Palettes are a personal choice, and the best way to decide on a new one is to compare it against a few others in your own hand. So here is a small shelf of ones I keep coming back to, in very different moods.

Urban Decay's Naked3 Soft Pink is the rosy, romantic option, good if warm neutrals wash you out. Anastasia Beverly Hills' Soft Glam is a wearable everyday palette, made for a quick blended look. Makeup by Mario's Master Mattes: The Original is a matte-only palette, and it is the one I would pick for building depth in the crease without any shimmer. Patrick Ta's Major Dimension Essential Artistry Edit is an edited palette, which to me means someone has already decided which shades belong together.

Huda Beauty's Pretty Grunge is the moodier one, a palette for smudged evening looks. Prada's Dimensions Multi-Effect Refillable Palette is the design-forward choice, refillable and multi-effect, so you can change the shades as you go.

A useful test for any palette: swatch the two shades you would use most on the back of your hand, with a finger, no brush. If they look good without tools, they will look good on your lid. Most palettes have two or three shades that carry all the work, and the rest are decoration.

A setting spray is the last step, and it is the one that people tend to skip until they need it. I would say choose it based on the finish you want, not the number of hours on the label.

Urban Decay's All Nighter is a waterproof, natural-finish spray with 24-hour wear. Milk Makeup's Hydro Grip has hyaluronic acid and niacinamide, and it sits on the dewy side. Benefit's POREfessional Super Setter is a pore-minimizing waterproof spray, and it is the one to try if your T-zone is where makeup goes first. Fenty Beauty's You Mist is a makeup-extending formula, ONE/SIZE's On 'Til Dawn is a mattifying, waterproof spray, and Anastasia Beverly Hills' Impeccable is a blurring matte one.

What I would skip: layering a matte spray on top of a matte base and expecting your skin to look alive. If your skin is dry, use a dewy formula and hold the bottle at arm's length. Mist in an X and a T, and then let your face dry without fanning it. Do not spray directly into your eyes, and if any product stings, rinse and stop using it. I would also skip changing your spray on the day of an important event. Test it at home first, on an ordinary afternoon, and see how it wears at hour six, since that is when the differences between a dewy formula and a matte one really show. Keep the bottle out of a hot car, too.

To build an eye that lasts, use an order. Brows, shadow, mascara, then a light mist over the face.

Start with a small palette like the six-pan, and add pieces only when you feel the need. Blend the crease shade until you can no longer see an edge. Curl your lashes before mascara, and let the first coat dry before the second. Keep the shadow to two colors on a workday and add a third for evenings, since a shorter palette always looks more deliberate. Then step into daylight and look at yourself by a window. If the brow gel feels stiff, brush through it once with the spoolie while it is still tacky. That is the light your look has to survive, and it tells you exactly what to change tomorrow.