Natasha Denona Safari 15-Pan Eyeshadow Palette ($129.00 for 1.20 oz.) is a new, limited edition palette features 15 matte eyeshadows housed in a slim, plastic compact. You’ll find swatches in this post for your viewing pleasure!
Also: It would be great if brands spent a little more time ensuring that their product names were respectful to any themes or places that they are inspired by. A palette inspired by a safari could have easily stayed within a flora/fauna realm of names instead of extending into using the names of ethnic groups (Amhara and Maasai) that are used without context (just seems like exoticizing the theme).
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Yeah really, the most offensive one in this context imho. Adding Natasha Denona to my do not buy list.
Mo
Thank you so much for calling out the offensive names. I was esp. horrified by “voodoo,” which reeks of colonialism and racism. (One assumes she means vodou, a religion that dates back thousands of years and is still practiced today.)
CW
Exactly! When I first saw the shade names released I was like, what? And then I was like, double what? when no one else online said anything about it. Hard pass for me, I think.
Nicole
Hmmmm. Maybe these apply better than they swatch since your eye looks are fantastic, but swatched they appear not as good as her mattes in other palettes. What do you think?
Dark Tan, Yellow, moderately yellow undertones. Combination skin. »
Mmmm the swatches don’t look very pigmented and not that much color variation either.it’s looking like a skip for me so far. For the high price tag these shadows should be popping !
Some of the mattes don’t look so hot, but the color story is nice.
AB
These swatches look ok to pretty good. Regardless, I cannot myself justify this price, even if every shade was extraordinary. So this is not for me.
I support your comments on the poor judgments in naming.
It seems that brands seriously need etiquette lessons about the appropriateness of their shade names.
I am not into an all matte palette, and even if I were, this one is patchy in parts and doesn’t have the shades I would use. Too many reds, pinks and oranges.
I ordered this from Beautylish last night as soon as it launched!I love Natasha Denona’s mattes. The colors in this palette and the fact that it is all mattes made it a must have for me. Mattes don’t always swatch the best so I’m not really worried about the quality. I haven’t purchased a palette from her that I don’t like. I don’t own Mini Sunset or either of the 28 Pan palettes. I have all her other ones and use them all regularly.
Hmm. Not too impressed so far. At that price point I would rather get the new PM mothership.
Cate Dummann
Natasha Denona always seems to scream to me but I can never pull the trigger and buy anything by her.
That being said, I actually think the swatches are pretty and given that I love matte shadows…I agree with the naming, however, I would never have known if it weren’t brought to my attention. I am going to research what they mean before becoming too aggregious about it.
I look forward to your review and your daily emails! We need to get you an app (am I the only person on earth who just found out TrendMood has an app?)
I also recently discovered Trendmood has an app… I didn’t care enough to check it out haha.
To be fair, Temptalia’s website is so mobile friendly I never felt it necessary to use some app. 🙂
I almost pulled the trigged tobuy a ND palette… and it was not in available yet when I visited a sephora while abroad haha.
kjh
Somehow, prob bec it is easily seen as appropriation, the ethnic names are less acceptable than with Juvia’s, where all the shades, names are African derived…and a celebration. IDK if Juvia’s is an African American enterprise, but it gives that vibe. It’s the attitude that ND embodied; exoticization is exactly it. (Like they always said about …nography. You know it, when you see it.). How about cheetah, leopard, acacia, firethorn? Place names might have been better, as well. My initial excitement has been dampened by the swatches, but they are not nec indicative of eye performance. I had thought this might be my first ND, but now I’m ambivalent.
Indeed, the founder and owner of Juvia’s is Chichi Eburu, a black woman from Nigeria! Don’t know if she identifies as African American.
Amber Whitney
Juvia’s Place eyeshadows are STUNNING. I own so many of her palettes.
jel888
If you want a first ND palette and don’t have dupes of it, the Sunset palette is a good. One personally like the Star palette, but so many had mixed views of it, so the Sunset or Lila may be better choices. What I like about her eyeshadows is I find them unique, very blendable, and that I can get loads of looks in one palette without having to go elsewhere, but then I like duo chromes and foils (bling), but that are still very wearable.
The colour selection is fun and fits the theme… the names… no comment, you said it all Christine! I am genuinely surprised to not hear anything about it.
I never stop at matte swatches, as I don’t mind a bit of building up. I am curious to see how it will perform!
Lucia Byers
I was used to see your pictures with your hair on a pony tail all the time, but you look very beautiful with your hair down and I just LOVE the red you added, what did you use? Please let me know.
I didn’t do it, just to be clear (I’m utterly incompetent at hair) – it is Joico Magenta per my stylist.
Z
Meh. For me, Natasha Denona shadows are really overrated. I purchased the SINGLE black eyeshadow she sells for THIRTY DOLLARS (caps totally required) and it was dry, patchy, and thin on pigment (spoiler alert, wet n’ wild black shadow performed better). In store swatches of the Camel and mini Lila palettes were similarly disappointing. Nah, dawg, naaaahhhh. I will not be purchasing her other overrated palettes/singles either.
