Matt eyeshadow duos

aristocat

Just wondering if anyone who knows about these things could recommend a good basic eyeshadow duo in Brown/Taupe or similar in a matt finish? Have several shimmer ones, so I would really prefer the matt. Perhaps Nars? I have tried Clinique and no joy. Thanks a million.:D

gingernut125

inglot might be worth a look? they have a neutral matte range in their freedom system, you could get duos last time I checked

aristocat

Gingernut - Thanks for that. Completely forgot about Inglot. They do quite a selection of matt colours.

lil_tuts

Inglot is really worth a look because you pick the colours you want in the palette, also your get a lot more product for your money. As nice if not nicer than some more expensive brands

aristocat

lil_tuts wrote: »

Inglot is really worth a look because you pick the colours you want in the palette, also your get a lot more product for your money. As nice if not nicer than some more expensive brands

Yes, I absolutely agree with you. I put together a four colour palette a while ago and am very pleased with it. My only reservation is that there can be quite a bit of fall-out below the eye when applying. Sometime when I am in a rush I don't have time for the tape under the eyes trick, or clean up time. So although I adore the choice of colours and the strength of pigment with Inglot, I would like to try another brand to see if there is less mess!

lil_tuts

I find pressing the eye shadow on with a flat top brush helps a lot i never have any mess this way x

okiss

I have tried a lot of different eyeshadow from the cheap to the expensive brands.
The best eyeshadow I have ever used is the Bourjois LITTLE ROUND POT INTENSE EYESHADOW. They are single eyeshadows and sell for about €9 or €10 each but they stay put.

aristocat

Okiss Thanks for that. I will have a look at their colour range. If they have the matt colours I am looking for, I may be sorted!:D

glitterbug86

How about Mac? They sell empty palettes and you buy the eyeshadows to go in them separately in refill form. They have 15 pan and 4 pan palettes available and more recently brought out 2 pan palettes. I assume they're available worldwide: http://www.maccosmetics.com/product/1556/17373/Pro-Palette-Eye-Shadow-x-2/index.tmpl Mac is expensive but have a huge range of high quality eyeshadows to choose from so you should be able to find 2 you like. The eyeshadow refills are €11.50 each. I don't know how much the 2 pan palette is but the 4 pan palette is €7.50.

I haven't tried Inglot or Nars eyeshadows to compare but the Mac ones don't produce fallout (except for the lustre finishes which have glitter so you wouldn't be interested in them anyways). I've heard Nars eyeshadows are hit and miss. I don't remember which way around it is but have heard that with the singles and duos for some reason one is generally good and the other often poor (sorry don't remember which one it is but maybe seomthing to bear in mind!) Also. with the Mac you could choose both colours you want in the duo versus picking an existing Nars duo.

Finishes to look out for in Mac eyeshadows are matte (quite hard, may look unpigmented on your finger when you swatch it but looks great on when applied with a brush), matte2 (pronounced "matte squared", softer texture, rich matte formula) and satin (I use these as I do mattes, very pigmented, have more texture to them than actual mattes but are in no way glittery or shimmery). I know you mentioned you're looking for browns and taupes but are you looking for lightish, medium or dark shades?

aristocat

glitterbug86 wrote: »

How about Mac? They sell empty palettes and you buy the eyeshadows to go in them separately in refill form. They have 15 pan and 4 pan palettes available and more recently brought out 2 pan palettes. I assume they're available worldwide: http://www.maccosmetics.com/product/1556/17373/Pro-Palette-Eye-Shadow-x-2/index.tmpl Mac is expensive but have a huge range of high quality eyeshadows to choose from so you should be able to find 2 you like. The eyeshadow refills are €11.50 each. I don't know how much the 2 pan palette is but the 4 pan palette is €7.50.

I haven't tried Inglot or Nars eyeshadows to compare but the Mac ones don't produce fallout (except for the lustre finishes which have glitter so you wouldn't be interested in them anyways). I've heard Nars eyeshadows are hit and miss. I don't remember which way around it is but have heard that with the singles and duos for some reason one is generally good and the other often poor (sorry don't remember which one it is but maybe seomthing to bear in mind!) Also. with the Mac you could choose both colours you want in the duo versus picking an existing Nars duo.

