The Best Face Palettes of 2022

Whether you might have minimal self-importance storage, are getting ready for an upcoming journey, or just choose to have a number of make-up choices with out bulking up on packaging, palettes can come in useful. While eyeshadow palettes are undoubtedly extra well-liked, face palettes exist, too. 

When searching for a high-quality face palette you’ll wish to preserve just a few issues in thoughts — particularly, what number of shades it’s offered in, how large it’s, what it’s greatest for (ie: bronzing, highlighting, sculpting, and so forth), and the method of the product itself. With these key components on the forefront, you’ll have the ability to discover a stellar make-up product that pairs superbly together with your pores and skin sort and tone, and helps you obtain your required face make-up look. 

Of course, with so many face palettes available on the market, you is likely to be uncertain of the place to start out. That’s the place we are available: We scoured the net for the top-rated face palettes and chatted with just a few make-up artists about what issues most on the subject of these game-changing merchandise. In doing so, we discovered that the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Unlocked Face Palette (which is a bigger model of Kate Moss’ go-to) is essentially the most universally flattering palette available on the market. But that’s only one of 12.

Whether you need a number of blush choices or only a good, all-in-one palette, preserve studying for the 12 greatest face palettes of 2022. 

Best Overall:
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Unlocked Face Palette

Sephora

What We Love: The packaging and formulation are completely attractive. What We Don’t Love: If you’re after a daring blush or dazzling spotlight, this palette will not be for you as a result of it affords a extra delicate, glowy end. 

If you’ve by no means opened a make-up palette and audibly gasped or mentioned ‘wow,’ that’s about to alter if you lay your eyes on the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Unlocked Face Palette. Sold in three colorways (Butterfly, Elephant, and Tiger), every palette options six powders, primarily with a mix of blush, bronzer, highlighter, and ending powder — all of which glide on easily for a baked (by no means caked), glowing finish look. It’s not simply the eye-catching finishes which might be applaudable, although — the formulation are, too: Each powder is totally vegan, and gluten-, cruelty-, and paraben-free. With packaging designed by world-renowned illustrator Katie Scott, the luxe exterior can be one thing to marvel at (and show entrance and middle in your self-importance).

Number of Shades: 6 | Colorways: 3 | Best for: Blush and highlighting

Price at time of publish: $85

Best All-in-One Palette:
Smashbox Cali Contour Face Palette

Sephora

What We Love: It’s full of each shimmer and matte shades. What We Don’t Love: It solely comes with one blush shade. 

Smashbox Cali Contour Face Palette comes with six pans of powder — a contour, matte bronzer, shimmer bronzer, matte highlighter, shimmer highlighter, and matte blush — to expertly sculpt the face. But past highlighting and contouring, the beautiful hues can be utilized as eyeshadow, too, actually making it an all-in-one palette. It’s offered in two variations: Light/Medium and Medium/Dark, each of which have earned excessive reward throughout the net. At Sephora alone, the face palette has amassed over 72,000 likes and over 400 five-star critiques. Needless to say, in case your objective is to seem like you simply spent the afternoon in Malibu, this contour palette will rapidly turn into your BFF.

Number of Shades: 6 | Colorways: 2 | Best for: Sculpting

Price at time of publish: $43

Best Powder Palette:
Sephora Collection Microsmooth Multi-Tasking Baked Face Palette

Sephora

What We Love: It’s a 4-in-1 palette that caters to many pores and skin tones. What We Don’t Love: It’s so well-liked that it sells out frequently, which makes it arduous to snag. 

If you thrive with fewer shade choices, the Sephora Collection Microsmooth Multi-Tasking Baked Face Palette is a good alternative. Housed inside are 4 important merchandise, together with a matte bronzer, matte blush, shimmer blush, and shimmer highlighter. Each of the baked powders are designed to ship a natural-looking glow (versus one crammed with countless glitter). What’s extra, every powder is infused with inexperienced tea extract, so the palette truly works to enhance your pores and skin’s moisture content material and helps push back irritation with every use.

