5 Easy-To-Use Eyeshadow Sticks That'll Speed Up Your Makeup Routine
Fun, transportable, creamy, mess-free: This is why we all once loved Go-Gurts, and it’s why now, as grownups, we can all get behind eyeshadow sticks. Unlike tubular yogurt, the best eyeshadow sticks are one of the easiest and most reliable ways to do eyeshadow, thanks to their ultra blendable consistencies that don’t crease, smudge, or smear down your face once they’ve set. They come in a wide range of shades and finishes, too, so you have lots of options to choose from — think glittery versus shimmery versus matte.
You’re certainly not limited to using your eyeshadow stick as an eyeshadow. Depending on the shade and finish you choose, these can also work beautifully as eyeliners, primers for powder shadows, or highlighters for the inner corners of your eyes. Since they’re so buttery and blendable, you can even use them to highlight other small areas of your face, like your Cupid’s bow or brow bone.
Self-contained, collectible, so simple that even an especially dexterous child could use them: Reason enough to love the best eyeshadow sticks listed ahead.
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01The Best-Seller
Yes, makeup preferences are subjective, but 8,000+ five-star Amazon ratings is just too formidable a force to be reckoned with. So: NYX Jumbo Eyeliner Pencil is pretty much the best eyeshadow stick you’ll find online. That probably has a lot to do with the $4 price tag. And that gives you ample reason to collect all 14 shades, which range from metallic brights to sultry mattes to highlighter-appropriate whites and neutrals. They’re creamy and easy to blend, too; not at all the chalky or crumbly texture you’d expect from such an affordable product.
- Available shades: 14
02Best Splurge
These By Terry eyeshadow sticks are a favorite among makeup artists and other beauty-cultish people — and they're certainly the most luxurious eyeshadow sticks available on Amazon. They’re deliciously buttery and blend like a dream, but they dry down to a budge-proof finish. Each shade is buildable, too, so you can go for something sheer and glinty, or opaque and dramatic. I’m partial to their moodier shades, like the oil slick-esque Black Pearl pictured above, which'll give you the easiest smoky eye ever.
- Available shades: 9
03Best Waterproof
If you plan on swimming, sweating, bathing, or crying in your eyeshadow, as is your right, do it in this Julep Eyeshadow Stick. It’s a cream-to-powder formulation, so it glides and blends like the former, then defies creasing, streaking, and smudging like the latter. (That’s in addition to being genuinely waterproof.) There’s a little blending sponge on the other end, too, so these sticks are supremely transportable.
- Available shades: 21
04Smartest Packaging
These Glo Skin Beauty shadow sticks have a teeny-tiny sharpener on the other end, so you can sharpen it to a precise enough point to wear as an eyeliner, or smush it down a bit to apply all over your lid. (The brand recommends blending these pigments in with your finger, and they’re creamy enough to do so without tugging at your lids.) These are a little more under-the-radar than the other sticks on this list, but Amazon reviewers are almost universally obsessed with them: One calls these mineral cream shadows “life-changing,” and another confirms that they last their promised 12 hours, even through sports.
- Available shades: 13
05Another Fan-Favorite Eyeshadow Stick To Consider
Based on their overwhelmingly positive/effusive reviews, these Mally Beauty shadow sticks are well on their way toward cult-favorite status. Color payoff, longevity, blendability, beautiful shades, overall superior quality: All boxes, ticked. They’re a bit on the pricier side, but loyalists say a single stick lasts a long time, and most have ended up collecting a few. They’re just that good.
- Available shades: 11
