Five Favorite Eyeshadow Palettes for Lolita Fashion **Dark Skin Friendly**

Before I became a Lolita, I knew next to nothing about make-up. For me, it was a foreign world of beautiful war-paint that only the talented and the rich could acquire.

Ok, so I'm exaggerating a bit, but basically, I didn't wear make-up often. However, as I got further and further into the fashion, I found myself watching more Youtube tutorials on beauty products. I started looking up different foundations and eyeshadow palettes, and then, I subscribed to Ipsy. 

Since then, my make-up collection exploded in size. I doubt my collection is *that* large, especially when compared to the beauty mavens of Youtube. But, I realized that even though my make-up options have grown significantly, I'm still using the same couple of items over and over.

So these are the eye shadow palettes that I use to create looks for my coords! I won't get into my skin care routine or anything, because if I do, we'll be here all day, XP I'll preface this entire post by saying that I'm absolutely not an expert on anything. I just know that these palettes work well with my skin tone and they work well for my skin!

These are in no particular order, as I love them all and use them often.

Makeup Revolution - Give Them Darkness

Stock photo, I do not own!

This is my *go-to* eyeshadow palette for Gothic looks. This palette is so creamy and the colors are really vivid. They all pair really well together and the mattes are great! Since I've been wearing Gothic Lolita so much lately, this palette has been getting a lot of use.

Gothic look, created with the Give Them Darkness palette

I actually got this palette as a gift from my best friend because she didn't care for it. I'll admit I didn't expect much when she gave it to me, but DANG was I wrong! On top of all that, this palette is actually affordable! I always use it with an eyeshadow primer, so I can't speak on how well it stays without one, but my eyeshadow stayed on for hours after I did my makeup.

You can grab the Give Them Darkness palette directly from Makeup Revolution's website, with this link.

Makeup Revolution - Golden Bar

Stock photo, I do not own!

Speaking of MakeupRev, another huge favorite of mine is the Golden Bar palette. I was on the fence about this palette for such a long time because I was really worried that all of the brown shades would be too close to my skin tone. They aren't, and instead, I got some buttery smooth pigments that compliment my eyes and give me a healthy sort of glow. I also like to use the shimmery golds in this palette as a highlighter!

Look created with BOTH Makeup Rev palettes!

For this look, I used the Golden Bar for most of my eyeshadow and then I added in a pop of the blue shade from Give Them Darkness to match the navy accent throughout my coord. Though I use Give Them Darkness for Lolita specifically, I actually use the Golden Bar palette for every day looks too. The color selection is really great for warmer skin tones. 

My biggest complaint with this palette is the size. It's pretty big and with the ridges on top from the chocolate pieces, I'm scared to travel with it. I use it at home all the time, but I have other, smaller palettes that are just a bit more portable.

The Golden Bar was marketed as an Ulta exclusive (not sure how true that is), so it's not available on MakeUp Rev's actual website. You can grab this palette from Ulta here.

Etude House - Berry Delicious Eye Shadow Palette (#7 Strawberry Mojito)

Stock photo, I do not own!

This is my Sweet palette, if you couldn't tell. The shimmery, light colors are really great for Sweet Lolita and since I'm not a fan of looking like Hello Kitty threw up on me, I opt for a more "youthful" look instead.

The cool thing about this palette is its super tiny size. It fits in the palm of my hand so it's extremely portable. I will say, I don't like how the glitter sticks to my eyeshadow brushes, so I just use my fingers to apply it instead. The dark brown shimmery shade has been incredibly helpful in the past.

Sweet look, created with the Berry Delicious palette

This is another palette that I use specifically for Lolita, so I imagine it'll take me a while to hit pan on it. I bought it from Vuty Design (awesome K-Beauty site, check it out here). but it's an older release (2016) from Etude House, so it's out of stock now, T_T .

You can check to see if Etude House has something comparable to the Berry Delicious palette on their website.

Milani - Everyday Eyes Earthly Elements

Stock photo, I do not own!

How many eyeshadow palettes do I need with gold shimmers in them? A million, apparently, haha. I actually bought this palette forever ago (ok, at least a year), and I *still* haven't hit pan on it, so I'm just gonna keep on, keeping on. It's in a pretty sad state too, because the mechanism on the little plastic cover broke off. I just sit the lid on top of the palette and hope for the best, XP 

I love this little versatile palette! It's affordable, portable and wonderful for both every day and Lolita looks. I especially like that I don't need other palettes in order to use this one. It plays well with others too, but to me, a palette should be able to stand on its own if I need it to.

Eyeshadow look created with Milani Everyday Eyes

I love that I can use this outside of Lolita, because the colors are warm and wake my eyes up nicely. I will say though: since I got both the Golden Bar and NYX Birthday palettes after I bought this one, my poor Milani got moved to my travel bag. Its small size makes it so much easier to travel with, especially compared to the Golden Bar.

The Milani Everyday Eyes palette is available just about anywhere Milani is sold. Target had a lower price than Walgreens or ordering directly from Milani, so save yourself a few coins and grab it here.

NYX - Happy Birthday (Ulta Exclusive)

Stock photo, I do not own!

For those unaware -- both Sephora's and Ulta's reward programs give customers free make-up on their birthday. Sephora gives you the choice of make-up or skincare, and Ulta assigns birthday gifts by sales quarter. As a result, some folks are out here getting sucker punched by Ulta for being born in the wrong quarter.

Since I'm a September baby, I'm definitely not complaining because for some reason, third quarter gets the best birthday gifts. Maybe we share a birth month with Ulta's CEO; I don't know. But the rest of the quarters? My BFF's b-day is in May and she got mascara. Another quarter got a can of hairspray, -_- I'm appalled at the level of disrespect, honestly.

Anywho! All us third quarter babies did a happy dance when the announcement for our birthday freebie including a beautiful image of this gorgeous, versatile, (free) palette. I'll admit that NYX and I have a rocky relationship, but this swung them back into my good graces. I love this palette. I think I love it more because it was free, but that's neither here nor there. 

This palette is just perfect: it's got light colors, dark colors, mattes and shimmers! It's got great base colors and some deep hues, and it's perfect for fall. I tried to find a place that was selling this palette, but since it was an exclusive birthday gift, Ebay may be the only place to snag one.

I swapped this palette out for both my Golden Bar and Milani palettes because it has a few more colors than the Milani palette, but it's smaller than the Golden Bar. The shades are pigmented and blend wonderfully. This is another palette that plays really well with others.

Haha, I bet y'all are sick of seeing this selfie.

I used this palette in tandem with Give Them Darkness for the pictured Gothic look, which I lovveeee. I think this would be a great Classic palette too, especially with the pretty wine color and soft beige. I was surprised at how the burnt orange shade showed up on my skin; it looks like a muted brown color that serves as a good base alone, or with a little bit of shimmer on top for a snazzy, simple look. I use this palette for both Lolita and everyday looks, and because of its size, I'm going to try traveling with it too!

Speaking of traveling, I'm heading to Austin this weekend for International Lolita Day! I'm hosting an event with a few members from the other Texas comms, and I'm super excited! If I can remember to take pictures, I may make a blog post on the event and perhaps, I can discuss some tips I've learned while planning these huge events and meet-ups over the years.

In the meantime, tell me all about your favorite eyeshadow palettes and make-up products that you use for Lolita! Do you have a go-to palette for all your looks or a handful for each style, like I do? Let me know in the comment box below!

Thanks for reading, and I'll see y'all next time!

Stay beautiful, stay true
~J