Many people complain about these because they like the product it replaced, and ignore that it is virtually the same thing in different packaging with a inferior color range. Im kind of pale and can only wear the 3 darkest colors, and im guessing they would be very pale on a darker skintone. Still, they work for me on my oily, hooded, aging eyelids. I generally use them as stand alone shadows, but they also do a decent job as a primer under powder eyeshadow.