Natasha Denona Blush Duo Palettes 15 & 19

Today I'd like to share with you a product I've been testing for four months. Yes, really. I've been meaning to post about them, but there has always been a more exciting new release.

I first became acquainted with Natasha Denona's Blush Duo Palettes ($38, 14g) at a Sephora event back in June. One of my local stores carries the line, and I was interested in playing with more products. I purchased one of the duos and used it for a solid month before picking up the second duo that's in my collection.

Each of the duos come with a highlighting shade and a darker shade that can be mixed to customize your perfect shade. Both of mine share a common highlighting shade, but that's not consistent across the entire range (19 shades at Beautylish, 12 at Sephora).

Let's jump into these.

My initial purchase was Duo #19. Sephora calls this "Strawberry Cheeks- champagne peach shimmer with a matte blushed berry."

I purchased this after a quick test at Sephora- the associate demonstrated how this could produce a really pretty flush.

Take a close look at the texture of my blush- especially the colored side. It was about three months old at this time. Lots of chalkiness and what I discovered to be hard pan. I'll call your attention to the swatches on Beautylish- you can see the texture on this.

After scraping the pink shade, it's much more pigmented. However, that was rather disappointing given the price point for this duo. It's workable, but why?

Before hard pan formed, I picked up a second blush duo, #15. This is a satin duo, unlike the prior matte duo- and I think this is a key factor in my experience.

This is described by Sephora as "Sheer Nude- champagne peach shimmer and a light terracotta cream sheen."

This has been my nude blush go-to for the past two months, and I adore it. Unlike the Strawberry Cheeks duo, this has remained creamy and pigmented.

Although the performance of the matte duo greatly improved once I scraped the pan, for $38 and after three months I shouldn't have to do so. I like the color but am somewhat disappointed in my experience with the Strawberry duo. I wouldn't purchase another matte duo, but my love for the nude duo has made me consider additional satin shades.

Bottom Line: I find these to be an interesting concept, although having two of the same mixing shade is a bummer. I think the satin shades are much more reliable than the matte.