Palette Parade

Eyeshadow palettes. They seem to be taking over the world. I remember when quads were a big deal because you got "so much" product in one package. Now it seems like everybody has six, eight, and twelve shades locked away in magnetic, zippered, and clasp enclosures. I've found it to be a rare person that has just one palette.

However, it seem we all have that one palette we use more than the others and turn to on our laziest days because we know we can use it in our sleep. Then there are those palettes that you bought because the shadows were buttery, the pigmentation was great, and you were sure you'd love the colors - and they are collecting dust in the bottom of a drawer or traincase. Maybe you're just not sure how to use the shadows, maybe you bought the palette hoping to branch out a little, or maybe you just auto-pilot in the morning because the coffee hasn't quite hit yet when you put on your makeup.

Sephora forum user bombshell30 decided to do something about that.

There are no hard rules but the basic guidelines are:

• Put your palettes in an order - you choose how to do this, one person used a number generator, I alternated bright palettes with neutral palettes
• Use your palette five days in a row (most of us have been doing Monday to Friday for simplicity) - two days a week are "free" days. It was also decided that holidays, birthdays, and special events could be exempt or "free" days.
• If you decide to get rid of a palette (return it to the store, trade it away, or toss it,) you can either take a free week for the rest of the week or move on to the next palette
• You can use singles with your palette but no other palettes (remember, we're trying to use each palette, so this rule is to prevent you from using your go-to and just accenting with a shade from the parade palette.) 
• Continue until you've used all of the palettes in your collection

After the jump: my palettes for parading, some rules modifications, and my progress so far. 

Some folks are doing a particular brand's singles as a collection on a given week. Some folks are doing different on/off days, some are alternating in free weeks. A few folks have discovered that they have multiple palettes that, effectively, produce the same look and the difference is in the palette layout, shadow quality, or just a brand name; at that point you can decide if you don't mind having duplicates or if you want to simplify your collection to a favorite palette for that range. 

Early on in my parade, I discovered that I had a bunch of warm-toned Kat Von D palettes - the shadows are great quality, very pigmented, and the packaging is nice - that I wasn't using because the colors weren't right and I was returning again and again to my cooler-toned Sinner palette. As a result, I wound up parading those out after giving them each a solid run and picked up a bunch of stuff in a cooler tone range that was both more my style and more of a step out of it. Because these are all new to me and I want to prevent the rut that spawned this parade in the first place, I've committed to four weeks for anything new - rotated in order to spread them all out. 

Here are the palettes that are gone - I didn't think to take pictures of them or the looks they produced before I sent them off to new homes: 

See a pattern in the colors there?

Here are my (closed) palettes that are still in the parade, some have already had a turn or two, some were already here and are, therefore, fairly late in the parade and only have a week. 

In list form:

• Kat Von D Sinner (1 week)
• Sephora Collection 6-pan custom gray and purple (1 week)
• Sephora Collection 3-pan custom and loose Geek Chic (1 week)
• Sugarpill Burning Heart (3 weeks left)
• Sugarpill Sweetheart (3 weeks left)
• Sugarpill Heart Breaker (4 weeks left)
• Sugarpill Cold Chemistry (4 weeks left)
• Urban Decay Naked 3 (1 week left)
• Urban Decay Naked 2 (4 weeks left)
• Urban Decay Naked Basics (1 week)
• Urban Decay 6-pan custom neutrals (1 week)
• Urban Decay 4-pan custom dark shades (1 week)

My hope is to check in on Mondays with a few looks from each palette from the previous week, photos of the palette in question, and a general review of the palette after a solid week of use. Part of the point of this is to learn different ways to use your palettes - want a smoky look but only have a bright palette on hand? How do you do that? Want a simple look but only have a dark, shimmery palette on hand? How do you use a quad all week without getting bored?

Up This Week: Urban Decay Naked 2

Now, where are all of those YouTube tutorials I saved to my Watch Later list?