Hi guys, hope you’re having a good week. It’s been a tough one here, but I’m focusing on the positives.
Last week I shared the 10 Best Neutral Palettes and everyone seemed to love it, so this week I’m coming back at you with the 10 Best Travel Palettes! I know we’re not able to really travel right now, but we will be able to one day soon!
From pocket sized, to full face palettes, I’ve got something for everyone in this round up, so let’s get started!
DISCLAIMER: John Lewis and Look Fantastic links are affiliate, all products purchased by me.
WET ‘N’ WILD COLOR ICON PALETTE IN NUDE AWAKENING – £5.99 from Look Fantastic
This is the most affordable palette in this round up of best travel palettes, but don’t let the price fool you. These really pack a punch, the shadows are pigmented, easy to blend and smooth. I also really love the colour selection, it’s realy versatile for how compact the palette is.
The packaging is nothing special, but it’s sturdy enough to cope with being slung into a suitcase.
You’ve got every kind of neutral you could want in this palette. A few shimmers, a black, a plum, a couple of transition shades. It’s such a good palette for the price. I’ve actually been pretty impressed with everything I’ve tried from Wet ‘n’ wild, their blushes made it onto my Best Drugstore Blushes too.
ZOEVA COCOA BLEND VOYAGER PALETTE – £14 from Beauty Bay
I really love Zoeva eyeshadows. They’re not the most pigmented, but they’re buildable and so good for quick, every day looks. They always do such a good job at creating cohesive palettes. I also love that they do bigger palettes and then these voyager palettes, which are mini versions with 6 curated shades from the bigger palettes.
This palette is so gorgeous! I love the shades in it and the shimmers are stunning. This one isn’t the most versatile, but you could get a few different looks if you’re into simple eye looks with only one or two shades.
I still think this palette has everything you need to create a full look, you just can’t create 8 different full looks like you maybe can with some of the others. This palette is perfect for people who prefer warm looks as all of these shades are pretty warm toned.
NATASHA DENONA MINI PALETTES – £22 from Cult Beauty
FINALLY we get the Natasha Denona mini palettes in the UK! Literally only in the last month or so have we been able to order these here. I’ve always got mine from France when we go. They are such pretty palettes I’ve always been so annoyed they weren’t easier to come by here.
I think these mini palettes are a much more affodable way to try out Natasha Denona as her palettes are £££££ usually. I also think these mini palettes are perfect for travel. You get a great color selection, the packaging is really sturdy and they are so small they will slot in even if your suitcase has to be sat on to close!
Annoyingly I can’t find this Mini Nude palette in the UK, but you can get the Mini Glam, Gold, Star and Tropic palettes. I already own the Star palette and the Glam is next on my list. Any of these palettes would be great for travel, it just depends what colour way you want.
You can get the Mini Nude palette from Sephora France.
BARE MINERALS GEN NUDE EYESHADOW PALETTE IN ROSE – £29 from Escentual
These Bare Minerals palettes are fantastic. The Neutral one made it into my top 10 neutral palettes and this rose one is on my travel palette list. Like I mentioned above, you can obviously choose whichever colour you want, but I just love this rose palette.
It’s a cool version of a pink palette. It’s so pretty and wearable. As always, the performance of the Bare Minerals shadows are great. So blendable and easy to work with. I have all of these Gen Nude palettes and they’re all consistently great.
There’s nothing more annoying than inconsistent palettes in a line. You recommend one, but not the other, even though they should be the same. Happy to report these palettes are all amazing and perfect for travel. I’ve travelled with these palettes a lot as they fit right into my makeup bag.
MAC EYESHADOW x9 PALETTE IN BURGUNDY – £26 from Look Fantastic
I know I go on about these palettes so much from MAC, but they really are worth every penny.They’re small, but perfectly formed.
They do tonnes of different colourways and I have most of them. I love them all, but especially the Amber, Dusky Rose and Burgundy.
These palettes are super versatile, there are loads of different colours and finishes. You can easily get complete looks from these and they’re palm sized.
I actually think, for MAC, they’re good value because their bigger palettes are around £40 now and a single eyeshadow from MAC is still £10 here. I know in these mini palettes you don’t get a full sized shadow, but that doesn’t bother me. I’m never going to be able to use up an entire palette if it’s got 9 full sized shadows.
VISEART PETIT PRO PALETTE – £25 from Cult Beauty
I adore Viseart eyeshadows, but their normal palettes are pretty pricey. They started releasing these Petit Pro palettes a few years ago and they are great. The palettes are credit card sized, but there’s still a decent amount of product.
