After a couple weeks wearing this around the clock, I’m ready to give my full thoughts on the Natasha Denona bronze palette. Is it the best eyeshadow release of the summer? My answer might surprise you!

Given my love of purchasing eyeshadow, I’ve been quite impressed by how long I’ve managed to avoid buying anything from Natasha Denona.

While her palettes are beautiful, I’ve always managed to reason myself out of making a purchase — until the bronze palette happened. There was something so captivating to me about it. Compared to her other palettes, I thought the price tag was actually pretty reasonable as well for everything you get. So, I did what any person looking to be egged on does: I put a poll up on my Instagram story. After 85% said YES to picking it up, there I sat at 7 am on launch day placing an order.

Because who doesn’t love a side of frivolous online shopping with their morning coffee?

Natasha Denona Bronze Palette

At this stage, launch day was weeks ago and I’ve admittedly been dragging my heals on getting a review up. Truth is, once I had the Natasha Denona bronze palette in my hands, I didn’t have an immediate reaction to it one way or another. Yes, obviously it is BEAUTIFUL. But having never used her shadows before, I wanted to really give myself time with the palette and wear it day in/day out to see how it performs and compares to other favorites in my collection.

I also recognized that there are LOADS of bronze/copper palettes out there already. This is not a new color story at all, particularly for sumer. Just last month I reviewed a gorgeous one from Juvia’s Place that’s a third of the price. Countless others exist as well. So with a very common theme, I wanted to be sure I knew this palette well before weighing in on if it was truly worth adding to your collection.

Well! After weeks of testing, I’m ready to discuss my experience with the Natasha Denona Bronze palette. Is it a must-have? Is it meh? Find out below!

SHOP THE PALETTE ($65)

NatashaDenona.com • Sephora.com

Inside the Natasha Denona Bronze Palette

Tucked inside the Natasha Denona Bronze palette you will find 15 shadows with mixed finishes and textures.

Top Row:

True Copper: Warm copper; metallic finish
Suntan: Warm medium brown; creamy matte finish
Sundown: Medium light brown with yellow undertones; creamy matte finish
Deep Dive: Deep brown, cream to powder
Rhodium: Medium warm purple/silver duochrome

Middle Row:

Magma: Medium dark amber; creamy matte finish
High Degree: Red copper; metallic finish
Alloy: Vibrant golden bronze; duochrome finish
Ridge: Medium warm brown; creamy matte
True Bronze: Bronze with foil finish; chroma crystal finish

Bottom Row:

Gloaming: Burnt amber with bronze duochrome
Palladium: Warm taupe, metallic
Bliss: Redish pink with golden duochrome reflection
Silk: Rich champagne, foiled metallic finish
Beach: Warm nude; creamy matte finish

APPLICATION ISSUES:

Straight out the gate, I want to say I had issues with application. Particularly with the metallic and duochrome shades. The creamy mattes? Those applied beautifully, but all the other shades put me to WORK in ways I honestly didn’t expect to have to work. I used flat shader brushes, I used blending brushes, pencil brushes…basically any eyeshadow brush you could think of and had a significant amount of difficulty getting these to apply the way you’d hope for them to apply.

No matter what brush I used, things seemed to always get lost in translation from the palette and what actually applied to my lid.

Using a wet brush definitely helped, but in the end for me to really get the color payoff I was looking for — I had to use my fingers. That’s definitely not a bad thing, but when you’re talking about 10 or so shades that don’t work well for you unless you’re using a finger…that gets really messy really fast when trying to put together a “look”.

Another problem I ran into? Blending. These do not blend easily, nor are these shadows very forgiving. So when you put down color, you better be sure you’re not putting it anywhere you don’t want it to go. While the mattes are arguably my favorite shadows in the Natasha Denona Bronze palette, I also have to say that they definitely don’t blend easily either.

Do all eyeshadows have to be fast for blending? No. But just be aware, this palette is one that needs more time.

NATASHA DENONA BRONZE PALETTE SWATCHES

Inconsistencies:

I realize I told you I love the mattes, and they are my favorites here, but even while loving them I have to be honest about their inconsistencies.

The deep eggplant shade Magenta has WOW power and applies so smoothly. Then you have shades like “Suntan” that applies quite patchy and “Beach” that applies even more patchy. The matte shade “Sundown” also has a dryness to it that I didn’t come across elsewhere in the palette. On the other hand, it is one of the easier shadows included to blend so the dryness seems to be working for it.

Nonetheless, these inconsistencies exist. Is it possible to work around them? Definitely. As you use the Natasha Denona Bronze palette you will get to know each shade and how to best work with it. But, it’s still worth noting that there is inconsistency.

Powerful Longevity

Over the last couple weeks, the temperatures and humidity have both been HIGH! Definitely not optimal for spending time outdoors, but it’s made for a great time to test how well this palette holds up in the summer months. I wore this palette on several very long days outdoors, days when I needed to reapply sunscreen again and again. I’ve also worn these shadows to the pool and swam with them as well as been caught in a summer storm.

Needless to say, I have put these shadows through the ringer and managed to come out successfully on the other side every single time. The application might take more work, but once these are in place and on your eyes they hold up beautifully against all weather conditions. 100%, Natasha Denona’s Bronze palette is SUMMER APPROVED!

Excellent Cream-to-Powder Shade

“Deep Dive” is a deep eggplant shade with a cream-to-powder formula. It work fantastically as an eyeliner when applied with an angled brush. It’s so good it prompted me to look if she sold any singles in the cream-to-powder formula as I’d definitely like to pick up more colors. For right now, Natasha Denona doesn’t have any single shadows but maybe she will in the future. I LOVE the formula!

NATASHA DENONA BRONZE PALETTE RUNDOWN

15-pan eyeshadow palette
Copper and bronze tones for the summer months
$65
Available at Sephora or NatashaDenona.com
More of a “pro” palette that’s not ideal for quick makeup looks. Requires more work.

THE PROS

Nice pigmentation
Great mattes for all over the lid or as transitional shades
The duochrome shades have a beautiful shift to them that’s seamless on the eye
Rich colors that suits the summer season nicely
Summer approved, very long-wearing eyeshadows
Palette will be beautiful on a wide variety of skintones
Certified cruelty-free
Paraben Free
Great packaging, with the option to pop the shadows out of the case and move them around as you like.

THE CONS

Application issues with metallic and duochrome shades, as though they don’t want to stick to the eye unless applied with a finger
Inconsistency between shades (some apply quite patchy)
Does not have a brow bone color. This nags at me! I wish Beach was replaced with a brow bone shade.
Pricier than a number of palettes out there with a similar color story. (i.e. the Nubian palette)
Not a largely versatile palette

OVERALL GRADE: B-

Generally speaking, the Natasha Denona Bronze palette definitely has me intrigued to try more from her line. From her gold palette to this, I think it’s really interesting that she’s exploring full color family through a palette. Does that mean the palette lacks versatility as it’s focused so much on one thing? Sure. But it’s interesting the way each shade does bring something different to the table, even though they’re very much in the same realm.

The powerful longevity of the shadows is also a huge pro to me. Off setting that, though, there were quite a few application issues getting the metallics and duo chromes to build on the lid with a brush (even a wet brush). Using the fingers definitely works but also gets pretty messy, pretty fast.

Is this THE #1 palette release of the summer? In my book, no. It’s interesting, suits the summer season nicely and will prompt me to explore more from Natasha Denona. However, it does have application/consistency issues and is offers colors we’ve seen before and will continue to see again. The Pat McGrath Divine Rose II palette has my vote for the best eyeshadow release of the summer. (Thus far, anyway!)