IBY Beauty Review: Are These Single Eyeshadows Worth Skipping the Palette?
We tested IBY Beauty's vegan, cruelty-free single-pan Lush Eyeshadows and mini highlighters to see if buying shades individually actually beats a full palette.
Elena Marchetti
Fashion & Retail Editor
Eyeshadow palettes are efficient until you actually look at how many pans you use — most people wear the same four or five shades and let the rest go dry. IBY Beauty's whole single-shadow model is built around that reality, so we tested a handful of its Lush Eyeshadows and mini highlighters to see if buying individually actually works better in practice.
Pigment payoff, shade by shade
Matte shades applied smoothly with strong color payoff in a single swipe, no primer required to get true-to-pan color. The shimmer shades were more potent than expected — a light touch with a fluffy brush goes further than reaching for a full swipe like you would with a matte.
Building a custom set vs. buying a palette
The real advantage shows up over time: instead of a 12-pan palette where you actually reach for four shades, you end up with exactly the four you use, and can add one new shade at a time as your routine changes. It's a better system for anyone who already knows their go-to look rather than someone who wants to experiment broadly in one purchase.
Vegan and cruelty-free, without the markup
IBY Beauty is vegan, cruelty-free and PETA-certified, and unlike some clean-beauty labels, that positioning doesn't come with premium pricing — singles run in the same range as drugstore eyeshadow, not prestige-brand territory.
- Best for: shoppers who already know their go-to shades and want to avoid palette waste
- Application tip: use a light hand on shimmer shades — they're more pigmented than they look in the pan
- Not ideal for: anyone who wants a huge range of colors in a single purchase
“A palette full of unused pans isn't actually a deal — a handful of shades you'll finish is.”
Our verdict
IBY Beauty's single-shadow model delivers real pigment payoff at a price that undercuts most clean-beauty competitors. It takes a few purchases to build a full look, but for anyone tired of half-used palettes, that's the point.
What we liked
- + Single-pan shades let you build a custom set instead of paying for colors you'll never use
- + Pigment payoff is strong enough to skip a primer on most shades
- + Vegan, cruelty-free and PETA-certified without a markup that usually comes with that label
Where it falls short
- − Buying many singles individually can cost more than one big-box palette in the end
- − Shimmer shades need a light hand — they pick up more product than expected on first swipe
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