Much like Natasha Denona, I think it’s great that Viseart are making their products more attainable by releasing smaller palettes. They now do edit palettes too which have 12 shades. I want a couple of the edit palettes so bad, they’re gorgeous!
I think there are 4/5 Petit Pro palettes now, this is the first one and it’s my favourite. They tend to now do a themed colour story, like Apricotine, which is another palette I own.
The mattes are absolutely phenomenal and the shimmers are beautiful. They are not foiled shimmers, but they’re not chunky and they pick up on a brush and a finger.
I love how neat the packaging is. It folds up to be credit card sized, but you unfold it and you have a stand and mirror.
HOURGLASS GRAPHIK EYESHADOW PALETTE IN RAVINE – £53 from John Lewis
Now for the most expensive palette in this round up. I mean, mention the name Hourglass and you know it’s going to be expensive, but these palettes are £53. *GULP*
So these palettes are for if you’re wanting to treat yourself to something special, that can still be the perfect travel companion.
The packaging is so sturdy and it looks sleek and pretty too. You get 5 decent sized shadows and they all perform so well. These really are beautiful palettes. While I do love these palettes, you can get really great eye shadows for a lot less money. The Bare Minerals are half the price, the Viseart palettes are less and Viseart is one of my favourite formulas for eyeshadow.
There comes a time when we all deserve something nice though, so if it’s in your budget, go for it. These really are great, small, compact travel palettes!
VISEART THEORY PALETTE IN MINX – £39 from Beauty Bay
This palette is glorious. The colours work so well together and create some beautiful looks.
These palettes contain 6 full size shadows and has the same style packaging as the Petit Pro where you can fold it up and out. The Theory palettes are slightly larger than the petit pros, but still compact.
I’ve mentioned this palette because I wanted to give you options. Do you want a palette with 8 mini shadows, or 6 full size. It’s completely up to you. I also find it depends where I’m travelling too and how long for. If I was going for a couple of nights, I’d take this palette. If I was going for 2 weeks, I’d probably want something more versatile.
The shimmers in this palette are beautiful, they are so easy to work with too. The mattes almost blend themselves and overall, I just think this is such a great palette.
TARTE TARTELETTE IN BLOOM PALETTE – £38 from Tarte
This is the only palette that has been mentioned on both my Top 10 neutral and my Top 10 Travel palettes.
However, it’s probably one of my favourite palettes ever. It’s super versatile, the packaging is sturdy and you get a great mirror. The amount of times I’ve been caught out with horrific lighting in a hotel room, so I have to sit by a window with this palette as my only mirror.
It’s the only palette where you can open it and it stays where you can see the mirror. It’s so annoying when the top flops backwards and you can’t see without propping it against something.
This palette came with me to Lapland and survived the plane journey there and back. It survived -28C in Lapland and has come back to the UK and still performs as if I bought it yesterday. The shades are stunning, you get an array of colours and formulas and the mattes are some of my favourites to work with.
This palette is slightly bigger, but if you’re going away for a good amount of time, but only want to take one palette, then this could be it. I know when I go away for 2 weeks I only want to take one palette, not 3 or 4. I can’t sing this palettes praises enough!
TARTE CLAY PLAY EYE AND CHEEK PALETTE VOL II – £40 from Tarte
Now, this palette is for people who want to take one palette with them on holiday that has their eyeshadows, blush, bronzer and highlighter in. It’s a large palette, but for sheer ease I still love travelling with it.
It’s effortless and you know you can do a full face and eye look with this palette. When I’m short on time or packing space, I just grab this palette and I know I’m covered for everything. The blush is super pretty, the highlighter is gorgeous. I don’t personally use bronzer, but I have used it on my eyes and it’s lovely. All the shadows perform well and I think there’s a good selection of shades.
There was some controversy when this palette came out as there was a VOL I (I didn’t get it as it had no blush in) and when Tarte announced the VOL II was coming out everyone got excited. Me included. However, when people started getting their palettes they realised Tarte had literally put different shades in the same packaging. Everything has the same name as the VOL I and it’s a bit silly that the shade Onyx in the VOL II is a bronze… in the VOL I it’s a black like onyx should be.
However, I much prefer the VOL II to the VOL I. I wish they had named the shades something different, but the actual palette is gorgeous and much more up my street than the first version.
So, there we have it, my Top 10 Travel Palettes! All of these palettes deserve their spot in my 10 Best Travel Palettes for different reasons. I love them all and they’re all so great to take away. It really depends where I’m going, for how long and what I’m doing when I’m away as to which palette I take. However, I definitely only want to take one palette with my when I go, so I’ve tried to find palettes which can create a few different looks and ones that can create simple and full looks!
