I think the most anticipated beauty product releases during the holidays are makeup palettes. Whether they be eyeshadow palettes, eye and cheek palettes, or even full face palettes, holiday makeup palettes are so much fun and can be a great buy. They are perfect for encouraging experimentation as well as for travel. Plus they are just so darn pretty! Here is my Holiday Gift Guide for Makeup Palettes. Let me know which products you would be most excited to see full reviews on first.
First up let’s take a look at the holiday palette I was most excited for. The Marc Jacobs About Last Night Style Eye-Con No. 20 Plush Eyeshadow Palette ($121 CAD). This palette is beautifully presented in a sleek gold compact and has a lovely assortment of shades and finishes to give you a huge assortment of full eye looks. I love that this palette includes everything I need. A matte nude base shade, matte crease shades, deep dark shades, along with a multitude of pops of colour and shimmer. It is so versatile. All 20 shades in the palette are brand new and have the usual Marc Jabobs shadow quality.
If you really love to have your holiday gift impress with incredible packaging then you will love the holiday offerings from the Too Faced Christmas in New York Collection.
The Too Faced Christmas in New York ($ CAD) is the Sephora exclusive holiday offering from Too Faced that is the most impressive in terms of size and range of products included. You get:
- 18 x 0.03 oz/ 0.88 mL Eye shadow in Indulge (silvered taupe), Cookie Dough (matte beige/gold sparkle), Raspberry Rose (matte light pink), Sugared Raisin (shimmering silvered mauve), Guilt-Free (matte soft lavender), Tootsie (matte rich chocolate brown), Gingerdoodle (shimmering champagne), Chocaholic (matte sand), Cake Batter (matte soft peach), Butterscotch (metallic copper), Toffee Crunch (matte reddish brown), Lava Cake (dark cocoa/gold sparkle), Honey Dip (shimmering gold), Pound Cake (shimmering pinked gold), Sugar Bells (metallic silver), Mint Chip (metallic sea blue), Jingle Berry (vibrant orchid), Huckleberry (deep purple black/pink glitter
- 3 x 0.07 oz/ 0.88 mL Eyeshadow in Dessert’s On Me (shimmering icy white), Glaze (matte white cream), Banana Date (satin soft creamy beige)
- 0.08 oz/ 2.36 mL Luminizer in Inner Light (pale peach pink/gold shimmer)
- 0.08 oz/ 2.36 mL Chocolate Soleil Bronzer (matte chocolate brown)
- 0.08 oz/ 2.36 mL Blush in Chocolate Covered Strawberry (dark pink)
- 0.17 oz/ 5.02 mL Shadow Insurance eye shadow primer
- 0.16 oz/ 4.73 mL Melted Chocolate Liquified Long Wear Lipstick in Milkshake (nude cocoa ink)
- 0.17 oz/ 5.02 mL Better Than Sex Mascara
- Step-by-step how-to Glamour Guide
My favourite holiday gift from Too Faced is the Ulta Exclusive Too Faced Merry Macarons ($39 US). It includes 12 vanilla macaron scented eyeshadows and a deluxe trial size Better Than Sex Mascara. The pop up winter skating scene is so cute and the quality of the shadows in this palette seem more on par with Too Faced’s usual quality level than the other holiday palettes.
The Too Faced Grande Hotel Café ($ CAD) is such a cute set! Pop off the roof and open the doors on the Grade Hotel Cafe to reveal three Christmas coffee scented palettes and a mini Better Than Sex Mascara.
Full contents of the set are:
- 18 x 0.04 oz/ 1.18 mL Eye Shadows in Frosty Eggnog, Eggnog Latte, Iced Coffee, Skinny Latte, Cold Brew, Central Perk, Peppermint Cream, Christmas Blend, Peppermint Mocha, Candy Cane, Sprinkles, Coffee Chip, Ginger Cream, Maple Syrup, Gingersnap, Winter Dream, Cup of Joe, Black Coffee
- 2 x 0.19 oz/ 5.61 mL Blushes in Peach Cobbler, Santa Baby
- 0.19 oz/ 5.61 mL Bronzer in Gingerbread
- 0.17 oz/ 5.02 mL Deluxe better Than Sex Mascara (deluxe size)
- Step-by-step how-to Glamour Guide
Each palette includes a bronzer or blush along with six eyeshadows in matte and shimmer finishes for a complete look. Each has it’s own scent. Gingerbread Cookie, Peppermint Mocha, and Eggnog Latte. The set makes an adorable gift or you can separate it for three palettes to gift.
Decorate your tree, or fill their stocking, with these adorable Too Faced Christmas in New York Ornaments ($15 CAD). They are available with deluxe trial sizes of the best selling Better Than Sex Mascara, Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipstick in Berry, and Lip Injection Extreme.
