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Little Goes Long Way You only need a little bit of these nude matte eyeshadows to accent lids and eyebrows.

Little Goes Long Way You only need a little bit of these nude matte eyeshadows to accent lids and eyebrows.

A Soft, Shimmering Champagne This compact with a shimmery shade will quickly earn a top spot in your makeup bag.

A Soft, Shimmering Champagne This compact with a shimmery shade will quickly earn a top spot in your makeup bag.

Holds All Your Essentials Load this compact with your favorite Mary Kay makeup and easily refill it as needed.

Holds All Your Essentials Load this compact with your favorite Mary Kay makeup and easily refill it as needed.

It Shimmers and Glimmers You can look and feel amazing when wearing this glittery, refined and sexy eye makeup!

It Shimmers and Glimmers You can look and feel amazing when wearing this glittery, refined and sexy eye makeup!

Eyeshadows are designed to enhance and bring attention to the shape and color of your eyes. They often come in compacts, which can hold single hues or palettes of colors for creating different effects and adding depth and dimension to makeup looks.

Eyeshadow products are made from base fillers like mica or talc and are bound together with things like magnesium and zinc. Creamier formulas will have oils and wax, like shea butter and beeswax, but most eyeshadows also have preservatives like glycol. Colored mica pigments give the shadow its different tones; as you likely know, the variety is endless.

Eyeshadow compacts can be fun to experiment with, so you may wish to get a bigger palette with a good mix of textures (like matte, shiny, and shimmery) and shades (think light, dark, smoky and neutral). If you find a color that you think will be your go-to, you can always buy a supply of just that one.

Nude eyeshadow compacts should have a range of champagne, beige, taupe, brown and black tones, while smoky palettes need gray, black, other darker tones and a shimmery highlighter. Although one size doesn’t fit all, certain shades will bring out the colors of your eyes. You can deepen eyeshadows by adding a bit of water, and feel free to mix colors and blend to your heart’s content.

If you have sensitive skin, you can get eyeshadows made without potentially irritating ingredients. However, just because an eyeshadow compact says it’s clean or hypoallergenic, that doesn’t make it safe for you. If you have an allergic reaction to a makeup product like eyeshadow, stop using it immediately. 

This set of eight highly-pigmented nude matte eyeshadows is made with soothing botanicals; you can use them dry or wet. They are easy to blend and buff out too, so you can create various looks that you will love.

Stila's best-selling 0.09-ounce "Kitten" eye shadow is a perfect, shimmery warm color that goes on quickly, with a creamy formula that stays put. You can also shop for other Stila shades in pressed compacts.

Mary Kay's refillable compact has a convenient magnetic refill system that holds their eyeshadows, blushes, pressed powders, lip color, brushes and applicators. Keep your makeup well organized and prevent breakage.

Urban Decay's amazing 0.17-ounce Moondust eyeshadow is packed with iridescent glitter that makes your eyes pop. It goes on like a cream, but is lightweight and comfortable. It comes with a thin, precise brush.

This modern two-color palette comes in surprising color combinations, like "Indian Summer" golds or "Demon Lover" purples. Shadows are made with highly-pigmented, crease-resistant, long-lasting, micro-fine powders.

Eyeshadows are designed to enhance and bring attention to the shape and color of your eyes. They often come in compacts, which can hold single hues or palettes of colors for creating different effects and adding depth and dimension to makeup looks.

Eyeshadow products are made from base fillers like mica or talc and are bound together with things like magnesium and zinc. Creamier formulas will have oils and wax, like shea butter and beeswax, but most eyeshadows also have preservatives like glycol. Colored mica pigments give the shadow its different tones; as you likely know, the variety is endless.

Eyeshadow compacts can be fun to experiment with, so you may wish to get a bigger palette with a good mix of textures (like matte, shiny, and shimmery) and shades (think light, dark, smoky and neutral). If you find a color that you think will be your go-to, you can always buy a supply of just that one.

Nude eyeshadow compacts should have a range of champagne, beige, taupe, brown and black tones, while smoky palettes need gray, black, other darker tones and a shimmery highlighter. Although one size doesn’t fit all, certain shades will bring out the colors of your eyes. You can deepen eyeshadows by adding a bit of water, and feel free to mix colors and blend to your heart’s content.

If you have sensitive skin, you can get eyeshadows made without potentially irritating ingredients. However, just because an eyeshadow compact says it’s clean or hypoallergenic, that doesn’t make it safe for you. If you have an allergic reaction to a makeup product like eyeshadow, stop using it immediately. 

Makeup compacts first became available in the 1920s, during the era of the flappers and bright, dramatic makeup was all the rage. Companies like Van Cleef, Tiffany & Co., and Yves Saint Laurent made 24-carat gold versions with jewels and wealthy women would commission jewelry designers to make them personalized versions with their initials. Other women used brass or silver ones with embellishments and art on their covers.

These compacts weren’t just for face or eye powders. They might fit a mirror, lipstick, powder, cigarettes and a coin purse all in one, or have a chain so they could be carried like a purse. Some had pop-up functions as well, and they were refillable. Today, compacts are still portable and convenient and designed to hold makeup, but most are not nearly so versatile or artistic. And they’re much more disposable. However, you can still buy refillable compacts if you wish to customize them.

Danielle Smyth is a writer and content marketing expert based in New York. She has been writing on business and finance, home and garden, DIY, travel and tourism, and a variety of other topics for over a decade, and she holds a Master of Science in Publishing from Pace University. Danielle loves working on product reviews and helping others find the highest quality items and the best values, particularly in the beauty space, where every purchase is deeply personal and matters a great deal.

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For the Eyeshadow Compact category, we analyzed 0 of the most popular reviews including reviews from and more. The result is a ranking of the best Eyeshadow Compacts.