One Week, One Palette: Natasha Denona

For the ninth week of my one week, one palette project, I decided to use my Natasha Denona custom palette that is made up of the 5-pan palettes in 09:

And 10:

I depotted these shadows—point blank—because the original packaging was the cheapest and ugliest packaging I had ever seen. Each of these 5-pan palettes cost me $50, and the packaging was worse than Wet N Wild. The packaging certainly does not justify the high price tag. I found myself never using these shadows because of the packaging, so I figured it might be worthwhile to depot them into better/prettier packaging. 

I depotted them into a MAC palette:

This palette could hold another six Natasha Denona eyeshadows, but I don't have any plans at the moment to purchase more shadows. 

Since the majority of my Natasha Denona shadows are shimmers and lid shades, I pulled in my Viseart Dark Matte palette to help complete some looks:

Top, from left: 1, 2, 3, and 4

Middle: 5, 6, 7, and 8

Bottom: 9, 10, 11, and 12

Top, from left: Indian Gold, Satin Skin, Industrial, and Antique Olive

Middle: Glam Green, Vintage, Nina's Orchid, and Aubergine

Botton: Alluminum and True Gold

I used Kat Von D Liberatus from the Shade and Light Eye palette on the brow bone and Make Up For Ever Pearl on the inner corner every day. 

I also received a request to show what the eyeshadows look like with my eye open. The only reason I haven't done that so far is because I have deep set eyes. If you're not aware what deep set eyes are, it means that my eyes are almost hooded without being fully hooded. So the majority of my lid space gets hidden when I open my eyes, and it gives the appearance of a prominent brow bone. Basically, it's hard to see the eyeshadow with my eye open. Nonetheless, I've taken these photos. 

Below are six looks I did last week.

Look 1:

True Gold padded onto the lid with my finger, Viseart Dark Matte #8 blended into the crease, and Aubergine padded onto the outer corner. 

Look 2:

Alluminum padded onto the lid with my finger, Antique Olive blended into the crease, and Antique Olive on the lower lash line. 

Look 3:

Glam Green on the inner and outer lid, Indian Gold on the center of the lid, Viseart Dark Matte #11 and #12 blended into the crease, and Viseart Dark Matte #1 and #2  padded onto the outer corner. Glam Green on the lower lash line. 

Look 4:

Satin Skin on the inner lid, Industrial on the rest of the lid, and Nina's Orchid blended into the crease. Nina's Orchid on the lower lash line. 

Look 5:

Vintage on the lid, Viseart Dark Matte #6 blended into the crease, and Vintage on the lower lash line.

Look 6:

Antique Olive on the lid, Viseart Dark Matte #12 and #7 blended into the crease, and Viseart Dark Matte #2 padded onto the outer corner. Antique Olive on the lower lash line. 

I mostly enjoyed this palette last week. Natasha Denona shadows aren't my favorite formula to work with, and that is mostly because the shadows are so soft and oily that they are prone to fallout and transfer throughout the day. I used my favorite primer, the NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base, every day, which is the best eyeshadow primer I have ever used. By the end of the day, some of the more glittery shadows had transferred up into the crease, though the shadows themselves did not crease. I credit the lack of creasing entirely to the NARS primer, however, because without it, I think the week would have been full of creasing. I did try to buy the Too Faced Glitter Glue to use with these shadows to see if that made any difference, but all Sephora locations in Manhattan (and there are a TON) were sold out, and I was told by one employee that she thinks Too Faced is discontinuing it. I wasn't too upset that I wasn't able to buy it, however, because I like any reason to not spend my money on makeup and because I honestly can't imagine it would have performed better than my NARS primer. 