Finishes to look out for in Mac eyeshadows are matte (quite hard, may look unpigmented on your finger when you swatch it but looks great on when applied with a brush), matte2 (pronounced "matte squared", softer texture, rich matte formula) and satin (I use these as I do mattes, very pigmented, have more texture to them than actual mattes but are in no way glittery or shimmery). I know you mentioned you're looking for browns and taupes but are you looking for lightish, medium or dark shades?

I am looking for medium - light just makes me look ill! Also looking for a kind of bronze but am thinking this colour would have to be slightly shimmery, so maybe the satin you mention would be suitable? Really, the browns/taupes are to be my go to everyday shadows that I can rely on to do the job with no fuss. I seem to spend longer and longer each day picking out combinations; methinks I have too much choice! So, these two have to be the perfect combination that suit me well and are easy to apply. I have green/grey eyes and fair skin. Thanks so much for such a comprehensive answer.:D

glitterbug86

No problem, I'm no expert, just have a bit of an interest in these things Maybe era orwedge would be along the lines of what you're looking for. To me they're actually pretty similar but wedge is a matte and era is a satin. They're both great crease colours, wedge is more well known but I find era just looks a little nicer on the lid. As you want something fast and simple, you could put a quick wash of it on the lid, build it up a little more in the crease and be done. Or it works well as a crease colour with another brown on the lid (it works well on its own in the crease as well but I'd say the overall eye would then be too light for you). Or you could pack it a bit heavier on the lid with a darker brown in the crease.

For me with a duo I'd tend to put a medium and darker brown together. Espresso is a nice medium-dark matte neutral brown. It's not the most exciting looking colour but I use it a lot because it is neither cool nor warm so I find it pairs well with both cool and warm browns on the lid. Brun is a cool brown satin (so more grey/taupe) but it is dark so maybe too dark for what you want. Espresso might be too dark too if you don't want one of the colours in the duo to be darker than the other but it is more buildable than brun.

When I think of bronze I think of a metallic type shade so I'm not sure you'll find a colour that could be described as a bronze without getting some kind of frost or shimmery colour. Cork is a satin that looks to me to be kind of a bronze colour minus the metallic finish ie. if you took a bronze eyeshadow and converted it to matte then I think it might look something like this! It's in no way shimmery but maybe along the lines of what you're thinking of? Patina is a lovely unusual colour worth considering. It's labeled as a frost finish but is not a typical frost. It's prob closer to a satin in that it's not shimmery but it does have a slight sheen. It's kind of like a dull (not in a bad way) slightly taupe bronze that when you closely at it has slight green and pink tones. That sound's garish but it's not. It's apparently a very popular mother of the bride and bridal colour. I'm really bad at describing colours sorry! The other bronzey shades I can think of are all quite frosty and shimmery so I don't think they're what you're looking for but maybe I'm forgetting something.

If you do decide to go for Mac for your duo then hopefully something here will be of interest to you. If not, I'm sure someone in there will help you find what you want. It's expensive so I know you won't want to come out with the wrong shades so it's good to have some kind of starting point. I'm fairly familiar with Mac eyeshadows but there is such a huge choice that I like to have an idea of what I'm looking for and have a few shades in mind before I go in.

I had a google of some of the shades above and was going to insert a couple of pics here but I find with a lot of them a flash is used and it distorts the colours pretty badly. Or the lighting is odd and the colours are way off. So I ended up taking a quick pic of my own and labeled the ones mentioned above. It's just the camera on my phone so not super clear but the colours are pretty true to life. By the way if you happen to change your mind and look at some non matte shades then I would say check out satin taupe. It's a frost but it's lovely and smooth. It's an extremely popular brownish taupe shade with a hint of purple. It doesn't suit me but I'm in the minority and I do like it's texture etc, it just doesn't suit me. it's not in the picture as I just thought of that afterwards.

