9 best face palettes to streamline your make-up bag

If you’re shopping for a face palette that covers all make-up bases, this Sculpted by Aimee palette combines eyeshadow, setting powder, highlighter, blush and bronzer. All wrapped up in a gorgeous gold compact with an application mirror, the use for each shade is helpfully stamped on the separate powders, too.

Whether you’re a make-up expert or unsure where to start, this palette is incredibly easy to use. We tend to use the three shimmery and matte eyeshadow colours to add definition and texture to lids, while the silky soft transparent setting powder is ideal for adding a matte finish to concealer or foundation. The pretty pink blush has a cream effect and can be layered with bronzer and highlighter or worn alone.

Adding this palette to our product line-up made our morning routine quicker, and top-ups throughout the day were easy to apply, too.

A quartet of blush, contour and highlighter shades, this bargain buy costs less than a fiver. There’s a matte blush and bronzer and a shimmery blush and highlighter to choose between, spanning across pink, peach, brown and golden shades. We found that it provides a natural-looking finish, but it’s also buildable, so applying more layers offers a bolder finish. Handily, there’s a useful guide on the base, to help you create your make-up look with each shade.

This is the only palette we tested that doesn’t come with a mirror, but if you’re looking for a budget option that combines a few colours and uses, this is a good go-to. It’s vegan-friendly, too.

Presented in a celestial-themed golden compact, this palette has an application mirror and four highly pigmented shades – there are three blushes (in varying colour intensity) and a highlighter. The four options added glamour to our usual make-up look but also worked well ahead of a night out, and we love the rich tones that offer instant colour pay-off. It also offers lots of versatility. This palette has everything you need for the cheeks, whether you want a quick make-up lift or a full face finish.

Part of Charlotte Tilbury’s pillow talk range, this offers products for the cheeks and eyes. From an aesthetic point of view, the packaging is beautiful and features a pearlescent finish and signature rose-gold branding. Inside, there is a large mirror for application on the move, and the four shades included are of a decent size, too. There’s soft blush and super blush for a sweep of cheek colour and multi-glow and super glow for eyeshadow and highlighter shimmer alike.

We love layering the tones together, as the highly pigmented blush adds a brightening pop, while the glow options offer a buildable sheen. Plus, this is a versatile palette for daytime and evening looks, and it’s suitable for all skin tones.

If you’re a fan of contouring, this is the face palette to try. It features six individual shades to contour, conceal and highlight. There’s a large application mirror included, and the shades can be used to bake, bronze, and add definition. You can dip in and out of the different colours or blend a few together, and the lightweight nature of the powders offers a buildable effect. We’ve also found that once applied, the powders stay put for long-lasting wear. You can buy it in both light/medium and medium/dark shades (£39, Maccosmetics.co.uk).

This compact includes five power shades that run into each other and has been created for use on cheeks as both a highlighter and blush hybrid. We like that you can home in on individual tones within the shimmer brick or blend several together at once. The result is akin to a tailormade cheek colour and highlighter. There’s a selection of shades to choose between, including bronze and rose, and we used every single colour component.

A purse-friendly palette featuring eight shades for a fiver, this compact comes complete with an application mirror. There are six small eyeshadow colours in a selection of shimmery and matte tones, alongside two medium-sized highlighter options in light and bronze shades. It’s an ideal palette for creating an earthy make-up look and the eye colours include neutral, golden, dark brown and red notes.

We’ve enjoyed using this palette for an affordable set of face colours and find the shades layer well together to create a bronzed effect.

This large face palette features eight shades, such as a blush, bronzer and highlighter. It comes complete with an application mirror, for ease, and there are palette variations to suit different skin tones, including fair, medium, tan, and rich. The palette combines matte and shimmery finishes, and we found each one to be lightweight while still creating a noticeable effect. The versatile shades cover both subtle natural make-up days and bolder party looks.

This brightening palette features a trio of highlighting tones. We’ve been using ‘volume I’, which includes dim light, incandescent light and radiant light hues. During testing, we liked sweeping the colours across browbones, cheekbones, cupid’s bow area and wherever the light hits. Each shade helps to elevate a natural eye make-up look, too.

It’s worth noting that, while this palette has a higher price point, the bronze packaging is particularly robust and bougie.