “are right on trend for spring.” To create a monochromatic look that’s “super low-maintenance,” Phillips sweeps the Moss Green or Eggplant shade over the lids, then softens the edges using the White Gold or the Red Clay to finish. “It’s that easy!”
e.l.f. Mint Melt in Mint to Be
You could buy a latte or, for the same price, this four-pan palette with sparkly mint and silver and matte mint and camo. Though the paler shades go on quite light with one layer, they build into more intense hues. Get inspired here:
Pat McGrath Labs Mothership VIII The Divine Rose II
This is the choice for those who know their way around a makeup palette. The possible gradient looks that an artist can create with this limited-edition palette — as demonstrated on McGrath’s Instagram —are works of art. The 10 shades include consistencies from matte to shimmery to glitter, in champagne, pink, peach and burgundy hues. Like all of these legendary makeup artist’s shadows, they glide on with a beautiful, soft consistency and blend flawlessly.
Kjaer Weis The Quadrant in Spellbound
Founder Kirsten Kjaer Weis says the shadows in this certified-organic palette are “rendered in the purest, cleanest formulations possible” with antioxidant-rich ingredients including gardenia and honeysuckle extracts. The Spellbound palette shades — Divine (neutral grey), Earthy Calm (warm brown), Magnetic (brown gold) and Cloud Nine (light ivory) — begin quite sheer, but can be layered to create a gorgeous smoky eye.
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