Beauty Thought Leader: Elise Marquam-Jahns
I couldn’t wait to share with you today one of my very favorite eyeshadow brands. This brand works so beautifully for those of us who are older—and I’ll reveal the name of this brand in just a few moments.
In the video below, I’ll demonstrate a couple of eyeshadow looks using this brand.
Top Eyeshadow Brands For Us:
This article and accompanying video is the fourth in a series of videos. The series is about eyeshadow brands that are top-notch for those of us with mature skin. If you’d like to check out any of the other three videos, I’ve put links to them in the description box below and listed them at the end of this article. So what exactly is it that makes one eyeshadow brand easier for us to work with than another?
The Five Qualities In A Great Brand:
Well, there are five factors that I use as my criteria to determine these top eyeshadow brands for us.
1. Easy to Apply:
The first criterion is that the eyeshadows have to be easy to apply and blend. I think most of us want our makeup application to be as quick and as easy as possible.
“Good pigmentation means we don’t have to dip back into the eyeshadow color several times..”
So the easier the shadows apply and blend, the quicker the application will be. Quick means less frustration to experience and the better our eye shadow will look.
2. Good Pigmentation:
I feel strongly about this point for three reasons. First, good pigmentation means we don’t have to dip back into the eyeshadow color several times to get the amount of color we need for a look.
So, good pigmentation means we’ll save time. In addition, good pigmentation means the eyeshadow will work well for darker skin tones as well as lighter skin tones. And last, because we don’t have to dip back into the colors, we won’t need to use as much product so the palette will last longer which translates into it being a better value for us.
3. Good Range Of Mattes, Shimmers, And Metallics:
My preference is always for at least an equal number of mattes to shimmers and metallics in most palettes—or more mattes than shimmers since this makes a palette more versatile.
4. High Quality:
I’ve been extremely pleased with the quality of the various palettes I’ve tried from this brand.
“They’re all made “in house” which in this day and age is truly amazing.”
5. An Interesting Color Story:
My last criterion is that most of the palettes should have an interesting color story. And this is certainly true for this brand—as you’ll see.
The brand we’re focusing on today is Sydney Grace. It’s a really unique brand in many ways.Two sisters in California are the co-founders and the brand is named after two of their children. What’s really unusual is that this brand doesn’t outsource the manufacturing of their products. They’re all made “in house” which in this day and age is truly amazing.
Matte Eyeshadow:
This company is especially known for the quality of their matte eyeshadows which co-founder Heather says is the very hardest product to make. Heather, who is the chemist, says that their mattes are tricky to make because unlike most companies, they don’t use a liquid binder.
And the really difficult part of the creation process is finding the best ratio of ingredients that make the matte eyeshadows highly pigmented but also blendable. Often when the formula is perfected, they find out that the product won’t press well so they have to start all over. It literally took Heather months and months to come up with the right formula.
If you’re a neutral color lover, their best eyeshadow palette to try is “Summer Days.” If you like a few pops of color, then the 15 pan “Enduring Love” palette is perfect. Sydney Grace was very innovative when they produced the “Enduring Love” palette because it’s available in both a light and a dark version. They did this to make this product more inclusive since often lighter shades won’t work for people with darker skin tones.
“It literally took Heather months and months to come up with the right formula..”
Collection Of Three Twelve Pan Eyeshadow Palettes:
They collaborated with the late YouTuber Mel Thompson on a 15 pan palette called “Tiny Marvels” and their most recent collaboration is a collection of three twelve pan eyeshadow palettes with Christine Mielke, the founder of the makeup review site Temptalia.
I actually have all three of these palettes but I can’t show them to you in the video because each color can be removed from the palette and I’ve transferred all the mattes from these three palettes to a separate, magnetic palette. I did this so I could have all the matte colors in one place rather than scattered through all three of the palettes in this collection.
Their other palettes include nine pan palettes. The “Sweet Indulgence” and “Chase Your Dreams” palettes each have several pops of color and “Coffee Talk” and “Summer Days” have more neutral color stories. And their most recent palette is a 15 pan palette called “Be Mine.” It’s a valentine-inspired palette in golds, pinks, purples, greens and blacks for a soft everyday look or a sultry, smoky evening outlook.
“They also make setting powder, highlighter, blush, lip cream, empty magnetic palettes and makeup bags.”
Powder Eyeshadow Palettes:
Sydney Grace does make a number of other products besides their powder eyeshadow palettes. They make cream eyeshadows and single shadows in seven different formulations: matte, pressed pigments, shimmer, cream, multi-chromes, loose pigments and loose glitter. They also make setting powder, highlighter, blush, lip cream, empty magnetic palettes and makeup bags.
Plus, they usually have two big sales a year: one is called Christmas in July and the other is usually in November.
Enduring Love Palette:
I created the eyeshadow look I’m wearing in today’s video from Sydney Grace’s “Enduring Love” palette. And I’ll be removing this eyeshadow and creating two new looks in the video using several of the shimmers from the Temptalia collaboration and some of the mattes from both the Temptalia collection and my collection of Sydney Grace single matte eye shadows which I’ve put in this separate magnetic palette.
I hope you’ll check out the video to see the looks I created with these beautiful Sydney Grace eye shadow products.
Links To Other Videos:
- “Best Eyeshadow Brands for Older Women Part 1”
- “Best Eyeshadow Brands for Older Women Part 2”
- “Best Eyeshadow Brands for Older Women Part 3”
Two other videos that might be of interest:
- “4 Great Eyeshadow Looks Using 1 Great All Matte Palette”
- “4 Great Eyeshadow Looks Using 1 of the Best Formulas for Older Women”
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About the Author:
Elise Marquam-Jahns is a professional, working makeup-artist who is passionate about helping women 45+ get their glow back. In addition to her work as a makeup artist for a major cosmetics line, she founded Boomer and Beyond Beauty. Be sure to check out Elise’s YouTube channel which specifically focuses on makeup tips, techniques, and product reviews for those of us 45+. Don’t forget to subscribe! 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. And, if you’d like to receive more inspiration each week, check out my weekly newsletter. To get your copy, just drop me an email at
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