Natasha Denona Eyeshadows: Palettes 4, 8, & 9

Thursday, April 5, 2018

I bought my first Natasha Denona shadows last year, but it's taken me quite some time to review them. At first I thought I'd just review the one palette I had, but it was so good that I bought another one. Then another. It's getting out of hand, so I made myself promise to blog about these before anymore of them landed in my cart.

Natasha Denona Palette 5 comes in 13 shades. I have 4, 8 & 9.

The packaging is practical and also quite plain. The case is white and clear, allowing you to see the shadows easily. There's a slot for a brush, but none come with these palettes. On one hand I'm breathing a sigh of relief that Natasha Denona did not force upon me another double ended brush or a sponge tipped applicator, but receiving a palette with a empty slot felt like I was shorted somehow. I just don't understand ND packaging, it seems to be all over the place. The single shadows come in a frosted looking matte case. The blushes have lovely solid cases that are pink on the front (see them here), but the large palettes come in the style of foam palettes that I associate with really inexpensive makeup. These 5 pan eye shadow palettes are $48 but you don't see a cent of that spent towards making a nice looking exterior case. It's not even sturdy or thicker like Viseart 12 shadow palette cases.

Palette No. 9
Industrial (M), Indian Gold (M), Glam Green (M), Aluminum (M), Antique Olive (M)

This one has five metallics, it was my first pick and my favorite of the three. I love every single shadow in this quint, and I find myself grabbing it at least once a week. I tend to use these shades in the center of the mobile lid in "halo" looks. In particular, these shadows paired really well with my Rouge Bunny Rouge Chronos palette or my Viseart matte shades.

Palette No. 4
Aura (M), Cool Bronze (M), Oxide (M), Cool Plum (P), Moonstone (M).

This palette had 4/5 metallics, so I was pretty happy with it. Oxide warms my cold, shriveled heart. Cool Bronze is a stunning shade that makes me want to incorporate it into every single warm. I tried to edit the color balance to be the most true to eye, but depending on monitor settings, you may not see what I see. Cool Bronze isn't cool, but it is a warm bronzey gold (it may look a bit orange on some screens) and Oxide is a very metallic rust red. Cool Plum is a mediocre matte warm brown that is definitely not plum (but also shares the P - pearl finish).

Palette No. 8
Glaze (M), Smoky Quartz (P), Golden Rose (M), Dark Sepia (P), Golden Beige (M).

This one has 3/5 metallics. I'm kinda let down by the color scheme of this one because I relied a little too much on other people's swatches (Sepia and Smoky Quartz looked more khaki in their pics), ordered it blind and in person I do not find them to look that way on my warm skin. I don't like the Pearl finish at all, they look satin which is not my cup of tea. I feel like these two colors become very murky easily. Golden Rose is a fantastic pink-gold duochrome and Glaze is everything I wanted Stila Kitten to be. Golden Beige is also another shade that I love, I've really been into soft, pink pearlescence lately.

This has Antique Olive on the center of the eyelid with Viseart Editorial Brights.

I went for as many metallic, high shine, high sparkle shades as I could in each palette. Because magpie. I don't enjoy the matte or pearl finish at all. I think they rate mediocre in terms of pigmentation, blending ability, and just don't look true to pan once you apply them.

The metallic finish is more emollient, very buttery (but not quite Colourpop SuperShock kind of wet and creamy). Some of the metallics are almost like buttery short bread and are crumbly while still having a bit of slip. Pigmentation is fantastic. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they last all day on me, I was really expecting the particles to migrate or crease.

The biggest problem I have with these shadows is that they are very fragile, they are quite fluffy and delicate in the pan. I've had two of these palettes arrive at my door with broken shadows (it's been a non stop back and forth of returning then reordering, ugh), and a few shadows I've compressed in the pan because I started seeing cracks form (see above) and didn't want them to spread.

Here I'm wearing Industrial (M) on the center with Viseart Dark Matte palette.

It really boils down to this: of the ND shadow textures that I've tried, I only like the metallic finish. It's my jam. It's creamy enough that I enjoy patting it on with either fingers or brushes and is incredibly long lasting on my eyelids. They are so sparkly, it makes my inner magpie feel incredibly whole. Even swatching the colors on my arm brings me joy. It's the primary reason I keep buying more Natasha Denona shadows, even eye shadows are the last thing I'll ever run out of and these shadows are rather delicate in ugly, cheap packaging. I don't care for the other finishes, because there are so many other brands that make mattes that blow ND out of the water; Viseart, LORAC, and Sleek to name a few.

Each palette is $48. Price wise, it was less expensive for me to buy a five pan palette if I liked two or more of the shadows inside because individual shadows retail for $27. While the larger palettes are very high priced, they break down to a pretty good value/per shadow. I'm trying to avoid buying the big palettes by selectively ordering quints of colors that appeal to me (10 & 11 are calling my name), but man are they tempting. Especially the Star Palette.

Natasha Denona five shadow palettes can be purchased from Sephora or Beautylish.

PS: Please don't try the Mini Sunset Palette as your first taste of Natasha Denona quality. These are in no way representative of Natasha Denona shadows! It's an absolute shame, many people are trying this palette as their first introduction to Natasha Denona and the quality of this little palette is sub-par.

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