“Quality” means a lot of different things for each kind of makeup, as well as your expectations for its performance. I would say that quality has gone up across the board over the last decades since I started wearing it, and there are a lot more options in each price point.

at the ‘beauty counter’ or ‘upscale’ price point, I think that MAC has pretty solid performance across the board, assuming they have all the things you want in makeup. I find tarte and Too Faced very spotty and inconsistent. I’ve personally had good results from a lot of indies at this price point as well, like Lethal and Cliodhna.

Estee Lauder and Clinique are often solid on face products and less so on eyeshadows, though I like Clinique Chubby sticks and I wish they would bring back a full line of the Almost Lipstick formula, with a new reformulation to last a little longer since sheer is trendy now.

In the drugstore price point, I’ve been very pleased with everything NYX I own except for their eyeshadows. elf is hit or miss to me, but their brushes and bite-sized shadows are excellent at the price point. Colourpop is surprisingly consistent across most of their product line.

I don’t personally shop in the luxury tier – can’t afford it, tbh – so I can’t make recs there, except to say that Natasha Denona’s eyeshadow is god tier.