Natasha Denona eyeshadows have to be the most hyped eye shadows in the world. Earlier this year YouTube went into meltdown about the Natasha Denona eyeshadow palettes. It was interesting to watch it play out and two themes became writ large as people voiced their opinions.
Who is she?
Natasha Denona was born in Croatia, grew up in Germany and moved to Israel in her late teens. She is a makeup artist whose work has graced the covers of Elle, Marie Claire and L’Officiel. Her makeup career started in 1996 and she also runs a makeup school. I think it is fair to say that she is pretty accomplished. Her experience is not based in America or Western Europe. Is this the reason I heard the ‘who is she?’ refrain so many times? For many in the online makeup community, if there is no reference or relationship to an area that they can relate to, your experience is not valid. Fascinating but personally, I find this narrative very uncomfortable. It was a true example of the makeup community not being inclusive.
How much?
Natasha Denona has a 28 pan eye shadow palette that costs £200. How much? Gram for gram, depending on whether you buy individual palettes or single shadows the price is not so scary. I bought my Natasha Denona from Beauty Bay and I bought 5 pan palettes and a single. Each pan is 2.5g, the same as a Tom Ford shadow in a quartet. If you buy an individual pan it works out at £9.60 per gram, but if you buy a 5 pan palette or 28 pan palette it works out at approximately £3.00 per gram… as opposed to Tom Ford which is more than £6 per gram. If you were to buy a 28 pan palette from Tom Ford you would be spending nearly £450. I find the discussion around cost interesting because value of a product and whether it is good value is dependent on a number of factors not just the price of the final product..
I have a purple eye shadow from seventeen. It is rubbish. The fact that it was cheap is irrelevant. A rubbish product is a rubbish product. Natasha Denona makes good quality shadows. There are equally good and better shadows on the market, but these are good quality. Therefore if I can get the shades that I like, in the quality that I need, that makes them good value, as I will use them repeatedly.
Worth the Hype?
Ultimately it depends on what you value in a product. I like nice packaging, but I much prefer the product to be great quality. The Natasha Denona shadows are quite distinct formula wise from a Morphe formula. I have a Morphe palette and I like it and I use it, but if I had to choose, I would save my coins and buy Natasha Denona. You can buy a Tesco value rice pudding and a Waitrose rice pudding and the ingredients may well be the same, the quality of them is likely to be different. For some peoples tastes a Tesco Value pudding may be perfection. Others would prefer the Waitrose pudding. Such is life
Textures
I have had the shadows in my possession for a couple of months I can say that I really like them. ALOT The colours are beautiful. Her forte is metallic textures. The mattes blend well but they are not Viseart good. You can create a lovely looks from those shades alone and they are a great base to a glittery look. My favourite of her formulas are the satins. The pigment is rich, they blend perfectly and they manage to brighten the eyes regardless of the colour.
What I dont like
My least favourite thing is her naming conventions. The numbers – fine, a little boring but fine. The V, M, P are kind of related to velvet (matte) metallic and pearl but you will find all textures within those denominations. On top of that the actually colours like Smokey Purple, rarely relate to the shades in the pan. The packaing is basic. However, I got over that when I did the gram for gram price. If I am paying under £5 per gram, I can live without a mirror. It is confusing on the 5 pan palettes though that there is space for a makeup brush… but one is not provided… hmmm but I am happy to pay what I paid for the quality of the shadows. The pans get quite messy as the shimmer and glitter shadows are soft in texture but I get little to no fall out on the face.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I love my Natasha Denona stash. I have applied these eyeshadows a dimly lit office toilet, on a bouncy northern line train and at home in full light and the effect is always gorgeous. As a glasses wearer I really appreciate how much the the pearls and metallic shades brighten the eyes. The staying power of these is good without a base and superb with one so I am very happy with my purchase. To dip into the brand without spending huge amounts of cash get a five pan palette. If you love eyeshadow you will enjoy these shadows.
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