Lori
I think her palettes while being nice, are just too expensive. I can’t justify paying that much for any make up product unless it takes away my fine lines and wrinkles. lol
Amber Whitney
I own and love several Natasha Denona palettes, but I’m not sold on this one. Waiting for reviews first, especially after hearing reviews about her Tropic palette (and of her changing the formula), which I did not buy.
This is disappointing on several levels. I’m not feeling those swatches and then the names used? No, thank you.
jel888
Okay, I’m looking at the swatches and colors, again and I think, boo hoo, I’m not going to purchase this ND palette (geesh I haven’t gotten any palettes from her since Sunset, I feel like I’m abandoning ND, and I really like her eyeshadows). I just feel that the more and more I look at them, the less I want or need these colors. I feel soooo conflicted! LOL! So, perhaps, Viseart’s latest will be the big holiday palette for me this year (which would also blow my need for Elements).
jel888
I disagree on the color names for this palette though. I did a little research to confirm a number of them and actually they are very accurate for the most part. The Maasai color red (in particular blood red) is a very important (if not the most important) color for this African group. I don’t know about Amhara though, they seem to wear light colors (but lots of pastels), lots of linen, though I did see a number of famous rulers of theirs in a peachy color, so perhaps they got it from on of the paintings. Also, I think that there was much thought that went into why these two groups were chosen, in particular the Amhara, as they claim to be descendants of Solomon, thus of Semitic origin, and ND’s company is Israeli, so honoring this people may very well likely have been for this reason (or who knows, a personal one).
The problem for me is more that the palette is called safari, where people go around and look at animals, and then there are two ethnic groups put in the mix instead of types of animals. Kind of like if it were called a zoo palette and then had “Jewish” or “Slavic” thrown in.
Alli
What? You’re reaching stop associating everything with race. Very divisive and sad.
If you disagree, please feel free to elaborate and discuss your position/points, but discussion should be encouraged, not discouraged, especially since what I said was wanting brands to do more research and do better in the future – the opposite of divisive. There’s no reaching necessary when two of the names are the names of ethnic groups.
Amanda Higuchi
Thank you for your comment on the shade names. It needed to be said. I’m sure they weren’t intended to be culturally insensitive but the fact is that they are. Honestly I’d like to hear a statement from the brand apologizing and acknowledging that the shade names are disrespectful. Everyone makes mistakes but they should own that mistake,. I think the names should be changed when additional Safari palettes are released too.
Heather
I agree with you about the names. It’s so easy to avoid mistakes like that. Plants, animals, winds, places. So many possibilities. If you want sound exotic, use words like sunset and sunrise in another language and pay someone who speaks that language to make sure you are getting it right. It’s not that hard.
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Thank you for the callout about the shade names. Agreed, completely unnecessary.
Not to mention Voo Doo, what the heck does that have to do with the safari theme? :/
Yeah really, the most offensive one in this context imho. Adding Natasha Denona to my do not buy list.
Thank you so much for calling out the offensive names. I was esp. horrified by “voodoo,” which reeks of colonialism and racism. (One assumes she means vodou, a religion that dates back thousands of years and is still practiced today.)
Exactly! When I first saw the shade names released I was like, what? And then I was like, double what? when no one else online said anything about it. Hard pass for me, I think.
Hmmmm. Maybe these apply better than they swatch since your eye looks are fantastic, but swatched they appear not as good as her mattes in other palettes. What do you think?
Just swatched and starting testing today – as soon as I am ready to review, I will be writing that review post 🙂
Totally understand! 😊
Mmmm the swatches don’t look very pigmented and not that much color variation either.it’s looking like a skip for me so far. For the high price tag these shadows should be popping !
I totally agree about the shade names.
Some of the mattes don’t look so hot, but the color story is nice.
These swatches look ok to pretty good. Regardless, I cannot myself justify this price, even if every shade was extraordinary. So this is not for me.
I support your comments on the poor judgments in naming.
100% agree about the names.
It seems that brands seriously need etiquette lessons about the appropriateness of their shade names.
I am not into an all matte palette, and even if I were, this one is patchy in parts and doesn’t have the shades I would use. Too many reds, pinks and oranges.
I ordered this from Beautylish last night as soon as it launched!I love Natasha Denona’s mattes. The colors in this palette and the fact that it is all mattes made it a must have for me. Mattes don’t always swatch the best so I’m not really worried about the quality. I haven’t purchased a palette from her that I don’t like. I don’t own Mini Sunset or either of the 28 Pan palettes. I have all her other ones and use them all regularly.
Let us know how you liked it (in use) 😉
Hmm. Not too impressed so far. At that price point I would rather get the new PM mothership.
Natasha Denona always seems to scream to me but I can never pull the trigger and buy anything by her.
That being said, I actually think the swatches are pretty and given that I love matte shadows…I agree with the naming, however, I would never have known if it weren’t brought to my attention. I am going to research what they mean before becoming too aggregious about it.
