I was very lucky to receive the Natasha Denona Metropolis Palette in this years Beautylish Lucky Bag. As a Pat McGrath stan it has been a very interesting experience to play with this palette. My thoughts, of which there are quite a few are set out below.
Packaging
The teal of the box and outer plastic is a gorgeous rich deep intense colour. This colour is a motif in the eyeshadows but not a main feature. My only other experience of Natasha Denona is the five pan and single eyeshadow palettes which is not exciting, much more multi-functional and utilitarian.
The palette has 28 eyeshadows. It is a lot. The only larger palette that I have experienced is Morphe which I decluttered a couple of years ago. Unlike the Morphe palette the size of this palette is perfect. You could definitely travel with it as is smaller than my Amazon Fire tablet. When you open the palette, the shades are packed pretty close together but not uncomfortably so. There is enough of a margin between each shade for you to be able to deep into the different textures without merging colours. The worst thing however is the piece of plastic with the shade names on them. Why Natasha why? It really spoils the look and feel of the palette. Having the shades names of the back of the palette would have been a better option. The plastic just gets in the way. Also, the mirror. Ummm, it is rubbish, and by rubbish I mean small and not good quality.
The Eyeshadows
Rust (249M) – metallic copper
Troop (250CP) – matte olive green
Orium 251DC – warm gold with sparkle
Shield 252M – metallic olive green
Ripe 253CM – matte terracota
Stain 254CP – matte bronze
Mace 255M – metallic brown
Rope 256CM – matte beige
Fuse 257M – metallic golden brown
Lethal 258CP – matte yellow green
Penny 259M – metallic brown gold
Chrism 260CP – light brown with an orange undertone
Aqueous 261M – metallic medium blue
Queen 262M – metallic peachy gold
Blaze 263K – sparkly golden copper
Noble 264M – metallic green-taupe
Imperia 265M – metallic deep gold
Royal 266CP – matte deep green
Crest 267M – metallic orange copper sheen
Enigma 268CP – matte indigo blue
Pure 269CP – matte brown with a pink undertone
Azoic 270CP – matte yellow brown
Jubilee 271M – metallic emerald green
Symbol 272CP – matte deep teal
Rhizome 273CM – matte yellowy orange
Claret 274M – metallic dark red
Helena 275K -sparkly medium opaque peach
Antique 276CP – matte dark brown
Key to the Textures
CP – Cream to powder. Natasha describes it as a wet formula. I would not go as far as to call it wet, but it is definitely not dry. It is my favourite formula in the palette
CM – Creamy matte, Natasha’s signature formula, it is nice, but not better than Pat’s
CK – Chroma Cristal aka the sparkle formula
DC – described at duo-chrome but Orium is just a topper shade on my skintone.
M – metallic, although this describes a range of textures from glittery (like Penny) to iridescent sheen (eg Mace)
Final Thoughts
I am very grateful to received this palette as it was definitely not one that I was going to purchase. Having played with it I can say that Mother Pat is still number one for me. A limited edition fifth anniversary palette for me should showcase the brand to date. For me, this is a neutral palette warm toned palette with a few pops of colour. Yes, there are oranges and a red along with the greens blues and teals, but I would have needed at least one purple to make this palette a winner for me.
A common complaint about Pat McGrath palettes is the number of golds that she comes out with. The same critique can be applied to this palette. As for the textures, with the exception of Natasha’s Cream to Powder formula, which is outstanding, I am very happy to stay stanning for Pat.
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