Natasha Denona

A few new items have launched from Natasha Denona including a new eyeshadow palette, foundation and liquid lipsticks and I have a roundup review today! I also revisited a few of her Blush Duos (shopped my stash) and had been wearing them recently. I got so many compliments on how natural but fresh my complexion looked I thought I’d add them to this review. After some testing I have some hits and misses. What’s covered today:

• Mini Nude Eyeshadow Palette ($25 for 5 shades)
• Transformatte Pore Vanishing Matte Foundation ($45 for 0.94 oz/ 28 mL, 35 shades total)
• Mark Your Liquid Lips Matte Liquid Lipstick ($25 each for 4 mL/0.135 oz, 19 shades available)
• Blush Duo ($38 each)

Mini Nude Palette

I’m starting off with my favorite item in the launch which is her Mini Nude Palette. This actually isn’t something I’d call nude, it pulls a lot warmer but it’s still beautiful. It has a mix of mattes with her pressed pigment metallics. Pigment is really good, texture is easy to blend, colors stay put on the eyes. There will be some fallout with application because of the finish of the shimmers/powders but it’s easy to clean up. Colors layer beautifully:

• Bronzage is a shimmery warm light copper sparkle
• Quoin is a matte camel beige
• Lumino is a metallic sparkle ivory
• Sienna is a duo chrome bronze silvery taupe
• Soil is a deep warm matte reddish brown

Quick close up look of eye makeup with flash:

Transformatte Pore Vanishing Matte Foundation

Her Transformatte Pore Vanishing Matte Foundation is a really good one. It comes in a pump tube. This is a medium coverage soft matte finish foundation. Her team sent over a selection of shades to try and my match right now is 30W. There are 35 shades to choose from with different undertones. I tried this back in the summer when this launched and got a few samples. My shade back then was a mix between 31W and 42NY. Colors do oxidize slightly on the skin once it sets, but once it sets color stays consistent. On me it has a blurring effect that has good coverage but still lets the skin look like skin. It’s matte but not flat. I think it does noticeably smooth out my pores but I think I should note that both Andrew and my brother informed me that even when looking at my bare face, they do not think I have any. I know for a fact I do have them and I can see them.

Lasting power is really good. I tested my samples over the summer and it held up well. Right now the weather is very mild for Florida. By the end of the week sweater weather might be over for a bit. For me this is another hit.

Bare skin vs. one layer of the foundation applied. It smooths out the skin, covers redness, and covers most of my sun spots and freckles. 30W applied below (no powder or concealer, just the foundation).

Mark Your Liquid Lips Matte Liquid Lipstick

Up next are her new liquid lipsticks called the Mark Your Liquid Lips Matte Liquid Lips. I had a solid feeling these would be a miss for me as I do not like liquid lipsticks and for the most part they don’t suit my preferences. After testing I can say that these are not for me. They’re not bad, I just don’t like liquid lipsticks. They have a similar vibe to the Anastasia Liquid Lipsticks and Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks. The formula of the Natasha Denona ones is pretty much the same – high pigment, full coverage, very matte and budge proof. I tested Giselle first and left it on the entire day. Lasting power was AMAZING. It lasted through snacks, lunch, drinks, coffee and did not even transfer when I tried to wipe it off with a tissue. The best thing about these is the lasting power – no transfer to teeth or anything. I received a handful of colors and Giselle was the only one I could wear. All the others dried down to a darker and almost grey finish. Definitely not true to what you see in the tube, but this is the case for all liquid lipsticks I’ve tried (ABH and KVD included).

The dry-down color change is most apparent with Shoko Kiss, in the tube it’s a caramel brown. Once dried it’s a grey taupe.

• 2 Meltedonce dried is a greyed beige nude
• 3 Shoko Kiss is a caramel brown taupe
• 4 Ebony dries to a deep grey brown matte
• 8 Au Naturale is a pale peachy nude
• 9 Giselle is a warm rose pink
• 24 Dahlia is a deep rose

I do really like the color of Giselle on my lips which dried down even further to more of a neutral-cool color rather than the warm peachy pink you see arm swatched below. I have a makeup look wearing Giselle further down. I still don’t like matte looking lips so for me these were a miss.

Blush Duos

The Natasha Denona Blush Duo’s aren’t new but I think they’re really nice. They are so under-rated. I’ve had them for a long time and used them on and off but completely forgot I had them! I started using one of the pink ones recently and received so many compliments about my complexion I thought I should use them more. These are powder duos with a soft sheen. There are several variations and the only downside is that she repeats one of the colors #02 Toutou in quite a few of them so if you are interested in more than one color, there might be a good chance you’ll get Toutou multiple times. There are a few pink ones available. Different options are available at Beautylish and Sephora.

Pigment is smooth and super easy to blend or layer. Finish is soft and diffused. The pink one applies sheer on the arm but it looks a lot better on the face.

