Natasha Denona: Love Cheek Duo Review

Love is in the air! The new sparkly, pink cheek palette from Natasha Denona is here. The limited edition Love Cheek Duo is inspired by the Love Story collection Natasha Denona released in 2020. I was literally in love with this palette from the moment I saw it. I knew I had to have it, but it’s difficult to judge face products online without seeing them in person to colour match. I took a gamble on this one, let’s find out if I’m lucky in love with this duo.

Natasha Denona describes the Love Cheek Duo as “Inspired by the midi-sized LOVE STORY Collection, ND has paired her ever-coveted Cream Blush from the Diamond & Blush Glow Palette in shade Darya, with a NEW! Shade of her iconic Highlighting Impact Powder – a warm, pinkish Duo Chrome that shifts from pink to champagne”.

---

Shades

Starting off with the blush half of the duo, the shade Darya is a matte, bright, coral pink. This shade is beautiful and silky smooth to the touch. This is my first experience with cream blush, so I didn’t know what to expect in terms of colour payoff or texture. Holy Moly, does this thing ever pack a coral punch! The pigmentation is wonderful, the blush applied true to the colour in the pan. I used a sponge to apply the blush, so it was easy to pick up and apply. One dip into the product with my sponge was really all I needed. I could blend the product out easily. I’ve always heard cream blushes lift away foundation when applied, but I didn’t experience that with this product. I was able to apply and blend out the blush without my base makeup being disturbed. This product could easily be built up to be very intense. I got about 7 hours of wear time from this blush.

Moving on to the highlighter! Love is a pink and golden champagne duo chrome. This shade looks stunning in the pan. Sadly, I just can’t quite get it to look that way on my face. This blush is a hybrid gel-powder formula, so I find I need to get a lot of product on my brush to get pigmentation. Once I get the product on my face, it looks in a word – glittery. I don’t get much pigmentation from this highlight, I only get glitter and sparkle. I can’t get any of that duo chrome shift to appear on my face. I’ve used a variety of brushes, but nothing worked particularly well. This highlighter didn’t enhance texture in my skin. It just made my skin look glittery. At least, there was no fall out.

This palette contains 0.49oz/ 14g of product.

---

Packaging

This palette is a show stopper. It’s a basically a pink, glittery snow globe and I’m here for it. The sparkle and heart confetti that move around on the front of the palette is such a fun way to make the packaging interesting. In addition, I love anything embossed, so seeing those little hearts printed into the highlighter just makes me happy. This palette works so well with the love story/Valentine’s Day theme – everything about this packaging screams love! I didn’t buy this product exclusively for the packaging, but this is definitely one of my favourite makeup items in terms of how the product looks. Interestingly, there’s a small “How to Use” section printed on the box the palette came in. I thought that was a neat feature to include. It could help someone out who may not have used products with these formulations before.

The only bad thing about the packaging is the lack of plastic covering on the cream blush. Inevitably, powder from the highlighter will get into the blush because there’s no barrier. Some of Natasha Denona’s products do have a plastic cover over the cream products. I’m not sure why this one doesn’t. Like most Natasha Denona products these pans can be removed and easily placed in a Z palette should you want to. I wouldn’t want to remove the pans from the original packaging, but the option is available.

---

Thoughts

This is a lovely palette. I like looking at it and I mostly like using it. I never thought I would enjoy the blush more than the highlighter. The blush is so pigmented and wearable. I genuinely expected not to like it, but I’ve learned something about myself – I like cream blushes. The highlighter on the other hand is disappointing for me. I love how the shade looks in the pan, but I can’t replicate that colour dimension when applied. I’m not a fan of baked gelee formula highlights. Nevertheless, I’m determined to make this product work for me. I don’t mind a sparkly highlighter, but I want some of that pink/gold shift to show up on my face. If anyone has any tips or tricks to apply this type of formula let me know.

Though, I like the blush included in the Love Cheek Duo, this is not a new shade from Natasha Denona. Darya was previously released in the Diamond and Blush palette, so if you already own that palette you likely don’t need this duo. I’m surprised the brand didn’t create a new colour for this palette, but brands like to recycle and repackage existing colours for some reason. On the other hand, the highlighter is new and I can’t think of something similar in Natasha Denona’s product line.

With the Natasha Denona brand comes the Natasha Denona price. This blush retails for $42.00USD/$56.00CAD, so it’s expensive. This duo does contain 14 grams of product, so there is a substantial amount of product included with this product. Though, the shelf life of cream products tends to be much shorter than powder products. I’ll need to use this a lot to get my money’s worth out of the Love Cheek Duo.

Overall, I like this palette. I don’t love it. The packaging is wonderful and that alone makes me happy the Love Cheek Duo is part of my collection. The packaging is so mesmerizing and my brain can easily be distracted with shiny things and glitter. I’ll keep trying different techniques with the highlighter. I’m hopeful I’ll find a way to make it look fabulous on my skin.

Stay safe out there,

Kayla