Best Eyeshadow Brands for Older Women

There are so many different eyeshadow brands and formulas out there that it’s hard to know which ones might work best for our eyes at an older age. So, I thought it would be helpful to focus on several different eyeshadow brands that really work outstandingly well for those of us over 50.

First, let me share with you the criteria I’ve used to whittle down my list of top eyeshadow brands for older women. First and foremost, the shadow has to be easy to apply and easy to blend. Because of the changes in our eye area, I feel this is really essential.

Second, the shadows have to have good pigmentation. I feel this is important because we don’t want to struggle with—and take the time—to have to build up color to get the color we want. In addition, good pigmentation means it will work for all different skin tones, including dark skin tones. Also, if the shadow is pigmented, we won’t have to use as much so the product will last longer.

Third, it’s important that the brand offers a good range of matte shadows as well as some shimmers and metallics.

Fourth, the quality of the shadows has to be not only excellent but also consistent across multiple palettes.

And fifth, it has to offer a really interesting and fun range of color stories. Since I think the brand Juvia’s Place definitely meets these criteria—and then some—I’ll be focusing on this brand today.

Juvia’s Place Palettes

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this brand, it’s a Black-owned company, it’s fairly new to the makeup market and they do have a fairly large range of makeup products. I would classify their prices as mid-range, but they quite often have amazing sales on their website. In fact, I don’t think I’ve paid full price for any of my Juvia’s Place palettes.

On their website right now, their highest priced palette is their Masquerade palette at twenty-five dollars; which is a sixteen pan palette. But their other palettes range from nine dollars on some sale palettes to fourteen, fifteen, and twenty-dollar palettes. Right now on their website, they show twenty-five different palettes—from six pan palettes up to sixteen pan palettes, including two new six pan Holiday Release palettes called Nubian Royal and Nubian Glow which are stunning. In fact, I think the Nubian Royal palette has the most beautiful purple shadows I’ve ever seen. These palettes are each fifteen dollars.

Like many other brands, their most recent releases have been the smaller six pan shadow palettes. Currently, there are seven of these six pan palettes available on their website at fourteen dollars each—although at the time I wrote this article and filmed this video three of them were on sale for nine dollars each. Each of these palettes focuses on one specific color story. So for instance there’s a “Berries” palette, a “Violets” palette, a “Taupes” palette, and a “Nudes” palette.

So Many Palettes to Choose From

And since I know many of us really like wearing matte eyeshadow, let me share with you the palettes that have the greatest number of mattes in them: the Warrior II palette is their only all matte palette. But several others have a good number of mattes in them, including the Warrior III palette with seven mattes and two shimmers. It’s a nine pan, twenty dollar palette. It has a lot of very colorful mattes so it’s a nice complement to the Warrior II all matte palette which is mostly neutral matte colors.

Other palettes with more mattes than shimmers include the Afrique twelve pan palette with seven mattes. This is a palette with a nice mix of neutral and colorful mattes. The Festival nine pan palette has six orange, red and yellow mattes. The Nubian 3 Coral twelve pan palette has six peach, coral, beige, brown, and grey mattes. The Nomad nine pan palette has six yellow, medium orange, beige, green, and brown mattes, and the Zulu nine pan palette has five orange, red, blue, and purple mattes.

In the video, I’ll demonstrate a look from each of these two Juvia’s Place palettes: The Zulu palette and the Magic Mini palette. I hope the demonstration will not only show how pigmented these shadows are and how easily they blend but also provide some inspiration.

What are your favorite eyeshadow brands for women over 50? Let us know in the comments at the bottom of this page! 

Elise Marquam-Jahns is a professional, working makeup-artist who is passionate about helping women 50+ get their glow back.  In addition to her work as a makeup artist for a major cosmetics line, she founded Boomer and Beyond Beauty and recently launched her “Boomer and Beyond Beauty with Elise” YouTube channel for women 50+.  Elise is also an author and speaker and hosts Normandale Community College’s monthly Learning Well Edge Talk Radio show where she interviews experts in the field of health and wellness. 

* Honey Good gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.