Makeup look below wearing:

• Foundation – Natasha Denona Transformatte in 30W
• Powder – MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Plus
• Blush Duo – Natasha Denona Blush Duo in Toutou + Sheer Peachy Nude blended
• Eyeshadow – Natasha Denona Mini Nude Palette, all shades
• Lips – Natasha Denona Liquid Lips in Giselle
• Top – Madewell

I really love the Mini Nude Palette although I keep waiting for a truly neutral or neutral cool palette from her. If you already own a lot of warmer shades you can probably shop your stash. Pretty much nothing would have stopped me from buying it as I like more of her eyeshadows. Transformatte is a win for me. Blush duos are wins, although I do think it’s a little odd she repeats shades in so many of the colors. Liquid lipsticks are a miss as I don’t like how liquid lipsticks perform, darken once they dry down or look super matte.

You can find all the Natasha Denona items I featured today at Sephora. Some of the items are also available at Beautylish. Have you tried any of these before? What did you think?

Press samples include the Transformatte Foundation and Liquid Lipstick. Eyeshadow Palette and Blush Duos purchased by me.

Natasha Denona’s holiday collection this year focuses on eye makeup with two Eyeshadow Palette 5 shades ($48 each, 5 x 0.08 oz/ 2.26g, made in Italy) and a new eyeshadow formula called Chroma Crystal Top Coat ($28 each, 6 g/0.2 fl oz, made in Italy). Her eyeshadows have been among the bolder options on the market with beautiful textures, shimmers and intense pigment and I’ve been impressed with everything I’ve tried from her line. In general the overall look and feel of her eye makeup is bolder than I normally gravitate towards but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed a lot of her palettes, in particular the Palette 28 in Green Brown (swatched here with two eye looks) and her Star Palette (reviewed here). Her All Over Glow Face Shimmers are some of the prettiest I’ve tried as well (all three swatched here). Even for the conservative makeup wearer there is a lot to explore and have fun with.

Up first are the two Eyeshadow Palette 5 options in Joya and Aeris. Both are just so so pretty. I rarely wear red or wine colored shades on my eyes unless it’s in a palette and there for blending or adding depth the the shadows. I’ve been incorporating a lot of warmer coppery shades into my beauty routine here and there. I still can’t pull off a lot of the reds or oranges but with some blending I’m always surprised how pretty the effect is if you layer shadows. For those not familiar with her shadows the names have numbers and letters in them. The letters indicate the finish. This season she has a new Cream Powder formula CP which is intense and a hybrid of her signature shadow with a new creamy like finish. They’re ultra pigmented, super smooth and are very easy to blend, layer and mix. Natasha Denona shadows are among the very few powder formulas I find adhere and glide onto bare unprimed lids with 100% perfection.

Joya has:

• 135 DC peach-gold  is a sparking peach rose gold shimmer
• 136 CP fuchsia is a sheer matte creamy pink
• 137 CP gold is a sparking metallic cream powder gold
• 138 M red grape is a metallic red
• 139 CP star bronze is a pigmented metallic bronze shimmer

Aeris has the following shades below, if you mix the blue with a matte red you get a pretty brown shimmer:

• 140 CP nude is a pigmented nude champagne with silver sparkles
• 141 K red bronze is a shimmering red bronze with gold shimmers
• 142 CM burnt terracotta is a sheer matte terracotta
• 143 CP ice blue is a sparkling cool blue with tons of sparkle
• 144 CP peach bronze is a sheer peachy bronze glitter

Up next are my favorites which are the Chroma Crystal Top Coats. I’m not a fan of glitter in general because of the chunky texture and fall out. Plus as a conservative makeup wearer I find it can be over the top for many occasions. There have been a couple exceptions. I’ve been a die-hard fan of the Tom Ford Cream Powder Eye Duos and these Natasha Denona Chroma Crystal Top Coats have joined the beauty look book glitter approved club. They have a unique creamy finish that has an almost wet feel. I like using the fingers to apply. They’re super soft to the touch and even though there’s visible sparkle chunks there is no chunky feel, very minimal fall out and they’re super easy to apply. I like dabbing them on the lids. You can wear them alone or over other powder shadows. They have impressive lasting power and as the day progressed with these I didn’t experience glitter falling on my cheeks. I cannot pick a favorite as I think they’re all phenomenal, but I do really love Peach.

Colors are:

• Nude is a shimmering champagne with cool-silvery sparkles
• Bronze is a medium soft peachy bronze
• Grey-Brown is a neutral cool grey brown sparkle
• Peach is a soft peachy shimmer

Swatches sometimes don’t show the glitter well so I have two sets:

Swatches next to Tom Ford Cream + Powder Eye Duos Golden Peach and Young Adonis. If you simply can’t bring yourself to wear glitter or feel that it’s not suitable for your makeup style or work environment, I’d recommend you check out the Chantecaille Mermaid Eye Colors. I held out on these for a long time because in general I find Chantecaille to be overpriced for what you get, and I’ve been underwhelmed by most of her makeup items. These however are really really good. I’m obsessed with Copper.

A quick eye look with Nude and Bronze, it’s actually a lot more sparkly in real life but this was the best I could do to photograph it on the eyes:

Bottom line lots to love, especially for the upcoming holiday season. I am completely in love with the Chroma Crystal Top Coats and highly recommend you check them out or put them on your wishlist. They’re supposed to be multi-use so you can also add them on top of lipstick as well, I have not tried that, but for now I really love these on the eyes.

You can find the Natasha Denona Holiday 2017 Collection available now at Sephora and Beautylish. Do you have any Natasha Denona favorites?

Holiday collection provided courtesy of Natasha Denona.