Natasha Denona My Mini Dream Palette Review

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The Natasha Denona My Mini Dream Palette is probably the closest thing to a truly neutral palette I have from the brand. The shade selection stays mainly beige and brown and only leans very slightly warm-toned. There are 3 powder mattes and 2 shimmers with all small particles that offer a soft but still satisfying sheen. It includes one shade from the larger My Dream Eyeshadow Palette (Nurture) and 4 new shades.

Price: $27
Availability: Natasha Denona, Sephora, Ulta, Kohl’s, Beautylish

Swatches

Devotion

Devotion is medium warm beige shimmer with all small particles. In the pan, this looks cooler-toned than it looks on the skin. It is definitely warm and has a peachy tone that keeps it from being too yellow or gold.

Balance

Balance is a light peachy nude with a matte finish. It has just enough depth to contour the shape of my eye with but is light enough to get away with using in a no-makeup makeup look. It looks like it would be similar to the lighter mattes in the I Need A Nude Palette but this one is warmer in tone. Those are definitely taupe and this is more visibly peachy/brown once placed on the eye.

Passionate

Passionate is a light peachy pink shimmer with mostly fine particles. There are a very small amount of comparably larger (but still small) shimmer particles that give the finish a little bit more dimension than the other shimmer. They don’t cause a significant amount of fallout though. This is cooler-toned when seen side by side with the other shimmer in the palette. The depth of this is bright enough to use as an inner corner/brow bone highlight and at the same time doesn’t give me a blinding frosty look when used all over the lid.

Loyalty

Loyalty is a very deep brown with subtle red undertones and a matte finish. I like that this has strong pigmentation and adheres well but I am still able to blend it. It requires more time and effort to get a smooth blend with this one but for a very deep shade, I prefer that over something that dusts away too easily.

Nurture

Nurture is a medium brown with very subtle peachy tones and a matte finish. This one looked warmer than I was expecting when used as a transition shade. If I use it to add depth to the crease along with Balance as the main transition shade, it doesn’t add too much warmth, though.

Performance

This palette is not for everyone but it happens to work perfectly for my complexion and for the style of makeup I like to do. Though it is mainly neutral, I did describe a few of the shades as leaning warm (in the peachy pink direction). Having a neutral-cool complexion, these types of shades don’t look warm on me. They look totally neutral against my skin tone. But this is relative, so I’m not sure how they would come across on someone with more yellow or olive undertones.

The three mattes are spaced apart nicely so that the lightest one is just barely deeper than my skin tone, the medium brown steps down in depth just the right amount, and the deepest one is dark enough to use as liner or as a rich smokey eye color. The two shimmers are also different enough from each other to justify having them both in the palette. It is tiny and only has a handful of shades to choose from but feels totally complete on its own. 

The quality does not disappoint either. The past few palettes I’ve used from the brand have been really nice quality and this one is no exception. Color payoff is more intense from the mattes than the shimmers. The deepest matte is the most intensely pigmented of them but isn’t difficult to apply or blend. The shimmers have more of a buildable color payoff. I can pick them up with a dry brush and get a softer sheen from them or press them on with my finger for a bit more shine. These are not the most reflective shimmers but I’m happy with the amount of shine they give off.

I’ve wear tested it twice and got excellent wear time with it. Over primer, I got 10 hours of wear before I noticed slight creasing starting to show and without primer, it started creasing around 6 hours in. On another day, I wore it the same way with primer on one eye and without primer on the other, but I also added a glitter primer to the lid to amp up the metallics. This lasted all day as well but with the glitter primer, I had even less creasing by the very end of the day.

Pros and Cons

Things I like:

• One of the best shade selections I’ve found in a long time for everyday use. Feels “complete” and very neutral (only slightly warm).
• I can get a decent variety of looks out of it even though it’s only 5 shades.
• Quality of the powders is great. They apply well and last all day. Mattes have that smooth “buttery” quality, blend easily, and have good color payoff. Shimmers don’t have any large chunky particles in them and give a good amount of sheen to the lids.
• Very little fallout overall. I don’t feel the need to be extra careful when applying any of the shades.
• Wears well all day on me.

Drawbacks and other considerations:

• It’s not gonna be the perfect shade selection for every skin tone.
• You might already have shades like this in your collection.

Do I Recommend It?

Yes. I’m thrilled about this little palette. It’s tiny but has all the basics there and in a good quality formula. Personally, I feel it’s well worth the $27.

Looks

Look 1:

• Balance – Transition, lower lashline
• Nurture – Deepen outer corner
• Devotion – All over lid
• Passionate – Inner corner
• Loyalty – Liner

This is the way I usually place neutral eyeshadows for a soft glam look that is still wearable for everyday. The shimmer on the inner corner was applied with a dry brush and adhered fine with not much fallout. The shimmer on the lid was applied with a combo of a dry brush and my finger. I get a bit more pow out of the shine if I use my finger. The shimmer particles are all tiny and are not as prone to falling out. What little does fall down onto my cheeks is not super noticeable. The dark matte brown is very pigmented and worked well as liner.

Look 2:

• Balance – All over lid/crease as a base (most of this got covered by other shades)
• Nurture – Inner/outer part of crease, lower lashline
• Loyalty – Inner/outer lid, smudged into base of lower lashes
• Devotion – Center of lid, layered over mattes on lower lashline

I wanted to use the deep matte brown and the deeper of the midtone matte browns more prominently. The deep brown is nice quality. It applies evenly and blends out smoothly with good adherence and minimal fallout. I was going to just do an all matte look (see the last slide) but decided to top it off with one of the shimmers at the end.

Look 3:

• Balance – All over lid/crease, lower lashine
• Passionate – Center of lid

This one is meant to show the depth and tone of the lightest matte shade and give you a better idea of the lighter shimmer as well. The light matte is deep enough on my skin tone to contour the shape of my eye with but is light enough to use in a no-makeup makeup look. It has a warmer, somewhat peachy-pink tone to it. The lighter shimmer has a subtle pinky tone and it’s not too light or bright.

Look 4:

• Nurture – Crease/transition, outer lower lashline
• Balance – Inner lower lashline
• NYX Glitter Primer – All over lid
• Devotion – Pressed over the glitter primer with my finger

This last one shows the deeper of the midtone browns used as a transition as well as what the metallics look like when used over a sticky primer. I get an overall slight warmth out of these shades but it’s a good amount that doesn’t veer into looking unnatural on me.

Comparisons

Here is the Natasha Denona My Mini Dream Palette shown along with the Natasha Denona I Need A Nude (left), My Dream (right), and Mini Starlette (bottom) Palettes.

When looking at it next to the I Need A Nude Palette, it looks like the same kind of color scheme but it’s not. There is some similarity but this one is more brown and that one is more taupe. On me, I find it to be a nice light neutral brown, not particularly pink-toned and for sure not yellow-toned.

Looking at it next to the Patrick Ta Major Dimension 3 Palette, the shades in the My Mini Dream Palette are closer to the bottom cooler-toned row in the Patrick Ta palette. I don’t consider the bottom row of the Patrick Ta palette to be truly cool toned but closer to true neutral.

Above I picked out the Morphe 18CT Matte Palette to show side by side with the My Mini Dream Palette. The Morphe palette is very cool toned on me through and through. Even the warmer-looking browns in the top right look cool-toned on me. The shades in the My Mini Dream look like they might be similar in tone just judging by how they look in the pan, but once I’m wearing them, they are slightly warmer. I throwing this in here just for visual comparison.