Alternative to UD Naked Basics: My DIY Matte Eyeshadow Palette

Oh, the inner turmoil and third-guessing yourself when deciding whether to pull a trigger on another neutral eyeshadow palette... Remember my hesitation over the Urban Decay Naked Basics 2 palette? In the end, I didn't buy it. In fact, apart from the Limited Edition Rouge Bunny Rouge quint, I haven't bought another eyeshadow palette this year, the main reason being that I really, really want to avoid getting repeat shades I may already have as singles or in other compacts. So, I decided to bypass the whole palette issue by way of my handy dandy small Z Palette, and put together my own perfect matte eyeshadow set. Wanna see what's inside?

What we have here is a mix of drugstore, mid-end brands and one lonely MAC eyeshadow in Embark, a warm dark brown. The two largest rectangular pans are Inglot, which makes one of my all time favorite matte eyeshadow formulas - here's another post with other shades and swatches, but I reach for no. 337 and no. 344 the most. Conversely, my least favorite (and second to most expensive) matte formula in this palette is the MAC eyeshadow - I don't know what happened to my Embark, but it's rock hard, patchy and poorly pigmented. I thought that maybe it formed that hard layer on the surface like some older powders sometimes do (although it's been barely used and always stored in a MAC palette), so I tried to scratch it off, but it's pretty much the same underneath. What gives? I'll experiment with it a bit more but if I can't find a way to work with this texture, it's probably going to go in the trash.

The three smaller rectangular pans come from my new drugstore acquisition, the Physicians Formula Matte Collection Eye Shadow Quad in Canyon Classics - I think I paid about $8 for it on Amazon. I bought it precisely with the thought of depotting it into the Z Palette, and while that process wasn't entirely pleasant (see the damage from a pin in the corners? Yeah, spare yourself the trouble and just melt the plastic underneath straight away), I'm very happy with these shadows.

They may not be as creamy or opaque as Inglot, but they're still very, very good for an inexpensive, widely available option. I'm sorry I forgot to include swatches of these, they do however swatch true to pan, and yes, these two medium warm browns are very, very similar indeed - I wish they included something a bit different. Overall, it's a great neutral medium-depth quad that should suit a variety of skintones, and the ivory shade is even light enough to show up on my fair skin.

You may recognize the other, slightly deeper and more yellow ivory eyeshadow in the round pan from my Project Make A Dent - it's an Annabelle Eyeshadow in Vanilla Chilla. I'm a bit over it and actually, the Physicians Formula is way nicer both texture and shade-wise, but I'm still working on it! The last round pan is another new discovery, a Red Apple Lipstick Mineral Eyeshadow in Clean Slate* ($18.75 for 0.055 oz/ 1.5 g), a medium matte grey leaning purple.

Red Apple Lipstick eyeshadows are gluten-free, paraben-free and vegan, can be used both wet and dry, and already come in a single pan form to save you the trouble of depotting. You can also purchase their two eyeshadow compact called Twosie separately, and they also have small Z-Palettes with their own cute apple pattern available as well. I wasn't really expecting a whole lot from Clean Slate, assuming that lipstick was probably the star of the Red Apple Lipstick product line, but boy, was I pleasantly surprised.

Red Apple Lipstick Mineral Eyeshadow in Clean Slate definitely rivals my favorite Inglot mattes. It's incredibly smooth, buttery and beautifully pigmented, and blends like a dream - but doesn't blend into oblivion like some mattes are wont to do. It does have quite a bit of powder kick-up in the pan, just like the Inglot mattes, but that's probably the only downside to the formula (well, not really. I don't even mind it that much). It looks beautiful on the eyes and wears all day over eyeshadow primer. Yeah, I don't think I'll be buying any more MAC mattes any time in the future; give me Red Apple Lipstick's shadows over MAC any day. You can also catch RAL on their Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram if you have any questions or like silent stalking like me.

L-R: Annabelle Vanilla Chilla, MAC Embark, Red Apple Lipstick Clean Slate, Inglot 344, Inglot 337, Too Faced Velvet Revolver

The last tiny pan in there that's super similar to one of the Canyon Classics shades is Too Faced Velvet Revolver, possibly my favorite shade depotted from the Natural Eye palette. I'm very happy with my Do It Yourself (more like Assemble it Yourself) matte eyeshadow palette, and I think it's an incredibly useful thing to keep on hand when you need some basic neutrals to create a complete eye look. A lot of smaller eyeshadow compacts (duos/ trios/ quads/ quints) often lack these basic highlighting and transitioning shades, so a staple little palette like this is indispensable for everyday usage.

What are your favorite neutral matte eyeshadows you reach for over and over again? Do you have a premade palette, keep your depotted shadows in a freeform palette, or do you use singles? I'd love to know!

Disclaimer: The product marked with an asterix (*) is a press sample I received from Red Apple Lipstick for review consideration. I purchased all the other eyeshadows myself. All links are non-affiliate. All opinions are 100% honest and unbiased, no matter if the products featured were purchased with my own monies or provided as free press samples. Thank you for reading!