IF I COULD ONLY KEEP 5 EYESHADOW PALETTES...

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Who am I kidding? Five eyeshadow palettes is probably more than the average makeup-wearer owns, but as a beauty blogger, I have a fair few more than that... Today I thought it would be fun to whittle down my collection and pick out the five premade palettes I'd keep if given some sort of bizarre ultimatum by a makeup villain! These are the palettes I chose and why...


First up is the Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam Eyeshadow Palette* | £46 | full review. I'd actually go so far as to say that if I could only keep one eyeshadow palette then it'd be this one! It's just a classic that contains all of my essential matte tones, and with it you can create something quite smoky and evening-appropriate or alternatively a really simple look for a day at the office. You can create something very warm brown but can just as easily do something a little more pinky-taupe-y. There are deeper tones, highlighting shades and transition colours too, so you get a really nice gradient. It's versatile whilst also making sense as a palette overall. I know some people call this one 'boring' and yeah, it isn't very out there, but it's incredibly wearable and something you can reach for without thinking. I also love this formula; though the mattes kick up a bit of fallout, they have amazing pigmentation, so I really don't mind! I also love the foil-effect metallics in this palette; they really do have a gorgeous appearance on the eyes. There isn't one dud shade in this palette and I love how long-wearing the looks I create with it are.

Next I've chosen my go-to mini travel palette: the Huda Beauty Topaz Obsession Eyeshadow Palette* | £25 | full review. Firstly, I love the Obsessions palette line - they have really great, cohesive colour stories in everything from warm brown to neon green to pastel pink. These mini palettes are great for travelling with too, because you still get nine shades and the colour stories are thought-out and the tones well-balanced. Topaz Obsessions has a warm-toned themed with oranges, browns and golds. The mattes are so smooth and easy to blend and the metallic shades are beautiful! I tend to just pat them on with my fingers for a beautiful look that lasts all day.

The next palette I have to talk about is pretty unique in my collection and one I've barely put down since I got it about 6 months ago: the Urban Decay Naked Honey Eyeshadow Palette | £43 | full review. I just love the almost green toned brown and gold theme this palette has going on; I think it's quite different to anything else the other mainstream beauty brands have out and the shades are still so wearable. The quality is exactly what you'd expect from Urban Decay; it's just a palette I can trust to work well for me. I absolutely love the mix of shades and think it really suits my skin tone. Obviously it's not the most versatile palette in the world, but it really achieves what it sets out to do and gives me a palette full of high-quality warm-toned shades that don't fall into the standard 'orange and red' category.

This was the bit where it started to get tricky, because I was kind of tempted to choose my Too Faced Gingerbread Spice palette, but upon reflection I felt I could create the same looks as well as some different ones using the Huda Beauty Rose Gold Remastered Eyeshadow Palette* | £56 | full review. I love this palette and have done for a long time, because not only does it contain those lovely warm nude shades you can use to create a quick smokey eye for an evening out, but it also gives me these beautiful rich pops of colour with the pinks and yellow golds. What's really special about this palette is the metallic formula - it looks beautiful once applied. Again, I press these on with my fingers and they give a beautiful, long-wearing metallic finish. I also love that it contains my essential mattes and the ones that marry together the more neutral and more colourful tones in this palette.

Finally, after much consideration, my final pick is the Natasha Denona Sunrise Eyeshadow Palette | £60 | full review. Although the Huda palette has some colour, it's more muted and rich, so I wanted to have a palette in this capsule collection that's a little more vibrant and jewel-toned. Although this isn't one of the palettes I reach for on a daily basis, I still think it adds something important to my collection; primarily incredibly high-quality, easy-to blend colourful mattes. This is pretty much 'summer in a palette' for me! The quality is just beautiful and I do think that's what you're paying for with this palette. There are definitely other brighter palettes with this sort of yellow and purple theme, but the formulas in this one are such a pleasure to work with that it beats out the competition.

Which palettes would make the cut for you if you could only own five?

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