Natascha Denona Glam eyeshadow palette review

After hearing me rave about this eyeshadow palette for weeks now, I figured it was time to give it a dedicated review. I am of course talking about the Natascha Denona Glam eyeshadow palette. This is hands down my favorite eyeshadow palette release of 2020. The minute I spotted this I knew it had my name written all over it. Why? Because it is a mainly cool toned neutral palette with only 5 mattes and 10 shimmers. In short, it is exactly what I love in a palette. So it’s pretty but what is the quality like? Well take a guess: if this was in my 2020 favorites, it must be good right?

Review: Natascha Denona Glam eyeshadow palette

So why do I have to go and have such expensive taste? Luckily the Glam palette is not one of Natascha Denona’s more expensive palette. It is still pricey at around €65 but for a 15-pan palette I think this is actually quite similarly priced as some of my favorite palettes by Urban Decay. While a lot of money, it costs nearly half of my other favorite Natascha Denona eyeshadow palette: the Gold palette, which retails for €113. So in terms of price point, I find this much more acceptable.

What does this palette have to offer?

The Natascha Denona Glam palette is a 15-pan neutral palette that leans very cool toned and light. This isn’t a palette that is too deep, which is what I love about it as it works wonderfully with my fair skin. Apparently this palette was created in such a way that you could use the three shades in each column to create a look. Additionally, rather than naming every single shade, the shades are labelled with how the brand recommends you use it. Both of those tips aren’t necessarily things I look for, but the entire idea behind the palette is that is foolproof and easy to use, even if you have little to no makeup experience.

What is the color story like?

So why did this palette appeal to me? Of course because of its color story. This palette is a taupe lovers dream and we all know how much I love taupes. This palette is also perfect for people who love a good shimmer as there are only 5 mattes. The other 10 shades features shimmer shades with varying degrees of shimmer intensity. Some are more metallic, while others are more like a satin. I think you also get the right shades to create some great looks. There is a stunning rose gold in the upper left corner and a more warm toned gold and bronze in the lower left corner. So even if you don’t love cool tones, you can still make this palette work. But who are we kidding: I am here for all those soft champagne, taupe and silvery greys.

What does the palette swatch like?

As you can see in these swatches you have quite a good range of shades here. The shimmers are shiny and well-pigmented. The mattes are too, but some of those are a bit light so they don’t show up well against my skin tone. The textures in this are great, the shades are vibrant and I love how easy to use all of the shades were. Another thing I adore about these shadows is how the deepest shade is a cool toned brown. That makes this one of the most perfect cool toned neutral palettes that I have tried. I can use every single shade and it is never too dark. This is definitely a great palette for fair skin tones if you want to create neutral looks and don’t want to run the risk that everything simply looks like a smokey eye. You do get that option, but it’s not the only result you’ll get.

3 Looks, 1 Palette

You know I like to use every shade in the palette when reviewing them, so I created 3 looks for you using all these shades. I definitely did one focusing more on the gold, one on the rose gold and one on the taupes. Let’s have a closer look.

For a cool toned palette, this still allows you to create a stunning warmer toned look if you focus on the two mattes and two shimmers on the bottom left corner of the palette. So that’s what I went for here. I just used the gold all over the lid, the bronze on the lower lash line and I used some of those matte to set up the look. The soft, pinky shimmer, in the middle of the bottom row is what is in my inner corner as a highlight. So as you can see, I didn’t exactly stick to the instructions.

Focusing on the right side of the palette this time I was able to create what I would like to dub my favorite look with this palette. It’s of course the taupey one! I used the deeper ‘Outer Eye Lid’ shade in the bottom right of the palette all over the lid and topped it off with the center eye lid shade just above it. I then used some of the mattes from that side of the palette. And even though the shade in the bottom right corner says it’s a brown bone shade, I again went against the grain and used it as an inner corner highlight. For a bit of brightening on the lower lash line I used the silvery inner corner shade to do just that.

The look that was the biggest surprise to me was the rose gold look I did. I just used the rose gold in the top left corner all over the lid and used some of the shades from that same row to round off the rest of the look. Here I also used the deepest shade in the palette for a bit of a liner moment. The result? A very pretty soft glam look that is more cool toned leaning.

My final thoughts

Can you tell that I love the Natascha Denona Glam eyeshadow palette? This has made its way into my favorite neutral palettes of all time in a heartbeat for a reason and I hope this review is showing you why. This palette is just perfection to me. None of the shades are too dark, they are easy to work with and to top it off the color story is just great for what I look for. You have the option to go warm toned, but the look is still quite neutral. The gold isn’t super yellow toned but still has enough warmth for those of you who may think cool tones are too ashy. Yet the palette never strays away from its true nature: a stunning cool toned palette with all the shades I am looking for. Dare I say it? It could very well be that this palette could be the only I would ever keep if I had to give up or lose all of my other ones. Bold claim, I know, but that is how I feel as of writing this blog post. It might change in the future, but currently nothing can top this.

Would I recommend the Natascha Denona Glam eyeshadow palette?

Before you think I will blatantly recommend this, the answer is no. Natascha Denona is still an expensive brand to buy from. So while I love it and I can’t stop raving about how great I think this palette is, I don’t think you should run out and buy it. If you have fair skin with a cool to neutral undertone, than this may be one to save up for or to wait for a sale. If you are deeper or if you have very warm olive undertones to your skin, this may not be your cup of tea. It can pull ashy and not as vibrant as it does on me. So give it a swatch while you can and see what it can do for you. I hope my review was helpful in showing you some different options this palette has to offer and how it swatches against my fair skin. In short, I hope this review could help you on taking a decision whether this palette might be right for you or not.

What was the last palette you fell in love with?