Here's my pic (I'll put it in quite big so hopefully you can see the textures a bit):

aristocat

glitterbug86 Gosh, thank you so much for going to so much trouble to answer my question. Having looked at the colours you suggested, I think I agree with you that there should be a darker brown in the duo. I am never very good at building up colour really, so its best to have a medium and a darker. 'Cork' is a lovely colour, but probably not what I am looking for in a bronze. You are right in saying that the bronze suggests more of a metallic finish so I will probably go down the shimmer road for that. It is great to get the suggestions from you as I can go in to Mac armed with some information. I always feel very intimidated when I go in there. Everyone looks so beautiful and they all sound like they know what they are talking about! I, on the other hand, am a complete novice, so it is very helpful to have a little knowledge before I go. Once again, many thanks for such a comprehensive answer.:D

glitterbug86

You're very welcome, I know it can take a while to make sense of all the options. I understand how you could feel a bit intimidated or overwhelmed but it's their job to help every customer whether they're a total novice or pro so they should be able to explain things and make some suggestions for you based on what you tell them you're looking for. I've heard some people find the staff at Mac snobby etc but I find the girls at my local counter anyways (Galway) to be really nice, knowledgable and helpful. If you think they look beautiful in there then I guess that's a great ad for their makeup!

A bit random but may I suggest that if you don't already have one, you get yourself one good blending brush. The Mac 217 is mine and a lot of other peoples fave. Sigma do a cheaper version that's supposed to be good. As gossmakeupartist on youtube always says "you can do a lot more with cheap makeup and good brushes than you can with cheap brushes and expensive makeup".

Regarding the non-matte bronzey eyeshadow these are the ones I can think of (it may even be all of them. oh except romp which i've never actually seen in the shop):
Patina (frost, mentioned above, just about qualifies for a bronze but is not shimmery or very gold)
Retrospeck (lustre, pale gold, has glittery fallout, don't pick this one)
Woodwinked (veluxe pearl, very popular goldy colour, smooth shimmery (not glittery) rich texture, looks pretty in the pan but applies orangey gold on pale skin so would recommend something else)
Tempting (lustre, has glitter but is not prone to much fallout like most lustres, very pretty rich coco bronze)
Bronze (frost, underrated and not mentioned very often, texture is smooth and similar to woodwinked but colour is quite like tempting so best of both worlds. It's name could be a sign! )
Mulch (velvet, more of a reddish bronze, not as smooth as woodwinked and bronze, teeny flecks of glitter, don't think there's fallout though, a bit closer to a matte so may be worth considering for that reason)

BTW the descriptions of the shades on the Mac website are quite good but the pictures on many are off. You can sort the shades by each finish which is quite handy though.

Haha sorry, I can never say anything without writing a bit of an essay but I hope this helps!

aristocat

What can I say? Again, many thanks. It seems like 'Bronze' may be the answer to my requirements. I won't be able to get to BTs for another couple of weeks, but when I do I will let you know how I get on. I think you are correct in saying that a picture doesn't always give a proper representation of what a colour is really like, so a visit to the shop should give me a clearer idea of what I want.

I actually have a blending brush and it is the most important item in my makeup kit! To be honest, its only a Boots No 7 one, but even at that the difference in finish it gives is incredible. I'll have to put the Mac one on my birthday list. I love watching gossmakeupartist - he is so clear and concise and just gets on with the tutorials. His brush collection is just amazing. It must be worth thousands of pounds (sterling! ha, ha).

By the way, essay writing is good! Never get tired of the written word. It may lead to greater things. You're an absolute sweetheart for helping me. Hopefully its true what they say, 'what goes around, comes around'. Take care.:D

xzanti

aristocat wrote: »

My only reservation is that there can be quite a bit of fall-out below the eye when applying. Sometime when I am in a rush I don't have time for the tape under the eyes trick, or clean up time. So although I adore the choice of colours and the strength of pigment with Inglot, I would like to try another brand to see if there is less mess!

I hate this too, very annoying..

What I've started doing if I'm going on a night out and am doing a heavy eye makeup, I do my makeup backwards

Do the eyes first, then it's just a case of doing a quick clean up with a face wipe and then put your foundation on..

I have a lovely Urban Decay pallet that I didn't use for years because the fallout from it was so bad.. then I started doing the above and now I can go to town on the glittery pigments etc

glitterbug86

Oh it's no problem at all, glad to be of some help! I was just thinking that if you didn't have a blending brush and you went buying these expensive eyeshadows, you wouldn't see their full potential so that's why I mentioned that. I'm sure your no7 one is fine, I think it's actually the same shape as the 217 and if you find it good then I'd say there's no need to go getting the Mac one unless you actually want it down the line. Good luck