The categories are getting harder to figure out at this point! It’s easy to tell what’s blue or purple, but distinguishing brown from bronze is difficult! Here’s my best try.

I have three bronze eyeshadows. The Sleek Original Palette contains a gorgeous, sparkling bronze. It’s super smooth and almost creamy – very pigmented. The picture I took doesn’t quite capture the amount of sparkle it has – it’s very pretty.

Urban Decay Deeper, from the 15th Anniversary Palette, is a deep brown-based bronze. The finish is really interesting; it’s a shimmer, but it’s a low-shimmer, sort of velvety finish.  It is very pigmented and applies smoothly.

Urban Decay Smog, from the Naked Palette, is my all-time favorite eyeshadow. It’s somewhat subtle but really beautiful on my skintone.  It applies really smoothly, and is pigmented – the texture is just perfect.  I can’t recommend this shade enough!

I have two copper eyeshadows of varying intensities. 

First, there is a highly pigmented, vivid copper in the Sleek Original Palette.  It applies smoothly. This is a really lovely shade, and although I haven’t worn it much, I plan to wear it more in the future!

Second, the eyelid shade from the Wet n Wild Dancing in the Clouds Trio is a pale copper. Although it looks pale next to the Sleek copper shade, it’s not for lack of pigmentation – it’s just a paler shade.   This eyeshadow also has a great texture.

Do you have a favorite bronze or copper eyeshadow?

Today, I have swatches of three very different silver eyeshadows for you.  I was very surprised to realize that I have no grey eyeshadow, and only three silvers – and nothing that’s duplicative at all! I feel fully justified in buying a matte grey eyeshadow now 🙂

Urban Decay Ace, from the 15th Anniversary Palette, is a soft, velvety very dark silver/gray, verging on black.  The texture and pigmentation are excellent – it’s incredibly smooth and soft.

Urban Decay Gunmetal, from the Naked Palette, is a medium silver. Compared to the other silvers, it looks like it has a little bit of brown in it, but I don’t see that when it’s swatched alone.  It has a nice texture, but it’s not as smooth as the other two silvers.

The silver from the Wet n Wild Don’t Steal My Thunder trio is a bright silver.  Like most Wet n Wild eyeshadows, the texture is excellent – pigmented and very smooth.

Do you use white or cream eyeshadows to highlight? These swatches are for you!

First, I have four mattes:

The single eyeshadow Wet n Wild Brulee and the offwhite matte from the Wet n Wild Greed Palette are completely identical; the same texture and color. They are smooth, soft, and make a very nice highlight. I like the single because it’s easy to carry around, I think I’ve gushed about the Greed palette before – it’s my favorite palette of all time, due to this shade and the matte black.  These are really great quality for the price!

From the Smashbox Softbox Palette, I have the eyeshadow Vanilla. You can see a photo of the whole palette with eyeshadow names here, on Makeup and Beauty blog – I didn’t photograph mine before de-potting! This is a little bit lighter than other two, and for that reason I really love it as a highlight. It has a great texture for a matte – not chalky at all, very smooth. I use it all the time as a base and a highlight.

Inglot 353 is also great – though quite similar to the Wet n Wild shades.  I use it as a highlight when I already have my Inglot palette out.  All of my Inglot shades are matte, and all of them have a great texture – soft, non-chalky, pigmented, and easy to blend.

Then, three shimmers – I apologize for the picture quality; it’s raining here today, so the light isn’t as good as usual.

Again, the two Wet n Wild eyeshadows are identical. Here, they are from the trios Don’t Steal My Thunder and Sweet As Candy.  Both are super smooth, very pigmented, great quality – but a little too light and frosty for my taste.

I love Urban Decay Virgin, from the Naked Palette. It looks similar to the other two in the swatches, but it’s a touch less white, and the shimmer is finer. It, like the rest of the Naked Palette eyeshadows, is excellent quality.  It’s a really great highlight, and my most-used shimmery highlight (unless we’re counting my face highlighters, which I often use on my browbone as well).

First, I have three very similar pale yellow golds. Urban Decay Vanilla from the 15th Anniversary Palette swatches very nicely.  It’s smooth and shimmery, and makes a nice highlight color.

The pale yellow-gold from the Sleek Original is a little different from the other two – it has some sparkle, not just shimmer. It’s also very smooth, despite the sparkle.

The pale yellow-gold from the Wet n Wild Comfort Zone palette is my favorite of the three – it’s very smooth, buttery, and pigmented, and swatches very densely.  It’s really a lovely texture.

Next up, three colors that I consider true golds.

Despite the fact that these all look very much “gold” to me individually, they look very different next to each other.

First up, the top shade from the Wet n Wild Dancing in the Clouds trio. This is a paler, fairly neutral gold. It’s soft, pigmented, and easy to work with.  It’s a really nice shadow.

Second, we have a Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 hour cream eyeshadow.  I think the “bold gold” name is perfect for this one – it’s a really great color.  It’s a fairly cool gold. It’s a little bit gritty to the touch. It does last really well, both on it’s own and as a base.

Third, we have Urban Decay Half Baked from the Naked Palette. I was surprised to see how warm this was in comparison to the other golds – I’ve always thought of it as just plain gold, but it’s almost coppery when contrasted with the other golds. It’s a really lovely, pigmented, smooth shadow. I wear this frequently and I love it.

What’s your favorite gold eyeshadow?

Today, I’ve swatched all my taupe eyeshadows for you – or at least tried to. Taupe is a difficult category; I wasn’t sure what to categorize as taupe, and what to leave for when I do greys and browns. Here’s my best try!

All shadow are swatched on bare skin.

First, two taupes from Wet n Wild trios:

Although these look quite similar in the pan, they’re distinct when swatched. Both have excellent, smooth textures – they are opaque and swatch beautifully.

Next up, two Inglot eyeshadows.  Matte eyeshadows are often difficult to execute well, but these are great – smooth and pigmented, not chalky in the least. I really love the texture of Inglot’s mattes, and I’m planning to pick up some more eventually.

And finally, two eyeshadows from the Smashbox Softbox palette. Mine is depotted, but you can see the whole palette with color names at Makeup and Beauty blog, here.

Stone is a really great color – one of the main reasons I bought the palette – but the pigmentation is really lacking. I had to really build it up to get the color you see in the swatch.

Truffle has a great texture – smooth and pigmented. No issues there!

And finally, we have Maybelline Color Tattoo 24-hour cream eyeshadow in Tough as Taupe. The pigmentation of this is simply awesome, as you can see. However, it’s also possible to apply it sheerly if that’s what you prefer. Although I haven’t tested it for 24 hours, it lasts all day on me without creasing, even without a separate primer.

What’s your favorite taupe eyeshadow?

p.s.  I have good news! I’ve been taking all my photos with an iPhone 4 camera thus far; not the best option, but I didn’t want to invest before I knew if I liked blogging. Turns out I love it, and I just bought myself a Canon PowerShot SX230HS, which I think will be the perfect “starter camera” for my blog.  Expect better photos in future posts . . . at least once I clear out the photos I’ve already taken 🙂