The Chocolate Gold eyeshadow palette is the latest from Too Faced's plethora of fall releases. The layer of melted gold embedded on top of the chocolate bar immediately caught my attention and drew me in.
The palette has the typical chocolate bar semi-random format of 16 shadows (2 extra large). There's real gold inside, where and what colors, I'm not sure.
At first glance the theme of the palette seems colorful, but when you subtract the bright purple and green everything else is pretty neutral. Here's swatches of the first half of the palette. Chocolate Gold, the large transition shade, is a little too bright for my taste but would probably add to a dramatic holiday look. I'm loving the fifth color here, Old Money, a golden bronze. New Money, the bright purple, is gorgeous and would be a fun summer shade to sport. All of the colors swatched here are shimmers.
With the second half of the swatches, you can really see how neutral the palette is. This is a combo of shimmer and mattes. I'm loving the look of Famous (warm gold) and Classy&Sassy (rose gold). Rollin' in Dough is a little too light for me to use as a transition shade but so So Boujee is perfect.
After the disappointment of the White Chocolate Bar, I didn't have high expectations of this palette, but I was pleasantly surprised. So far I have used 6 shades and they applied and blended beautifully. Matte lovers may not be drawn to the palette since it's mostly shimmers. I usually were mattes, but the pop of brights and the shiny gold drizzle drew me in.
The Chocolate Gold palette is available for $49 at TooFaced.com and other retailers that carry the brand.
Hey beauties! I stumbled upon, the new Milani Metallics at my local drugstore. They appear to be part of their Holiday collection (or marketed as such) because they were in a separate display. I choose one shadow palette and lip creme from the collection.
The shadow palette I choose is Metallic 08 Must Have Metallics Everyday Eyes
The swatches are really speaking for themselves. This palette is like a mini UD Heat palette but better. All of the colors are gorgeous!
Eye look I created with the palette.
Milani Metallic Lip Cream: Making Me Matte
Video on the above look.
There were 2 lip cremes in the Holiday display. I chose the darker color Making Me Matte, because I thought it would go along better with the eyeshadow. There was also a lighter lip creme available. Like the name suggests the lippie is metallic. The best thing about it, is that it lasts all day! The down side is that it can be drying. I countered that by applying lip balm first.
I've been using these 2 products all week and I'm pleasantly surprised. The palette consists of 5 shimmers and one matte black and can be used alone to create an everyday or dramatic evening look. I normally don't wear shimmers as an all over/transition color, but surprisingly it worked! Color 1, the largest color in the palette, is a shimmer and I was able to use it as an all over/transition color. It's very pigmented and helped to camouflage my dark circles. The orange and red (colors 3 and 4) blend effortlessly and the gold (color 2) was great as an inner eye shade. Of course you can mix and match them however you choose. Overall, I'm impressed with the performance of these products. Definitely worth the ten bucks, but an even better deal if you can catch them at BOGO 50% off!
Today I have the new Anastasia Beverly Hills Prism palette to share with you. I purchased it from the ABH website and it arrived a few days later. The swatches online had me excited about this palette because they seem to look good on every skin tone.
Here's the palette alone. There are an equal number of mattes and glitter/shimmers. I'm not sure why they positioned them in the palette scattered, instead of putting glitters in one row and mattes in the second row.
The first row is my least favorite. The white glitter is somewhat sheer and I can't imagine when I would use the bright neon yellow. The purple glitter (osiris) is also on the sheer side. My favs from this row are eden (peach) and obsidian (black). Holly bat man, this black is pigmented.
Names left to right: lucid, eden, unity, sphinx, osiris, sphere and obsidian.
The second row is my favorite from the palette. Dimension (grey/purple) is a gorgeous shimmer and I can imaging a glamourous smokey eye with it. Pyramid and eternal are very wearable shimmers since the colors are in the neutral family. Throne is a gorgeous green and I choose it for this look.
Names from left to right: dimension, parallel, pyramid, throne, saturn, eternal and lupe
I like this palette but I was a bit deflated after swatching the first row and having difficulty picking up some of the colors. The shadows that I used for the above look applied and blended very easily (unity, eden, throne and obsidian). The mattes feel soft and buttery. The shimmer/glitters are nice but the white and purple will require some work to build up (if you don't use a colored base)
This is a predominantly a neutral palette with a few pops of color thrown in for interest: green, purple and neon yellow. I would equate this palette to the Subculture palette as far as style and value.
The Prism palette is available on Anastasia Beverly Hills and Sephora.
