Affordable Matte Eyeshadows

I love a little shimmer, but a lot of time shimmer is just too much on my pale skin and for shoots it is often best that I have matte shades. Right now I have a nice neutral palette (though it is a bit limited) and plenty of matte blacks. But I would love to have some other mattes, especially in bright colors, pinks, purples, and I am dying to find a nice darker chocolate brown as well as some greys in various shades. Mostly not pastels other than the pink and maybe one nice lilac or lavender shade. I also really would prefer to find these in individual shades or in small trios or quads that are all matte and all colors I need (so no blacks or intense shimmers/glitters). And to make things even more of a challenge, I want them to be affordable ($5 or less each color) and preferably pressed.

I am totally fine (and even slightly prefer) smaller or indie companies, but so far they seem to mostly have just shimmers and glitters and most of them do not have pressed eye shadows, though the pressed thing is not an absolute.

Any suggestions that fit all those requirements? I know if anyone knows it would be the people in this forum ^_^ /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Have you ever heard of Yaby Cosmetics?  They make really nice, smooth, pigmented eyeshadows that are sold in little pans that you're supposed to put in a magnetic custom palette.  The pans are only about $3-4 each and they have a huge color selection with shimmers and mattes.  I think it's a Canadian company, but Yaby stuff is resold in the US by Camera Ready Cosmetics.  

I was building up my "Yaby wishlist" a few weeks ago and listed out the mattes they offer.  I left out the ones that I knew I wasn't going to buy (like bright lime green, etc) so it's not their full matte selection, but should give you an idea.

es015 purpleelephant - pink

es035 rosewood - med reddish br

es041 papaya milk - muted orange/tangerine*

es048 bark - cool med br

es061 soft lotus - baby pink

es125 blueberry - purplish blue

es154 abyss - black

es155 blank - white

es168 earth - med/dk brown

es198 firewood - taupy gray-brown*

es283 pure yellow - bright yellow

es296 so vein - bright blueish green

es317 dusty pink - dusty pink

es330 smoked maple - med warm orangey-brown*

es361 just peachy - peach*

es409 coolio cucumber - cucumber green

es442 sand dune - cream*

es460 rainforest - dark green

es553 dragonling - bright purple (blue)

es589 funky plum - red-plum

es600 aged denim - muted blue

I would watch Urban Decay for sales if I were you; their singles are pricy, but they sometimes go on sale for $6. They have a matte called Secret Service that's a rich chocolate color, though they don't have many brighter colors that are their official "matte" shades. Asphyxia might be a good option because there's no glitter in it, and it seems pretty matte to me (I do like glitter, though, so I'm probably not the best judge), or Flash for purples...maybe Verve for a gray...I would just keep an eye out for sales, they happen a few times a year.
 

The balm has Meet matte and meet matte nude palettes on haute look for 50% off right now. Good matte shades.

Originally Posted by Jamie P /img/forum/go_quote.gif
The balm has Meet matte and meet matte nude palettes on haute look for 50% off right now. Good matte shades.

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Nope, they are gone D:  sadly

Meet Matte Nude is on hold 

Oh wow I'm glad I got one that first day!

I love Physician's Formula Matte Collection Quad Eyeshadow.  It's completely matte and goes on very smoothly.

Originally Posted by feemia /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I love Physician's Formula Matte Collection Quad Eyeshadow.  It's completely matte and goes on very smoothly.

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How is the pigment/color with those? I could definitely see getting those for the basic colors I need if the color is nice. Unfortunately, I cannot really swatch them in store so I have avoided them before.

What about Wet N Wild?

Originally Posted by feemia /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I love Physician's Formula Matte Collection Quad Eyeshadow.  It's completely matte and goes on very smoothly.

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Originally Posted by Dekilah /img/forum/go_quote.gif


How is the pigment/color with those? I could definitely see getting those for the basic colors I need if the color is nice. Unfortunately, I cannot really swatch them in store so I have avoided them before.

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I have Canyon Classics.  I've never tried to photograph swatches before, but I'll give it a try and post here.

I have canyon classics as well, how I use it for contouring since it is right there with my skintone..... kinda. Pigment seems nice IMO. All four of them.

I always highly suggest either Inglot or NYX. NYX makes ridiculously bright mattes that just wear so well. I do suggest looking through beauty stores for the NYX mattes because quite a few seem to be discontinued from the website.