Number of Shades: 4 | Colorways: 2 | Best for: Natural-looking, sun-kissed pores and skin

Price at time of publish: $20

Best Cream Palette:
Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Foundation Palette

Make Up For Ever

What We Love: It comes with 12 creamy colours starting from mild to darkish (together with a white shade) for easy customization. What We Don’t Love: It doesn’t include any form of utility software. 

If you might have dry pores and skin or discover it extremely arduous to search out the right face make-up shade match, the Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Foundation Palette is a should. It’s jam-packed with 12 pans of the model’s best-selling Ultra HD Stick Foundation shades so to create customized colours at residence. Whether your objective is to attain a full protection look, spotlight, conceal, or contour, this palette does all of it. We do want a brush was included, although, to make mixing and making use of all of the extra simpler. 

Number of Shades: 12 | Colorways: 1 | Best for: Full-coverage seems and sculpting

Price at time of publish: $110

Best Bronzer Palette:
Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Sun Stalk’R Face + Eye Bronzer & Highlighter Palette

Sephora

What We Love: It options seven shades. What We Don’t Love: The highlighter shades are fairly small, in order that they doubtless gained’t final so long as the bronzers. 

If your concept of the right bronzer is one which’s matte, you’ll fall head over heels for the Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Sun Stalk’R Face + Eye Bronzer & Highlighter Palette. It contains 5 bronzers and two shimmer highlighters, all of which are supposed to cater to pores and skin tones starting from mild to darkish, as they can be utilized to create multidimensional lid seems along with glowing, sculpted faces.

Number of Shades: 7 | Colorways: 1 | Best for: Sculpting

Price at time of publish: $48

Best Contour Palette:
MAC Cosmetics Studio Fix Sculpt and Shape Contour Palette

Amazon

What We Love: Each palette is crammed with three contouring powders and three highlighting powders. What We Don’t Love: The highlighters are so delicate that they ship extra of a lightening/brightening impact — don’t count on masses of light-reflecting shimmer. 

Makeup artist and MAC Senior National Artist Keri Blair says that her absolute ride-or-die palette for contouring is the MAC Cosmetics Studio Fix Sculpt and Shape Contour Palette. “I apply it to 90 p.c of the make-up functions I execute, in addition to on myself personally (I name it my slimming software),” she reveals. “This palette is available in two shade ranges (Light/Medium and Medium Dark/Dark), and it incorporates simple to use and mix cool- and warm-toned shades for highlighting and contouring. Honestly, I don’t keep in mind how I lived earlier than this. It has all of the important tones for including dimension to the face and eyes.”

Number of Shades: 6 | Colorways: 2 | Best for: Sculpting

Price at time of publish: $41

Best Blush Palette:
One/Size Cheek Clapper 3D Blush Trio

Sephora

What We Love: Each palette features a cream, matte, and shimmer method in the identical shade household.  What We Don’t Love: Some buyers report that the powder shades arrive pulverized.

When it involves blush palettes, nobody does it higher than One/Size by Patrick Starrr. The Cheek Clapper 3D Blush Trio Palettes features a cream, matte, and shimmering shade. The end result? The most buildable blush utility, maybe ever. The trios are offered in six shade variations, all of which have very enjoyable, playful names like Phat Ass, Freaky Peach, and Rich Betch. Each of the shades throughout the palettes may be worn on their very own or layered with the opposite formulation for a high-impact finish look. What’s extra, every hue is infused with dragon fruit extract, which is claimed to assist prolong put on, so these blushes are constructed to final. It’s simple to grasp the way it’s amassed over 40,000 likes on Sephora.

Number of Shades: 3 | Colorways: 6 | Best for: Blush

Price at time of publish: $36

Best Highlighter Palette:
Dior Backstage Glow Face Palette

Sephora

What We Love: The highlighter quads assist obtain natural-looking radiance — not an ultra-glittery shimmer. What We Don’t Love: This palette is so well-liked that it typically sells out, making it arduous to search out. 