The MAKE UP FOR EVER Artistic Eyeshadow Palette ($46 CAD sale price) is a specially packaged holiday palette featuring a fun assortment of shimmering shades. If you collect the MAKE UP FOR EVER palettes you may not benefit from this latest release as it does include a lot of the same shades included in previous palettes. It is great for gifting to someone new to MAKE UP FOR EVER who loves colour and shimmer. The packaging is quite bulky but if you remove the shadows to put in a magnetized palette it makes a great collectors tin for storing liners etc. The shades included are:
- #ME-122 (Snow)
- #S-102 (Onyx)
- #ME-108 (Steel)
- #D-552 (Crystalline Gray Beige)
- #ME-614 (Graphite Brown)
- #I-220 (Sapphire)
- #D-712 (Crème Brulée)
- #ME-302 (Peacock)
The MUFE Artist Shadows are truly some of the best eyeshadows on the market. I think their palettes are such a must. The latest version is the MAKE UP FOR EVER Artist Palette Volume 4 ($52 CAD), and this one is all matte! This palette of nine shades is a great mix of staple neutrals with some fun accents of colour thrown into the mix. The included shades are:
- Black (M-100)
- Grey Brown (M-620)
- Chalk (M-126)
- Wine (M-842)
- Antique Pink (M-806)
- Dark Purple Taupe (M-546)
- Prussian Blue (M-240)
- Milk Tea (M-536)
- Eggshell (M-530)
Pür has brought back their amazing Love Your Sefie collection with the Pür Love Your Selfie 2 Palette ($42). This set has everything you need for a day and night look. It includes eight 0.04 oz eyeshadows in:
- Headshot (vanilla)
- Statuesque (light cocoa)
- Panorama (mahogany w/ gold fleck)
- Abstract (milk chocolate pearl)
- Pose (powder pink)
- Sketch (rust)
- Megapixel (pure gold)
- Paparazzi(olive green shimmer)
Along with:
- Fully Charged Mascara (true black) (0.17 oz)
- Lip Gloss in Silhouette (dark rose) (0.14 oz)
- Lip Pencil in Focal Point (rosey nude) (0.07 oz)
- Overexposed Baking Powder (neutral translucent powder) (0.08 oz)
- Photogenic Blush (reose gold illuminator)
- Composition Blush (neutral bronzer) (0.08 oz)
Pür offers such amazing quality products with beautiful textures and finishes and fabulous colour payoff. This white and silver glitter frost packaging on this year’s palettes is absolutely breathtaking.
The Kat Von D Shade + Light Contour Palette ($64 CAD) is probably my all time favourite contour palette. I have carried the original cardboard palette version in my professional kit since it’s release. Now that it is available in this hard case, refillable version it makes an even more incredible gift. You could also just order the magnetized refill pans of your favourite shades to use in a z-palette or other palette.
- Refillable Contour Pans: $16 each (online exclusive)
- Refillable Highlight Pans: $14 each (online exclusive)
NARS Give in Take Dual Intensity Eye & Cheek Palette ($69 US/$85 CAD) is a beautifully packaged cheek and eye palette that includes six dual intensity eyeshadows, a dual intensity highlighter, and two dual intensity blushes. All are unique shade to the palette and do not have names, only numbers. The palette is basically arranged into two eye looks, a soft taupe/grey look and a soft brown eye look, along with coordinating cheek shades.
NARS True Story Lip and Cheek Palette ($59 US/$78 CAD) is a gorgeous palette that includes four blushes in the shades Devotee, Myth, Unwritten, and Outlaw along with a Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Mysterious Red. One of my favorite reds! Two of the blushes are quite light making this best suited to those with lighter skin tones.
Full reviews of the NARS Sarah Moon collection here.
The Smashbox 3 Mini Palette Set: Contour. Eyes. Lips. ($45 CAD sale price) includes three adorable little palettes packaged in really fun neon compacts that almost look lit from within. The three palettes stand up to Smashbox’s usual quality standards with their Photo Op Eye Shadow formula and Be Legendary Lipstick formulas. The contour shades are quite small making them tricky to use but given the quality and cute factor of these mini palettes I think the set makes a great gift and it comes in a reusable lidded acrylic box. Available in Canada at Shoppers Drug Mart and Sephora.
The Sephora Collection The Enchanting Palette ($20) includes includes 8 pearly and matte eyeshadow tints, 2 eye brow powders, and 1 blush. There is a handy look tutorial right inside the palette. This is such a cute all in one palette and a great stocking stuffer.
If you have someone on your list who loves safe, natural beauty products then they will love receiving this Beautycounter Winter Dream Palette ($75 CAD)
. It includes six eyeshadows, a bronzer, highlighter, and blush. It features a mix of some of their best selling shades along with some new shades.
- Marine (true navy) — New
- Bellflower (vibrant periwinkle) — New
- Opal (opalescent pink) — New
- Dove (dusty lavender) — New
- Pinot (satiny plum) — New
- Night (soft charcoal black)
- Matte Bronzer No. 1 (medium tan)
- Feather (opalescent sheen highlight) — New
- Bloom (cool pink)
The best part is their holiday gift options come in a beautiful red gift box complete with a gift tag you can fill out.
Shop the gift guide:
What holiday palettes are you most excited for?
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