The New Natasha Denona Retro Palette

I told you I was on a palette buying mission and this is one of several that is coming to the blog. I can’t help myself and when I saw the Natasha Denona Retro palette, I knew I wanted it. I only started my Natasha Denona journey recently and have a small amount of the palettes available but they are some of the best shadow formulations I have ever used. I started off small with the cute Natasha Denona Tropics palette, then came the Love collection and not yet featured are the stunning Bronze palette and Trichrome. The Natasha Denona Retro palette is the latest mid sized palette, retailing at £60, and is a collection of 15 romantic hues that remind me very much of the old Biba campaigns from the late 60s and early 70s, especially when one of the editorial looks wouldn’t look out of place on Twiggy.

It’s really very unusual for me to go for a palette that has so many cooler tones in it, but it is nicely balanced with the warmer tones that I usually go for. From rich burgundy shades, to dusty roses and vintages pinks, with pops of mauves, taupes and grey-browns, it’s a really good colour story to create many looks that don’t just focus on pink. Pink is generally a very hard colour to pull off if you wear too much but combined with the shades within the palette you can create some phenomenal looks that don’t have any pink in them at all. It’s a great all rounder in my eyes.

The mixture of metallics, mattes and cream-powders make up the Natasha Denona Retro palette, with 9 shades being of a satin or matte finish, and 6 shades giving the sparkle. The cream-powder formulations seem to have quite a few opinions online in that they are more difficult to work with. I did certainly find this with Rebellion and I struggled to use it until I learnt that the best way to apply it was to use a dense brush to pick up the product before pressing into place then blending out. I can see why the formulation is widely spoken about, and I think it’s important if you are a novice to understand how formulations work because not all the time is it to do with your lack of skill or experience. It certainly flummoxed me and whilst I wouldn’t say I am an expert, it gave me a run for my money. It actually made me think I had bought a dud palette at one point, but once I managed to get it in place, I was on a roll. Rebellion definitely didn’t look how I thought it would look on the eye, but the diffused melted creamy finish it gave was quite surprisingly beautiful.

As with all Natasha Denona palettes, you can pop the shades out to fit them into a colour story that makes more sense to you, but I’ve found that the current layout works well for me as it is. I am finding that the warmer neutral shades are the ones that I am using more, which is no surprise but the sparkles and metallics are absolutely beautiful and I have been trying to incorporate these into most looks.

Natasha Denona Retro Shades

Glitz – duo-chrome cool baby pink with a champagne shift
Andy – Matte taupe lilac cream powder
Jude – Metallic warm taupe
Mod – matte off white with pink undertone
Vivanne – Matte light pink nude cream powder
Groove – matte medium dark warm maroon
Opart – matte dark taupe cream powder
Psychedelic – warm baby pink with multi color sparks topper
Gogo – Matte medium warm rose cream powder
Patty – Metallic medium nude rose copper
Swing – metallic medium dark cool maroon
Nude mauve – matte medium light neutral nude
Rebellion – matte medium burgundy cream powder
Helio – metallic taupe nude
Amara – matte medium cool vintage rose wood

The only two shades that I have cause for some concern are Rebellion and Amara which have both left a greasy film over the top. Nothing detrimental to the shadow as a piece of sellotape will take off the grease mark with ease.

If you are a collector of the Natasha Denona palettes then this is going to be right up your street. As a somewhat newbie to the world of Natasha Denona, I think I’ve made a really good choice with Retro. It’s definitely a colour story that I will get a lot of use out of and it makes a change from my usual warm neutrals or ridiculously brightly coloured palettes.

Which palette is your favourite from Natasha Denona?

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