For the most part, I really enjoyed the shadows with a few exceptions. The lighter shimmer shades, Indian Gold and Satin Skin, were not as impressive on the lid as I thought they would be. They swatch well on the back of my hand, but on my eyelid, they were nothing special. The glitter shadows, Alluminum and True Gold, absolutely needed to be applied with a finger to achieve full pigmentation. When applied with a brush, they looked like farts of glitter, for lack of a better term. (I racked my brain for a better phrase—there was none.) The glitter shadows also flake off terribly in the palette. As you can see from the above pictures, the palette is filled with glitter bits, and I've officially stopped trying to keep it clean. Finally, the mattes are just not very good. I'll give Nina's Orchid a pass because I love the color so much and it is unique to my collection, but Aubergine is dry and patchy and not great to work with. 

When I bought these two palettes, I had no idea why I was buying palette 09. The shadows looked cool-toned for the most part, and I never wore silver and green shades on my eyes. Buying palette 10 made sense since I love champagne, gold, and berry colors, but not palette 09. Still, I couldn't bring myself to not buy it for whatever reason. And I'm so glad I bought it because palette 09 is my favorite without question. I definitely think that 09 is the more unique palette out of the two, and I don't know if it's because of the olive undertones in my skin, but I really loved how these shadows looked on me. 

Before going into last week, my favorite Natasha Denona shadow was Vintage, but now it is absolutely Antique Olive. My favorite look I did was surprising look 2, with Alluminum on the lid and Antique Olive in the crease. I'll be honest—I had no idea what to do with Alluminum. I had never before used a glittery silver shadow. I thought about popping it on the inner corner one day, but that felt like a copout. So I decided to just experiment, fully expecting the look to be a disaster. To my great surprise, as soon as I put Antique Olive in the crease, I was completely in love with the look. I also loved Antique Olive all over the lid, and I received several compliments on my makeup the day I wore that look. 

I also really enjoyed looks 3 and 4, though I enjoyed all the looks I did this week. What I am continuing to love about this project is how creative I am becoming with my eyeshadow looks. Before, I wouldn't touch certain colors in palettes if I didn't think I would like them. And as a result, I did the same looks over and over and even did the same looks from palette to palette. Look 5 has always been my go-to look with my Natasha Denona shadows, and it was easily my least favorite look last week. I didn't dislike it, and I thought it was pretty, but it was just very basic compared to what I had done the other days of the week. When I did look 3, especially, I was reflecting on how much I love this project because it was an eye look that was really pretty (I think it looked better in person than in photos) that I would have never done had I not been trying to at least use all of the shadows in the palette. 

Consequently, I really loved how much use I got out of the Viseart Dark Matte palette last week. I've considered decluttering Dark Matte more than any other palette in my collection, but I've always stopped myself because I wanted to use it more, I just didn't know how to. And now I feel since I've been experimenting more with color that I have a ton of use for this palette, and I really love that!

On the whole, I don't think any Natasha Denona palette is going to be a "complete" palette for most people. I've heard many people mention that her shadows are a collection of lid shades, and I have to agree with that. I have several companion palettes (like the Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye and Viseart Dark Matte), so I don't mind having a palette primarily dedicated to lid shades, but I can see why others wouldn't like that as much. 

I'm happy that I have these shadows, and I am not going to declutter them, but I absolutely do not think they are a "must have" product. If I could go back, I would not spend $100 on these palettes. I think I would still probably pay $50 to get palette 09 since I really love all the colors in it, but I wouldn't get palette 10. There are comparable foiled shades at Makeup Geek (which, at $10 each are actually equivalent to the Natasha Denona shadows), and there are better shimmer and matte shadows for less money in many different brands. 

With all of that said, I am actually excited to move onto another palette this week, and that's usually a marker for me on if I really like a palette or if I love it. There have been palettes that I haven't wanted to rip myself away from and palettes that I've intentionally prolonged my week of using. Those are the palettes I love. If I didn't think there was something even a little special about the Natasha Denona shadows, I would easily declutter them. But I do think they will be nice to have as party eyeshadows. Whenever I go to a special event, I am always wanting to do an eyeshadow look that is just a little special and sparkly. Of course I can create pretty looks with any of the shadows already in my collection, but since I already own them and do enjoy them, I'm going to hang onto the Natasha Denona shadows.

