Hello friends!

Ever since Natasha Denona launched their first eyeshadow palettes, I’ve been curious to try them. Unfortunately, if you know anything about this brand, you know that it’s pretty pricey. As interested as I’ve been, I haven’t been able to convince myself to purchase.

When I saw this baby palette pop up under $20, I knew this was my chance. In all transparency, I know that in terms of actual value I didn’t really save anything, but based on the size of my collection, spending less money for less shadows ended up being the best option. I also got it for 10% off during the VIB sale, so that was a nice little bonus!

Packaging: I think the packaging of this palette is really pretty! It feels like a nice, solid plastic. The lid is a thick piece of acrylic that flips up completely flat. On the front is simple black font with the brand name and name of the palette the shadows are from. The hinges also are solid and lock it into place so you can set the lid however you’d like. When closing the lid, it has a solid snap shut and doesn’t feel like it will pop open accidentally; it takes a bit of force to lift it. Not enough to be hard to open, but enough to feel like it’s secure.

The base of the palette that the shadows sit in is a beautiful shiny gold. On the back is a sticker with the product name, shade names, and product information.

Swatches:

Individual Shadow Reviews:

Log: Dark brown with creamy matte finish. As usual, the darkest shade in the palette is the one that I felt most intimidated by; and once again, my fear was proven wrong! I decided to use a big fluffy blender brush and applied that way, which gave me a really pretty wash of this color. It was still dark, but transparent enough to use as a crease shade without making me feel silly. This would also be a perfect shade to deepen the outer corner, which is likely what it’s meant for.

Oro: Warm gold with metallic finish. Holy crap, this is intense! The gold on the eyes is an insanely bright yellow gold – I don’t know if I’d even consider this a neutral because it’s so yellow. Not to say I didn’t like it, because I loved how beautiful it was on. The base is super metallic, and there were gold glitter flecks as well, adding to the sparkle. That said, I did have some fallout from this shade. I kept it on for almost 9 hours with absolutely no signs of wear; it could have lasted a lot longer.

Sandstone: Cool yellow-beige with creamy matte finish. I think this shade is so unique! I had expected a neutral brown, but when I put it on my lids this had an almost mustard look to it; the yellow undertone was definitely a surprise. I found that it blended out very easily, and isn’t so pigmented that I struggled using it or felt intimidated. I had an easy time picking up shadow on my brush and blending it through my crease, then trying it all over the lid. There was very minimal creasing and some fading around 8 hours, but this shadow lasted still looking pigmented for 24 HOURS. I forgot to take it off the night before and still looked great after sleeping in it – now that is top notch.

Overall:

Application: In my opinion, all shadows should be worn with a primer, and this is no exception. While that may be due to my eyelids being super oily, I feel like a primer really does give it the best shot at success. I would like to point out too that the swatches look crackly solely because my skin was incredibly dry – but if you’re someone who has super dry eyelids you may also want to use a primer to help with them looking smoother on.

The metallic shade applied beautifully with both the brush and my finger, and I didn’t wet my brush because I felt like it had enough of a shine already. The only difference between finger and brush is that it took longer to build up with the brush, and the brush can provide a softer wash of color if you don’t want a super bright gold.

The matte shades are obviously best used with the brush, and they blended out really nicely. I didn’t feel like I had issues with patchiness or had to sit and continue to blend to get an even look.

Wear: These shadows had amazing wear time. I had them on for full days at a time (8+ hours) and they looked almost as good as when I first applied them. I genuinely am so impressed with how these shadows worked overall. As stated in the application section, a primer is necessary for me but is so worth the extra few seconds to create a more vibrant shadow that lasts forever.

Do You Need It?

Usual disclaimer: you need to determine whether this is actually something that will fit properly into your collection! I’m simply here to provide some context and ideas of where this is a good option versus where it might not be.

First and foremost, if you already own a Natasha Denona palette or especially already own the Gold palette, this is one I think you can pass on. It’s got an amazing formula, but you already know you love it. These shades are likely to be dupes or similar enough to shadows you already own that it would simply be redundant. The only exception is if this is your favorite formula, and these are your favorite shades, and you want something compact and easy to travel with. In that case, I’d say this would be a winner! If you don’t fall into that specific category, I do feel you can pretty easily skip on this.

If you’re looking to buy a makeup lover with a small collection something special, this is a fantastic option. It’s cheaper than her regular midi and mini palettes, and contains shades that a lot of people would be happy to use due to how neutral they are. If they know much about makeup, I think getting a Natasha Denona palette would feel incredibly special as they are well known for their quality in the beauty world.

If you’re like me and you want to try Natasha Denona but don’t want to drop the amount of money you’d have to on her full size palettes, I’d suggest buying one of her mini palettes and not the baby. I say this solely because you probably don’t have the size collection I do, and this just isn’t as good of a value as her minis. I did the math, and the shadows in the baby gold come up to $6.33 per shade, whereas the mini gold comes up to $5.40. While it’s still a pretty penny for only a few shadows, it still is objectively a better deal to get more shadows for less money per shade!

I personally have absolutely fallen in love with this formula and will definitely be purchasing more in the future as I find them on sale! It seems that right now during the holidays there are a few different palettes on sale, but I’ve already surpassed my quota for eyeshadow palettes so will not be making any more purchases!