Hey lovely ladies,
Taking a quick break form lip products to review for you this blush duo from Natasha Denona. I have discussed about Natasha Denona in detail when I had reviewed the “Sunset” palette. If you have not seen that review, please do check it out. Natasha Denona caused quite a stir in the consumer beauty market thanks to her eyeshadow palettes and their prices. Today’s review though, is about her blushes. She has about 20 variants to choose from, in this duo format. I picked up the shade #19 – Strawberry Cheeks. Let’s cuss and discuss!
Product Description:
A blush duo with bold and subtle shades. The soft and silky texture of each shade in the Blush Duo brings a natural-looking and bright look to the skin’s complexion. This duo blush palette provides a dominant color and a subtler color for blending and softening edges. It is formulated without parabens, sulfates, and phthalates.
Price:
$38 for 14 gm.
My Experience with Natasha Denona Blush Duo #19 Strawberry Cheeks Palette:
Packaging: The compact for the blush duo is so much better than the packaging for her 5-pan eyeshadow palettes! It is a fairly big compact with 7 gm of each product. The brand did not skimp on the product quantity at all. The compact is plastic for most part, but it is a good quality, sturdy plastic and does not feel cheap. The plastic compact seems to be fitted with a metal tray which has the two blushes separated out with a partition. It has a large good quality mirror and the compact has a magnetic closure. Overall, the packaging is weighted and is of good quality. The top of the compact has a pink acrylic sheet which gives it a distinct look. The sheet remains the same shade, irrespective of the choice of blush shade you pick up. The flip side of the compact has a sticker which has the shade names on it. Okay, now here is the funny thing. The “blush duo” range has 19 variants. There are two shades in the compact – duh! Duo!! I have the shade TouTou on the left and the shade Strawberry Cheeks on the right. The shade on the right determines the name of the compact, so I have chosen the blush duo #19 which has the shade “Strawberry Cheeks” on the right, hence the name “#19 Strawberry Cheeks.”
As per my understanding, the blush shades are not available individually. I don’t see individual compacts on Natasha’s own site or Beautylish or Sephora. And yet, the individual shades have been given individual numbers along with shade names. So, TouTou is #02, while Strawberry Cheeks is #15. Okay, why I am bothering with all this! It is for the simple reason that on the flip side of the compact, the shade name of the Blush (#19) isn’t mentioned. Instead, the individual shade names of the blushes and their numbers have been printed. This can be super confusing for someone who has more than one variant of these.
Shade: As I have already mentioned, the two shades in the blush compact are “TouTou” and “Strawberry Cheeks.” Neha has already reviewed “TouTou” earlier while reviewing the Golden Caribbean Coral Blush Duo; however, I will go ahead and add my two cents.
This blush duo has been designed with 2 shades of blush in it. It isn’t supposed to be a highlight and blush combo, but two separate blushes. However, considering we all have different skin tones and freedom to use any colour the way we want – it leaves everything open to interpretation.
First things first, I have mentioned this while reviewing the Makeup For Ever Artist Color , and earlier as well, professional makeup artists prefer to use two blush shades in combination to create a more natural look. So, one is the draping technique, which Bobbi Brown used to advocate, where the deeper shade is used to sculpt the cheekbones while the brighter one is used on the apples of the cheek. Natasha’s technique is to apply the darker shade to the apples of the cheek and the lighter one at the outer periphery of the darker shade – to diffuse the colour.
Shade: Let us discuss the shades first. “TouTou” is a gorgeous soft peachy, champagne gold with an elegant sheen. It has extremely fine shimmer particles but it does not show up on skin post application – all you see is the glow. It is quite a pretty shade and will pair well with almost any blush colour. The sad part is that the brand realised this and they did go ahead and paired this shade with more than half the blushes in this line! So, every other duo has TouTou on the left with a darker blush shade on the right, which is a bummer for someone wanting to pick up more than one blush duo from the range because who wants another 7 gm pan of the same shade!!
Coming to the actual blush shade – Strawberry Cheeks. Though the name suggests a bright shade of pink, the blush shade is actually a matte, medium, dusty rose pink. It is one of those effortless shades which can go with most looks – unless you are working with really warm eyes. I categorically wanted a shade which I could get a lot of use form and this one fits the bill perfectly.
Application: Coming to the application technique. There are various ways you can use it. One, as suggested by Natasha, apply Strawberry Cheeks to the apples of the cheek and blend away the edges with TouTou. It works perfectly fine. Alternatively, someone with medium skin tone like us, can easily use the shade TouTou as a highlighter and a gorgeous one at that. No, it isn’t the high intensity, wet kind of highlighter doing rounds nowadays. On the contrary, this reminds me of the elegance of the highlighter in the Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze and Glow Duo. It is really very pretty. The third option you have is to mix both the shades to create a new shade itself or use TouTou as a blush topper. Have fun with it however you like it!
Texture: The texture of both the blushes is beautiful. They are extremely finely milled, smooth and easily bendable without getting patchy. They do feel a tad bit powdery but that does not result in a lot too much powder kick-up or in them looking or feeling chalky. Both the shades blend beautifully onto the skin – individually or together.
Pigmentation: Pigmentation is excellent. TouTou is anyway amazing, you can go for a light touch or an accentuated highlight (on my medium skin) – without it looking over the top or shiny. Strawberry Cheeks is effortlessly pigmented. It can easily be built up or diffused.
Longevity: The product gives excellent wear. I get about 8-9 hours of wear with both the shade, it is pretty much apply and forget for the whole day.
Pros of Natasha Denona Blush Duo #19 Strawberry Cheeks Palette:
- A beautiful duo of a light peachy champagne shade and a dusty pink shade.
- For medium skin tone, can be used as a blush and highlight duo.
- Both shades are extremely easy to use and flattering.
- Extremely finely milled and smooth texture.
- Easily blend-able – individually or together.
- Excellent pigmentation.
- Excellent wear time, lasts well on my combination/oily face.
- Did not break me out.
- There is no chalkiness or “powdery-ness.”
- Good quality packaging.
- Easy to travel with, packaging is quite sturdy.
- Paraben and allergen free.
Cons of Natasha Denona Blush Duo #19 Strawberry Cheeks Palette:
- The labelling on the flip side could be confusing.
- This isn’t a reflection of quality, of course, but repeating the same shade in a collection of duos, seems counterproductive from a consumer perspective.
IMBB Rating:
5/5. I am besotted with this duo and would love to pick up more from this range of blushes. Honestly, I don’t mind picking up another shade with TouTou in it because it really is a gorgeous shade, but at this price point, I feel that repeating a shade is fairly pointless for me.
Do I Recommend Natasha Denona Blush Duo #19 Strawberry Cheeks Palette?
Yes, without any hesitation.
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