I look forward to your review and your daily emails! We need to get you an app (am I the only person on earth who just found out TrendMood has an app?)
I also recently discovered Trendmood has an app… I didn’t care enough to check it out haha.
To be fair, Temptalia’s website is so mobile friendly I never felt it necessary to use some app. 🙂
I almost pulled the trigged tobuy a ND palette… and it was not in available yet when I visited a sephora while abroad haha.
Somehow, prob bec it is easily seen as appropriation, the ethnic names are less acceptable than with Juvia’s, where all the shades, names are African derived…and a celebration. IDK if Juvia’s is an African American enterprise, but it gives that vibe. It’s the attitude that ND embodied; exoticization is exactly it. (Like they always said about …nography. You know it, when you see it.). How about cheetah, leopard, acacia, firethorn? Place names might have been better, as well. My initial excitement has been dampened by the swatches, but they are not nec indicative of eye performance. I had thought this might be my first ND, but now I’m ambivalent.
Indeed, the founder and owner of Juvia’s is Chichi Eburu, a black woman from Nigeria! Don’t know if she identifies as African American.
Juvia’s Place eyeshadows are STUNNING. I own so many of her palettes.
If you want a first ND palette and don’t have dupes of it, the Sunset palette is a good. One personally like the Star palette, but so many had mixed views of it, so the Sunset or Lila may be better choices. What I like about her eyeshadows is I find them unique, very blendable, and that I can get loads of looks in one palette without having to go elsewhere, but then I like duo chromes and foils (bling), but that are still very wearable.
The colour selection is fun and fits the theme… the names… no comment, you said it all Christine! I am genuinely surprised to not hear anything about it.
I never stop at matte swatches, as I don’t mind a bit of building up. I am curious to see how it will perform!
I was used to see your pictures with your hair on a pony tail all the time, but you look very beautiful with your hair down and I just LOVE the red you added, what did you use? Please let me know.
Thank you!
I didn’t do it, just to be clear (I’m utterly incompetent at hair) – it is Joico Magenta per my stylist.
Meh. For me, Natasha Denona shadows are really overrated. I purchased the SINGLE black eyeshadow she sells for THIRTY DOLLARS (caps totally required) and it was dry, patchy, and thin on pigment (spoiler alert, wet n’ wild black shadow performed better). In store swatches of the Camel and mini Lila palettes were similarly disappointing. Nah, dawg, naaaahhhh. I will not be purchasing her other overrated palettes/singles either.
I think her palettes while being nice, are just too expensive. I can’t justify paying that much for any make up product unless it takes away my fine lines and wrinkles. lol
I own and love several Natasha Denona palettes, but I’m not sold on this one. Waiting for reviews first, especially after hearing reviews about her Tropic palette (and of her changing the formula), which I did not buy.
This is disappointing on several levels. I’m not feeling those swatches and then the names used? No, thank you.
Okay, I’m looking at the swatches and colors, again and I think, boo hoo, I’m not going to purchase this ND palette (geesh I haven’t gotten any palettes from her since Sunset, I feel like I’m abandoning ND, and I really like her eyeshadows). I just feel that the more and more I look at them, the less I want or need these colors. I feel soooo conflicted! LOL! So, perhaps, Viseart’s latest will be the big holiday palette for me this year (which would also blow my need for Elements).
I disagree on the color names for this palette though. I did a little research to confirm a number of them and actually they are very accurate for the most part. The Maasai color red (in particular blood red) is a very important (if not the most important) color for this African group. I don’t know about Amhara though, they seem to wear light colors (but lots of pastels), lots of linen, though I did see a number of famous rulers of theirs in a peachy color, so perhaps they got it from on of the paintings. Also, I think that there was much thought that went into why these two groups were chosen, in particular the Amhara, as they claim to be descendants of Solomon, thus of Semitic origin, and ND’s company is Israeli, so honoring this people may very well likely have been for this reason (or who knows, a personal one).
The problem for me is more that the palette is called safari, where people go around and look at animals, and then there are two ethnic groups put in the mix instead of types of animals. Kind of like if it were called a zoo palette and then had “Jewish” or “Slavic” thrown in.
What? You’re reaching stop associating everything with race. Very divisive and sad.
Hi Alli,
If you disagree, please feel free to elaborate and discuss your position/points, but discussion should be encouraged, not discouraged, especially since what I said was wanting brands to do more research and do better in the future – the opposite of divisive. There’s no reaching necessary when two of the names are the names of ethnic groups.
Thank you for your comment on the shade names. It needed to be said. I’m sure they weren’t intended to be culturally insensitive but the fact is that they are. Honestly I’d like to hear a statement from the brand apologizing and acknowledging that the shade names are disrespectful. Everyone makes mistakes but they should own that mistake,. I think the names should be changed when additional Safari palettes are released too.
I agree with you about the names. It’s so easy to avoid mistakes like that. Plants, animals, winds, places. So many possibilities. If you want sound exotic, use words like sunset and sunrise in another language and pay someone who speaks that language to make sure you are getting it right. It’s not that hard.