Isn’t this palette stunning to look at? I know, warm palettes are a dime a dozen, but there is just something about this palette that got me. The aesthetics just drew me in hard core and fast. I have never purchased a Natasha Denona palette because…. I. am. cheap. I said it. There you go. 🙂 Her normal 15 pan eye shadow palettes are a gut wrenching $129. Granted, the pan size is huge, but for me, as an eyeshadow “collector”, I don’t need huge eyeshadow pans. I have to admit, $65 for an eyeshadow palette is something I have a hard time considering, especially because there are so many lesser priced palettes I truly love. But like I said, the aesthetics of this one got me and I had Sephora store credit, so it made my decision pretty easy.

Ok, with all of that out of the way, lets get in to the deets here….

The ND Sunrise palette is $65 and you can purchase it off of the ND website, Sephora, and Beautylish. The Sunrise palette is a 15 pan palette with a mixture of shimmers and mattes. (Note – the 15 pans in the Sunrise palette are smaller pans than her previous 15 pan palettes – hence the price drop.) Some of the shimmers are duochrome such as Awakening, Aster, and Azalea. There’s a total of 8 shimmers and 7 mattes.

I have done three looks with this palette, you can see them here – Look 1, Look 2, Look 3. (P.S. please hit that follow button on my Instagram page while you’re there. 😉 )

Overall thoughts… I’m meh but leaning disappointed.

Again, the palette is a stunner to look at. The mattes blended beautifully but I did notice some fading with blending and some fading after the look was complete. I had to build up the color Clove several times and I still felt like it had faded slightly when all was said and done.

The shimmers left me wanting more. I was expecting Anastasia Beverly Hills X 2 quality with the Natasha Denona palette since her palettes are so expensive. I have to say, I hands down prefer ABH shimmers as a high end alternative and BH Cosmetics Zodiac palettes (the original and love signs) and/or some of – not all – ColourPop pressed shimmers as a low end alternative.

To make the ND shimmers pop, I needed to place a shadow stick base on top of my primer base and then place the shimmers directly on the shadow stick base. I tried two different priming techniques, that have always worked for me. And neither worked for these shimmers to pop without the shadow stick base.

Maybe that is the intent of these shimmers? Maybe they’re supposed to be a wash of shimmer? I feel if Aster and Awakening were the only two shimmers I had a hard time with, I would’ve thought they were meant to be topper shades. But nope. All the shimmers were lacking for me. Considering the shimmers are the majority of the palette, I am meh/disappointed. The reason I am not totally upset at the palette is because the shimmers over top of the shadow stick = perfection. They’re gorgeous.

I also experienced some sort of reaction to certain colors within the palette, mainly the shade Clove. My eyes itched and watered. I tested that specific shade and it seemed to happen a few times which led me to believe there was something in that shade my eyes just did not like. And considering that is the deepest shade in the palette which I would want to use with every look, I was out of options for anything else.

So really, I don’t know how to feel about this palette. I can make it work, I can make it look the way I want it to, but it takes extra work and I may or may not have some sort of irritation occur. In my opinion, paying so much for a palette, I shouldn’t need to take the extra steps. (Nor should I have to worry if my eyes will be irritated the rest of the day and possibly in to the following day.) In fact, I feel I should have to take less steps with such a pricey palette… But hey, maybe my expectations are too high?? And because I do have a healthy eyeshadow collection, I don’t feel I needed this palette.

If you came over from Instagram – In Day 3, Look 3, I was wearing two different palettes. Were you able to tell??!!?? Comment and let me know on my day 3, look 3 Instagram post if you knew before I told you!! On my right eye is the ND Sunrise palette. On my left eye I was wearing mattes from the BH Cosmetics Colour Festival palette and the berry shimmer shade from the Blinc and Boxycharm collab palette. I feel in the picture you can see my right eye, the ND side, has a bit more of a red undertone and my left eye, the BH/Blinc/Boxycharm side, has a bit more of a purple undertone. However, in person, it was very hard to spot the tonal difference. I would have felt confident going out in public wearing the two different palettes.

How about you? Did you pick up the Natasha Denona Sunrise palette? If so, how is it working for you? Let us know!

Have a great weekend! ❤