This palette is the most high end piece of make up I own.

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Worth £111*, it’s also likely to keep that title for a very long time.

I came across this palette in Selfridges last year. I’d always seen Natasha Denona palettes online, and heard great things, but never seen one in the flesh before. I was immediately drawn to the Sunset palette on the stand. The colours – vibrant and beautiful – really caught my eye. It had a great split between shimmers and mattes. Shimmers are what I go to most days, but I liked the bold mattes dropped into the palette for days you’re feeling a little more colourful. The colours swatched beautifully and the pay off was fantastic. Even the mattes played well, with no chalkiness. I’m not one for ‘eye looks’ and generally only use two shades at once, and so I felt like I didn’t really use eyeshadow enough to justify this purchase.

I put my desire for this palette to the back of my mind, until I came across the Cosmetips box. This curated box isn’t a regular box but every time one is released it’s put together by an influencer with the focus being on quality, high end products. Flicking through past boxes you see a lot less ‘filler’ products than you would in a traditional beauty box. The box released before Christmas featured the Sunset palette. The box was at the same price as buying the palette on it’s own, but came with a lot of other quality products I’d wanted to try, and some new brands I’d not heard of before. If you want to take a look at my first impressions of this box, you can find it here.

The palette

When I opened this box in the office people crowded around as I’d been going on about how excited I was for it for ages. Everyone agreed the palette was beautiful when I opened it up. They also agreed that it was crazy expensive when I told them how much it was worth! The first thing that struck me about this palette, was how heavy and well-made this felt. It’s a cardboard case covered in a faux leather material, with a dense foam on the inside that holds the mirror and pans. These leads the palette to feel like it will wear quite well.

While I know that a fully cardboard cover is better from an environmental point of view, I also know that they don’t last. Plastic fares better, but can sometimes feel cheap. They also are prone to breakage. This palette feels like a better compromise. No plastic, but something that will last a good length of time. The only plastic is the layer that covers the shadows and gives the shade names. It is perforated so you can remove it, but I like to keep it on to keep the palette looking neat.

You get 15 shades in here, with each pan weighing 2.5g. This equates to £2.96 a gram. For comparison, the Urban Decay Naked Honey palette is £42 for a total of 11.4g. This works out at £3.68 per gram.

This may only matter to you if you pan a lot of eyeshadows, but I thought it was interesting that the ND is actually better values on a pounds per gram basis.

The colours

This palette is full of my kind of colours. If these are a little too dark, there is also the Sunrise palette*. Sunrise just didn’t seem as wearable as Sunset for my colouring. The yellow and red are a bit too bold for everyday use, but I’ve been dying to try yellow for ages and I know they’ll work great as eyeliner when I just want a pop of colour.

The shimmers were what really drew me to this palette. The colour in the top left (Atmosphere) was my favourite and as soon as I opened it at work it was picked on as a colour that would really suit me. They were right, and it’s the colour I’ve worn the most since buying this palette. The top right colour (Bronzage) is another easy to wear colour I’ve been using a lot.

Application

These are a little harder to work with than I’m used to. Not because they’re bad, just because they’re more pigmented than I’m used to. Before this palette, the highest end shadows I’ve used have been Urban Decay and Dior and neither of those have amazingly strong colour pay off.

Application is easy and a lot of colour transfers from brush to skin. I’ve just had to adjust how much I put on my brush before application. I find blending out a little trickier too, just because of all the pigment. However, it’s easy to get used to and I’m now applying these quickly before work like any other shadow. One thing to note is there is a decent amount of fall out, as these are so soft.

I recently tried out the red as an eyeliner and loved the bold pop of colour it gave my eyes. I used my Lottie London angled brush* that I wet with my finishing spray. This looked fantastic and it didn’t transfer to the top of my eyelids like other shadows I’ve used as an eyeliner did.

Using my trusty Nars Eye Primer* I get a day out of this shadow, no problem. There have been no issues with folding or transfer with these shadows. I’ve heard that some reds can stain the eyelids and while I haven’t experienced this exactly, the swatches did leave a mark and take a good bit of scrubbing to get off.

Overall thoughts

I’m really impressed with this palette. Yes, it’s an expensive palette but:

• The eyeshadow is a high quality that lasts all day.
• The palette itself is well-made and will last.
• It’s a good mix of really wearable shades, with some bold colours for days you want to change it up.
• I don’t need to purchase another palette this year.

I’d much rather buy one expensive palette than lots of inexpensive palettes that don’t perform or last. If I totted up what I spent on palettes excluding this last year, it would almost reach the value of the ND palette. So this year, I won’t be purchasing any more palettes. When it comes time to get rid of this, I’ll likely look to Natasha Denona for a replacement as I know it’s definitely worth the money.

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