Makeup Geek Staple Shadows

My friend was shopping for some new makeup and asked me which palette she should pick.  When I was thinking which one I would choose if I could only pick one, it was tough to answer.  I recommended Tarte’s Tartelette in Bloom because it has a color selection that does mostly everything I need.  It has neutral and warm matte reds, browns, and creams, two super dark mattes to intensify looks, and some neutral shimmers in bronze, taupe, and cream.

 

We decided she should get single shadows and create her own dream palette. She isn’t a palette collector, so she really just needs something that can kind of do it all. I built a collage of what I would choose for eye shadow singles if I was starting all over again, basing it loosely on the Tarte palette with a few more warm browns and oranges thrown in to get the ideal palette for any look she wants to do. I wanted to share this for anyone out there that is wanting to start a custom eye shadow palette.  The colors I chose are a mix of dusty purple, warm brown, reds, shimmers, neutrals, transition shades, and oranges.

Row 1: Mirage, Bake Sale, Cocoa Bear, Cabin Fever

Row 2: Creme Brulee, Grandstand, Lucky Penny, Bitten

Row 3: In the Spotlight, Tuscan Sun, Vintage, Americano

Row 4: Starry Eyed, Magic Act, Chickadee, Tiki Hut

 

More suggestions: Peach Smoothie, Frappe, Corrupt, Unexpected, Morocco

 

Sadly, the Makeup Geek pan photos are not true to color. When I was collecting the screen grabs of them, I noticed that they come off so blah. A lot of these are deep and warm pigmented shades.  If you click on each pan on the website, it shows better swatches of each color.

 

I got this idea partially from one of my favorite Instagram accounts @futilitiesandmore.  She takes single shadows and creates dupe combinations of popular palettes. I didn’t know that she had one of the Tartelette in Bloom, but actually as I was working on this project for my friend, she popped up on my insta feed with her dupes of the Tarte palette. It shows how scary accurate online marketing targeting is because me Googling Tartelette in Bloom probably triggered Instagram’s algorithm. Or am I a conspiracy theorist? Prob both. Anyway, she posted her on- point dupes of the palette and they are perfect. Definitely check out her page for great single shadow suggestions and photos.

I do have one non- MUG suggestion if you actually are starting a palette from scratch.  Blazing by Anastasia Beverly Hills is a firey red brown that no color I’ve seen compares to and I use it constantly.  Thanks for reading!

-Kim