If you like the idea of a quick and easy out-the-door makeup look using primarily one palette, you’ve come to the right place. Because in today’s video I’m going to be using an all matte, 15-pan palette to do my brows, eyes, blush, highlight, and contour. The only other products I’ll need to complete the look are eye primer, mascara, foundation and lipstick.

The face and eye palette I’ll be using today is the “Transition” palette from Dominique Cosmetics, but you can choose any versatile palette you like.

What Makes a Palette Work Well for Full Face Makeup?

Well, the palette I’m using simply covers all the bases. The colors can define, contour, brighten and highlight the face as well as the eyes. There are warm, neutral and cool tones that range from very light to very dark… and there are beautiful gradations of shades in between.

You almost can’t make a mistake in picking any of the colors for an eye look. In the video I’ll swatch all of the colors so you can see how beautifully they work together.

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Not all matte eyeshadows will blend well on the face, but if the formulation is creamy and buttery instead of drying, they should work well both on the face and the eyes.

On to the Makeup Look

In the video I’ve already applied my eye primer and done my face prep which involved some extra moisturizing since I’ll be using face makeup products from a palette that is all powder. Then I applied face primer and foundation.

I normally would not do my face makeup before eye makeup due to fallout, but this palette has gotten good reviews on that front.

Choosing Eyebrow, Eyeshadow and Eyeliner Colors

Since it’s a little tricky to come up with an eyebrow color straight away, I’m going to start off light and then deepen the color if I need to do so. With my brow color, I’m going to combine toffee and mocha tones with one resembling ash.

Next, let’s do the eyes. I’m going to put the lightest color across my eyelids, under the arch of my brows and on the inner corner of my eyes. For the crease area – and above the crease – I’m going to start off by blending a natural hue which is the second lightest color and has a slightly warm tone with the mid-tone warm shade of caramel.

Next, I’m going to apply a hazelnut tone to the outer lid and outer crease. It’s a deeper warm color. To deepen the outer corner a bit, I’m going to add just a touch of coffee tones to the mix. On the outer one-third of the bottom lash line, I’m going to apply a hazelnut and mocha mix.

For my eyeliner, I’m going to use the darkest brown mixed with a dark brown black.

Choosing Blush, Contour and Highlight Colors

Now on to the face. I’ll use the lightest color to brighten under the eyes, on the center of my forehead, down my nose, on my chin and the nasal labial folds.

For contour, I’m going to go with a very light touch of the mocha hue. For blush, I’ll use the “Blushing” tone, and for highlight, I’m going to apply the very light “Frothy” on the top of my cheekbones.

Would I Recommend Using an Eyeshadow Palette for a Full Makeup Look?

This particular palette worked quite well. The shades do glide on beautifully and are wonderfully creamy. The fallout is also minimal. And I do have to admit that I was very pleasantly surprised by the final look I was able to create using some of these shades as brow powder, contour, highlight and blush.

However, I wouldn’t recommend using a powder shadow for blush, highlighter and bronzer – at least not on a regular basis. If you’re looking for a quick look when you don’t have much time to spare, this can be a good enough option.

If you can find a palette that provides gradation of color, from very light to very dark, you can create any combination and will not go wrong.

Have you ever used a combination eyeshadow and face makeup palette to do your makeup? If so, which one did you try and would you recommend it? Did it speed up the time it took for you to do your makeup?