Fenty is here! This is the first makeup line I've ever seen to crash Sephora's website! I purchased online at about 2am after a bout with insomnia but realized it was available in stores the next day. So I visited Sephora for some live swatches. For those of you that are wondering about the shade match, I usually wear NC44 in MAC (NC42 in winter and NC45 in summer). The shade I selected, 310 is closer to NC44. 330 is more golden and reminds me of NC45.
The great thing about this foundation is that you are sure to find a match! It was beautiful seeing the array of foundation on display in store. All 40 shades! I could easily go up or down a shade to switch from winter to summer. I actually found 3 shades that match me all lined up in a row. How cool is that?
The foundation is $34 which is great price for the quality of makeup. It's matte, long-lasting, light weight and comes in a glass bottle with a pump.
Shade 310
Here are some color comparisons of other foundations that I wear. I swatched wet and dry to show that the foundation dries darker.
From left to right: Fenty, Revlon, NYX, LA Girl
Fenty 310, Revlon colorstay combo/oily Golden Caramel, NYX total control drops in Golden, LA Girl Pro Coverage in Tan (oh my word this foundation never dries!)
Here's a closer view of Fenty 310
Video to see the products live!
I really like the foundation. I've used it with and without primer and it looks about the same. When I want to disguise my large pores I use a tiny bit of POREfessional over my nose only, then proceed with the foundation. It lasts all day with a bit of shine peaking through at the end of the day (after about 8 hours). For reference I have combo/oily skin, with a very oily T-zone during the summer months. This foundation was able to help control my oil. I will probably have more oil appear during the warmer months, but this was okay to use during September with very little oil break through.
I also picked up the killawatt freestyle highlighter. I wanted Trophy Wife but I didn't think I would wear it very often so I choose Mean Money/Hu$tla Baby instead. It's a pretty peachy/golden shade. I thought I could create more of a natural highlight with this shade. The good thing about the highlighters is that they can also be used for eyes, shoulders or wherever you want to shine. At $34 this is priced on the higher side, in my opinion.
Here's a look at the packaging. I like the stop sign design but honestly I dropped it once and broke the closing tab.
The last item I picked up is the Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer. It was $18, and as the name implies, a universal color for everyone. I like the shade on me. It makes me look like I'm not trying very hard. The packaging is nice but the shape of the bottle makes me feel like I'm not getting a lot of product, there's 9ml inside. The gloss doesn't feel tacky or stick but only lasts about 2 hours on me.
Gloss worn in the picture above.
There were several products I did not purchase and what seemed like an endless array of cheek products. I was intrigued by the magnetic contour trio, Match Stix Trio, but could not find a good color match. My favorite product from the line is the foundation. It's long-lasting and matte without being cakey or heavy. The price is great at $34 for 32 ml and a glass bottle. The foundation looks great on and films/photographs beautifully. I also like the Killawatt Freestyle Highlighters but they are a bit expensive, in my opinion. I'm an avid makeup brush lover but I skipped the cool shaped brushes this go around. If there is anything I would re-purchase it would definitely be the foundation. I was going to return shade 330 but I just may hang on to it for the summer months.
Hello beauties! Today I have the Just Peachy palette to share with you!
The palette is about 4 x 5 inches and has 12 shadows, all matte of course. I like the size of the shadows. They seem larger than what you normally get in a Too Faced palette. Each shadow weighs about 1.25 grams.
As far as texture I didn't notice a velvety matte feel, they just feel like regular matte shadows to me. What am I missing? They are comfortable and they do not feel dry. The apply smoothly with little patch-i-ness with the exception of the dark brown in the collection; chocolate dipped, which I could not get to work very well.
Row 1: peach meringue, peach tea, peach cobbler, peach tarte
Row 2: peach butter, just peach, peach punch, just ripe
The look I created with this palette. Check out the video to see the palette in action.
I was prepared to not like this palette just do to pricing alone. $45 is a bit pricey for 12 shadows, in my opinion. I'm accustomed to getting more product with the $50 price tag, but I this case, I believe the shadows are of a higher quality than the larger palettes with more product. The packaging is very nice, feels high quality and durable. I just wish the collection was named after a Fall fruit or something else other than peaches, lol. Too Faced already came out with a peach palette so I don't understand why they had to repeat the theme. The shadows are scented but the scent is barely noticeable. Other than that it's hard to find any negatives about this palette. Overall I'm impressed with the shadows. The colors are beautiful, easy to blend, well pigmented and will play well into the Fall.
