My Favourite Base Eyeshadow - and it's only £1!

Of course this is a subjective post.  I have a lot of base shades that I use on myself, in class, on brides and others.  In general, I don't favour a dead white base, unless my client is extremely pale.  I have found that really pale warmer tones are nicer (by warmer I mean those with a little bit of gold, or amber, or peach) as a base.

A bunch of the neutral/base shades (and some others!) I love...

So as you can see, I have quite a few base shades.  But for all that, I've been looking for that perfect base "for me" for a long time - the one that is slightly yellow, but not too much so.  The one that's not chalky pale.  The one that literally fades into my skin.  And I've found it, finally.  And was delighted to discover that, not only is it absolutely perfect for me, it's got great colour payoff and it's only one quid! I give you the MUA Matt Shade #17.

Huge... and did I mention, £1 ?!

Some of the other base shades I love - with MAC Gesso (left) for comparison
Second from left is MUA #17
(MAC Blanc Type is the one that I have used the most to-date)

I've blogged about an MUA dupe for MAC's Club eyeshadow before (here) and MAC's Fashion Fix (here) and in general I think MUA single shadows are really good, especially for the cheap price.  On the other hand, whereas the MUA palettes represent great value, I don't necessarily recommend over very slightly higher priced offering (but also notionally "inexpensive" in comparison to premium brands), like Sleek for example (usually, you're talking in the order of £1-2 more expensive).  But the single shadows are brilliant.

Why bother with a base shade?  A few reasons.  If you're in a hurry, whack on a base from lashline to brow, add a quick eyeliner and a slick of mascara and you're done.  The base shadow covers up any irregularities in colouring on your lid and gives a nice, even (and matte/non-greasy) look to your lids.  Reason two: it acts as a primer and helps shadows last longer.  Reason three: a really really pale base on first will help coloured shades applied on top to "pop" a bit more.  And reason the last: if you're creating a smokey eye, or adding other shades on top, it helps give those other colours something to blend into, which makes it easier to move them around your eye area without looking patchy or muddy.  Those are the main reasons.  Nothing more complicated than that!

This colour won't be everyone's "perfect" base shade, but I do recommend a look at this if you can get near a store selling MUA single eyeshadows - and also shade #16, which is a lighter, cooler, more pink toned base.  And again, £1.  Incidentally, neither of these (#16 or #17) is a particular dupe for anything else - they're just quietly good all on their own without need to reference any other (higher end or otherwise) shades.