10 Eye Shadow Palettes That Pop on Dark Skin Tones

In case you haven’t heard, colorful eye shadow looks are very much back for 2026. As a beauty editor, I’m a firm believer that the resurgence of this trend stems heavily from all of the 2016 nostalgia that’s going on, and honestly, I’m not mad at it. The clean girl makeup aesthetic has officially been put to rest (for the time being, anyway).

If you’re ready to partake in all the glam that’s to come this year, odds are you’re thinking about the eye shadow palettes you’ll need to invest in. Of course, it isn’t always that simple, especially for those with darker skin tones. Why? To put it simply, melanin can sometimes soften certain colors, requiring more effort and application time to show up. Additionally, if eye shadows aren’t pigmented enough, they can create dull or ashy looks that don’t exactly pop the way they’re supposed to. Fortunately, there are many eye shadow palettes on the market that are highly pigmented and are guaranteed to show up on all skin tones.