When a face palette has over 155,000 likes, in addition to greater than 600 five-star critiques at Sephora, you recognize it’s value your whereas. So, with out additional ado, permit us to introduce you to the Dior Backstage Glow Face Palette. The highlighter quad contains 4 shimmer shades, two of which can be utilized to bronze and blush the face. Unlike many highlighter palettes, this one is all about megawatt radiance with out chunky glitter or shimmer. The powders glide on easily for a contemporary, natural-looking glow.

Number of Shades: 4 | Colorways: 2 | Best for: Highlighting

Price at time of publish: $45

Best Concealer Palette:
MAC Studio Fix Conceal and Correct Palette

Macy’s

What We Love: This palette makes concealing darkish circles, darkish spots, and blemishes a breeze. What We Don’t Love: It doesn’t have any inexperienced tones, so it’s not the very best for protecting redness.

Blair can’t advocate the MAC Studio Fix Conceal and Correct Palette sufficient. “It incorporates a combination of concealer and shade correctors that make doing pores and skin simple peasy,” she says. “Since it is available in six shade ranges [each of which includes six concealers]  it makes perfecting pores and skin so easy. The product can be utilized as basis and concealer, too — which makes it good for journey.” As for the end, it’s pure matte, whereas the protection is buildable and long-wearing. “It’s actually the right product for make-up wearers {and professional} make-up artists alike,” Blair provides. 

Number of Shades: 6 | Colorways: 6 | Best for: Concealing and correcting

Price at time of publish: $37

Best Customizable Palette:
Make Up For Ever Artist Color Refillable Makeup Palette

Make Up For Ever

What We Love: You can create your ultimate face palette. What We Don’t Love: Since every powder pan is $23, it will probably rapidly add up. 

The Make Up For Ever Artist Color Refillable Makeup Palette is the right alternative for anybody with very particular shade tastes, who doesn’t wish to purchase a palette except they wholeheartedly adore every shade. The magnificence of this decide is you can purchase the refillable palette in single, double, and triple capacities, which you’ll then fill with one, two, or three face make-up pans. The Artist Face Color Refills are offered in 28 colours, together with each shimmer and matte blushes, highlighters, and contour choices. That mentioned, every pan prices $23, so it will probably rapidly add up.

Number of Shades: Up to three | Colorways: 28 choices | Best for: TBD based mostly on the shades you select

Price at time of publish: $4 for the pan, $23 for every refill

Best Palette for Travel:
Kaja Play Bento Cream Bronzer, Powder Blush and Highlighter Sculpting Trio

Sephora

What We Love: It’s a tiny stack that does all of it, which makes it nice for journey and touch-ups on the go. What We Don’t Love: Since it’s on the smaller aspect, it gained’t final as lengthy. 

The Kaja Play Bento Cream Bronzer, Powder Blush, and Highlighter Sculpting Trio is implausible for just a few causes, however primarily as a result of of the shades supplied and the bite-sized packaging. Each trio (there are three, starting from mild to darkish) comes with three shades — a bronzer, blush, and highlighter — that complement one another to create a shocking finish look. That mentioned, for the reason that bronzer is a cream method, it’s greatest to use first earlier than veering into the powder choices (this may assist to keep away from any potential cakiness throughout utility). 

Number of Shades: 3 | Colorways: 3 | Best for: Full seems

Price at time of publish: $28

Best Compact Palette:
IT Cosmetics Most Beautiful You Anti-Aging Matte Bronzer, Radiance Luminizer & Brightening Blush Palette

IT Cosmetics

What We Love: It’s a flat compact that incorporates the necessities for making a well-rounded look. What We Don’t Love: It’s solely offered in a single shade. 

Hoping for an all-in-one face compact you possibly can simply toss in your bag for on-the-go touch-ups? The IT Cosmetics Most Beautiful You Anti-Aging Matte Bronzer, Radiance Luminizer & Brightening Blush Palette is right here to reply your prayers. The best-selling compact encompasses the smoothest, easiest-to-apply powders — all of that are infused with hydrolyzed collagen, silk, and peptides to diffuse the looks of superb strains. Touch-ups on the go have by no means been less complicated. 