What I'm Not Buying: Natasha Denona Star Palette

Natasha Denona, a brand that came to prominence last year after releasing eyeshadow palettes with a staggering $239 price tag, will be releasing the Star Palette on October 28. 

And I won't be buying. 

And by "I won't be buying," I mean I ABSOLUTELY will not be buying. 

So, here's my thing with Natasha Denona. I actually have two of the brand's five-pan eyeshadow palettes. 

I have palette 09:

And palette 10:

I was really curious to try these shadows after hearing phenomenal reviews. The hype absolutely got to me, but there was just no way in hell I was going to throw down $239 for eyeshadow from an internet brand. Were they serious?

These five-pan palettes were priced at $50 each, which was a price I was much more comfortable with, especially because I was so curious to try the formula. 

And as far as the shadows are concerned, I've mostly been happy with them. The metallic shimmers are outstanding, the glitters can be a pain to work with but are overall very nice, and the mattes are kind of bad. Granted, I only tried two mattes and they were both from the palette 10, and I didn't hate the bright lilac color. But the dark burgundy shadow was dry, stiff, and patchy. I can't imagine trying to blend out my crease with a shadow in the matte formula. 

Considering the overall quality of the eyeshadows, I wasn't terribly upset over the price I paid, though I thought it would have been more reasonable it was about $10 to $15 less. 

My main qualm was that the packaging was SO CHEAP. As in the cheapest packaging I have ever encountered, even including drugstore items. The packaging was, frankly, ugly, the plastic was incredibly light and cheap-feeling, and it in NO WAY looked like a luxury product. 

Tom Ford eye quads are $80 for four eyeshadows, which is incredibly expensive. But when you buy one of these quads, it feels and looks like a luxury makeup item. And the shadows are of impeccable quality, with the mattes blowing Natasha Denona mattes out of the water. 

Photo: Indigo Kir Royale

Marc Jacobs Style Eye Con palettes are $59 for seven eyeshadows, and are packaged in a sleek, beautiful compact:

Natasha Denona prices her palettes as though they are in this high-end luxury range, but then packages them in $0.10 packaging. Part of the expense of luxury items is the luxury packaging, and the Natasha Denona formula is not that innovative or exceptional as to put it in this range while ignoring the packaging. 

The packaging for the Star Palette, I have to admit, is no different. It looks so inexpensive.

Based on all of Natasha Denona's previous eyeshadow palette pricing, I can only imagine that this palette will also come with a hefty price tag. I also think it's telling when a brand announces their new product to be released in less than a week and choses to omit the price. 

Looking at the colors in this palette:

There is just nothing new or interesting going on here. There are some coppers, peaches, a gold, two berries, and a ton of browns. 

The Star Palette has 4 "chrome crystal" shadows, 3 pressed pigment metallics, 2 duo chromes, and 9 mattes. Half of this palette are matte shadows. And unless there has been a significant formula change, that means half the palette will be filled with "meh" quality. And for the price Natasha Denona will undoubtedly charge, that's not acceptable. 

This palette strongly resembles the Violet Voss Drenched Metals palette: 

As well as the Holy Grail:

I can imagine the quality of the shimmery and metallic shadows from Natasha Denona will be of superior quality to Violet Voss, but I doubt the mattes are as well. 

More than anything, I personally feel that Natasha Denona eyeshadows are overpriced. I enjoy a lot of the shimmers from the brand, but they are by no means my favorite eyeshadows in my collection. I have mentioned before that nice packaging will not influence me to buy a crappy product, but bad packaging will absolutely keep me from buying a nice product. After purchasing two items from Natasha Denona, I would not consider purchasing anything else unless the packaging was radically upgraded. I almost decluttered the Natasha Denona palettes out of my collection simply because the packaging was so bad and I found myself never using them as a result, but I decided instead to invest in a nicer palette and just depot the shadows. 

With the Star Palette, I am not confident whatsoever that the nine mattes will perform well. They certainly will not perform at a level that justifies the high price tag. And the shimmer and metallic shades are not special enough to make up for the fact that at least half the palette will be of lackluster quality. And I won't be buying.