Go Mad for Mattes!

I’ve long been a fan of matte eyeshadows, particularly for women of a certain age (mine). When I was younger, I used mattes to blend my eye looks so that there were no harsh edges. I still do that but now also find that they are especially useful when applying color to my crease and the dreaded “hood” that I’ve developed over the years. While the look of the ‘80s (big hair, frosty, unblended eye shadow) doesn’t really work with my fine lines, I can still pull off a mean smoky eye as long as I use mattes. That’s where Sonia Kashuk’s Eye on Neutral Matte Shadow Palette comes in! This lovely, reasonably priced palette contains twelve beautiful and neutral matte shades that let’s me blend to my heart’s delight! Read on for more!

For the past month and a half, I’ve enjoyed creating all kinds of great looks going from day to evening. Let’s start with the swatches.

The first (top) row contains the three lightest shades: a bone, a slightly yellow color and then a very light peach. The bone shows up very well on my hand but the yellow and peach are much closer to my skin tone and do not show as well. In the picture above, the second shades are right above the reflective area (I think that was some shine back from something else I had on my skin as both of these colors are actually very matte). Depending on the look I’m going for, I’ve used each of these as both base colors for the lid as well as highlight colors.

The next three colors work well (for me) as lid colors. They include a peachy light terracotta, a coral and a light but warm brown. I also use the light brown in a “no makeup look” as a crease color. It’s nice in that it can lightly define the crease for a subtle look.

Row three contains the most beautiful, creamy matte browns. There’s a warm red-brown, a neutral darker brown and a neutral very dark brown. Any of these make wonderful crease or “outer V” colors. As a liner, the darkest brown looks lovely.

Finally, the lower row features a cool-ish brown that almost looks like it has a hint of purple, a medium gray and a very pigmented black. These three colors can really turn your eye shadow look on its edge and jazz things up.



Eye on Neutrals contains twelve amazingly pigmented shadows for only $19.99 and is available at Target. It is, without a doubt, the best drugstore palette I’ve ever used! If you’re looking for a great collection of neutrals whose quality rivals the best high end palettes, look no further than Sonia Kashuk!

Ages of Beauty rating: *****