Hi beauties! Just wanted to make a quick post to alert you of this beauty deal. Macy's is offering a free gift set with $37.50 Estee Lauder purchase.
There are 3 to choose from: Glow, Lift and Detox. I got the glow set because it's mostly makeup: mascara, bronzer, lip liner and gloss. There's also a cleaner and night repair complex but I mostly wanted the makeup. I've been wanting to try the Doublewear Foundation so I figured this would be a good time.
The other 2 sets are skincare based: lift or detox.
I'm not sure how long this deal will be available. The website states "while supplies last"!
Row 3: my castle (pearl), chip in (matte), romance (satin matte), spell breaker (matte w/micro glitter)
Row 4: inner beauty (matte) , tea time (shimmer), tick tock (matte), real you (matte w/micro glitter)
Lorac really paid attention to detail, starting with the elegant packaging of the foil box and baroque mirror. This palette reminds me of the Disney palette's that were sold in drug stores last year, a one inch palette created in storybook format. The shadows are buttery and pigmented. I think most will enjoy the shadow selection due to the neutral palette. It has just the right balance of mattes, satins and glitters!
Today I was lucky enough to get my hands on the Too Faced Glitter Bomb eye shadow palette. I wasn't sure what to expect but I usually love Too Faced shadows so I snatched it up.
Let's just talk about the packaging for a moment. Isn't it lovely?
There are 8 glitters shadows and 2 bases (white & black). Honestly, I was slightly disappointed to see the glitters were not as vibrant as the wording on the package. They are beautiful, just not what I expected. The color range reminds me of the Tarte Make Believe in Yourself palette. Totally different formulas, but the colors are similar.
If you're familiar with Too Faced glitters, you will easily recognize the dry formula. They look like nothing on dry skin. You will need a sticky base to get them to pop.
Here are 4 examples of how the base used will effect the outcome. For my look I used UD Allnighter for a wet application.
Here are the shadows swatches on dry skin using the white and black base provided in the palette.
Look I created using Rose all Day, Work It and Hot Da!n
Watch the shadows in action!
The palette is a little messy to use, but it's glitter which is common. The colors are gorgeous but not what I expected. Overall I like the palette but the glitters are not as vibrant as I thought they would be. Maybe I will enjoy them more if I use glitter glue to intensify the look. I'm going to try single shadow looks for work paired with a matte to calm things down.
Glitter Bomb retails for $45. I don't have the release date but it was part of Sephora's Fall Preview sale, so I believe it will be available soon!
I have the Sephora app and they alerted me of the new product of the week! The Urban Decay Naked Skin Shapeshifter, which is a 3-in-1 palette that allows you to contour, color correct and highlight.
At first I was mostly drawn to the packaging, a double-sided, double mirror bi-fold (or is it tri-fold?) case. The 2 mirrors add weight so it is a little on the heavy side for a palette.
There are 2 color options based upon your foundation shade. Light Medium Shift for shades 0.5 to 7.0, and Medium Dark Shift for shades 6.0 to 12. I selected Medium Dark Shift because I wear 7.5 in their foundation.
Medium Dark Shift - powder side
left to right: dark contour, medium contour, light contour, pearl highlighter
Can we talk about the pearl highlighter for a second? Gorgeous!!! I was not expecting the bling from this innocent looking pink. I'm wearing it in the photo below.
bling bling!
Swatches of the powders: They are extremely pigmented. I wore the medium contour and it's dark against my skin. I'll probably use dark contour during the summer months. The last shade is the pearl highlighter blended out.
The cream side
left to right: dark contour, light contour, color corrector, color corrector/highlighter and pearl highlighter.
I found this to be the most difficult side to work with. I have dark circles so I'm always trying out new concealers and color correctors. I found these to be just "okay". The orange was too dark for my skin, and the lighter shades couldn't cover my circles completely. I'm going to keep playing with it to see if I can master these creams. It usually takes me a few attempts to master new makeup.
Swatches of the creams. They are very pigmented as well I just haven't found the right combination for my skin just yet.
Overall I found the creams are just okay. While they are well pigmented, I couldn't make them work on my skin. I really like the powder side. I'm absolutely in love with the powder pearl highlighter. I don't have anything like it and it gives the most incredible glow! That makes this palette a yes for me. I'm not sure if the palette is worth it for the highlighter alone. It doesn't really have a name so I don't know if Urban Decay has produced it before. They are coming out with a After Glow Palette. Maybe it will have a similar effect for a cheaper price tag.
The Shapeshifter retails for $45 at vendors that carry Urban Decay.
