Newbie looking for solid starters from Aromaleigh and Shiro.

It's not a color you've suggested. but I think we have similar skin tone and I honestly feel obligated to introduce everyone to Shiro's Alkahestry. Probably the most gorgeous, brilliant shade I've ever seen. It's a very sparkle heavy sheer lavender base with teal/blue duochrome. Despite all the sparkly it's actually a very wearable daytime color, and you honestly don't need to use any other colors with it. It's so complex that it looks like you're wearing 3 or 4 different shadows and spent an hour doing it, when in reality, you just slapped it on your lids over a sticky base. And in the sunlight, you ain't seen anything like it.

Now for suggestions lining up with what you actually asked for: for Shiro I love Baker's Boy, Climbing Chaos is a brilliant crease shade and makes my blue eyes pop like crazy. I also think Hodor is one of the best indie neutrals I have. I'd also suggest Chimera, Doge, Master Sword, and Housewife for neutrals. Mother of dragons looks incredible in the crease for a purple smokey eye. Star Crossed lovers and Mocking Jay are a great duo for a smokey eye as well.

As for Aromaleigh, Neurodivergent is one of my favorite neutrals of all time. It's like a neutral that got sexed up a notch. It looks great over a regular primer during the day, and really brings the wow factor over a sticky base such as Pixie Epoxy from Fyrinnae or Darling Girl's Glitter Glue. Krampus is a great crease color. For neutrals I like Caprice, Twig, Clotilda, Island of Misfit Toys, Crysalis, Diapha, and Trotula.

Also, a general tip from someone who just entered the world of indie makeup about a month ago: when I can't figure out if a color would work on me based of the swatch on the site I google, "[Brand name] [Shadow name] swatch," and it typically turns up loads of results with people of all different skin tones swatching and wearing it. This is especially helpful for duochromes because it's not possible to capture all the nuanced complexities of those bad boys in one or two pictures. But if you google them, you'll get tons of pictures in different lighting and it'll give you a better idea of how the shadow actually wear.

Sorry for the wall of text! I love both of these companies and don't think you can really go wrong. Welcome to the wonderful rabbit hole that is indie makeup. You should probably start a prayer circle for your wallet.

/r/Indiemakeupandmore Thread