Number of Shades: 3 | Colorways: 1 | Best for: Full seems

Price at time of publish: $39

What to Keep in Mind

 

The Formulation

As with any face make-up merchandise, you’ll wish to preserve your pores and skin sort and the formulation you usually attain for in thoughts. “If you are deciding on what sort of face palette to get, attempt to go together with one thing that matches the feel you employ for basis,” says Sam Michalska, skilled make-up artist and Executive Director of Global Education at ILIA. “For instance, when you use a liquid or cream basis, search out a cream palette [to achieve] essentially the most seamless mix. If you employ a powder basis, a powder palette could be greatest. Powders catch on liquid or cream basis and lotions make powders look blotchy.” With that in thoughts, all the time match your formulation, when you can. For a great cream decide, strive the Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Foundation Palette. If you’re after a powder possibility, strive the Sephora Collection Microsmooth Multi-Tasking Baked Face Palette. And when you can’t resist an reverse formulation, simply keep in mind to use lotions earlier than powders for the very best finish end result. 

Shades

Generally talking, the extra shades a face palette is offered in, the extra doubtless it’s to completely complement your pores and skin tone. While some highlighters, blushes, and bronzers may be common, it all the time helps to have extra selections when sussing out a possible new favourite make-up product. When doubtful, go for a customizable palette, just like the Make Up For Ever Artist Color Refillable Makeup Palette so you find yourself with precisely what you want.

 

Your End Goal

When searching for a face palette, you’ll wish to take into account your finish objective. Do you desire a natural-looking face beat or are you hoping for a totally sculpted glam? Whatever the case could also be, there’s a face palette to assist make your dream a actuality. 

Your Questions, Answered
How do you repair a damaged make-up palette?

Few issues are as discouraging as a shattered make-up palette. That mentioned, don’t instantly beeline for the trash can when you discover your powder palette is shattered or your cream palette has turn into dinged. 

“I’ll often shed just a few tears [if a palette breaks] after which, if it is a powder product, I’ll add a bit of alcohol to the crumbs, re-shape it, then let it dry — it will not be 100% the identical, however it works in a pinch,” Michalska says. “For lotions, nicely, that is not likely a problem, which is what makes cream palettes good to journey with.”

If you might have extra time to spare, Blair suggests getting a Fixy. “It’s a small full system that helps you re-press your powder merchandise,” she explains. “I extremely advocate these sorts of instruments as a result of it is less expensive and may also be time/area saving.”

Can you brink make-up palettes on a aircraft?

There’s no rule that claims you possibly can’t convey face make-up palettes on planes. That mentioned, when you select to, movie star make-up artist Ashunta Sheriff says to go for palettes with sleeves. “They are actually journey pleasant as a result of the paper sleeve acts as a binder, and firmly holds the product collectively so it gained’t be bouncing free in your bag which is how palettes get cracked.”

If your palette doesn’t include a sleeve, you possibly can add a protecting layer. “In my working make-up package, I all the time create a cushion between the powders and the highest of the palette utilizing shelf liner,” Blair shares. “This is a good hack as a result of it is available in many thicknesses, may be reduce simply to suit into any sized palette, and it actually helps to maintain issues in place. Bubble wrap can be utilized this fashion, as nicely.”

As for cream palettes, you don’t have to fret about cracking, so so long as they keep shut, they need to keep absolutely intact whereas touring.

Do make-up palettes expire?

Yes, all make-up merchandise have a shelf life. (It’s often labeled on the packaging within the type of an open jar with a quantity inside to signify months.) If your palette doesn’t have such, although, Blair says {that a} good rule of thumb is to bid your palette farewell roughly three years after opening it. “Water-based merchandise have a shorter shelf life (one to a few years) and may actually be affected by moisture, humidity, and temperature modifications,” she provides. “Powder and wax-based gadgets can [last longer].”

Why Trust InFashion

Rebecca Norris has been protecting magnificence for over eight years. For this piece, she spoke with three make-up artists about what to search for in a top-notch face palette and how one can take care of one so that it’s going to final so long as potential. With their experience in thoughts, she mulled over the top-rated face palettes the market has to supply to uncover the 12 greatest face palettes of 2022.

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