Too Faced - Sweet Indulgences Palette

Ello lovelies!

I was in two minds whether to post this little review or not. I'd already photographed and written the post when i noticed that it was no longer available online, but i've since been informed it is available in some larger Boots stores in the UK, so if it takes your fancy, Boots is your best shot!

Plus its just too pretty not to blog about...

This little gem is quite possibly my favourite Christmas present ever, which is a bit cheeky since technically, i chose it, but oh well! I've never had the pleasure of trying any Too Faced products before, I've always had my eye on some of their little kits but found the cardboard packaging a bit of a turn off. Although this isn't exactly the most practical of packing, it sure is pretty.

The Too Faced Sweet Indulgence Palette includes 16 eyeshadows, a full sized Shadow Insurance (which retails for around £16 on its own), two bronzers; their famous Sun Bunny Light and an exclusive shade, two blushes, their also very famous Candlelight Glow Highlight and a pretty useless double ended brush. Phew, that was a mouthful! Basically, its got a whole host of goodies inside!

 

My last FOTD was using pretty much entirely this palette and I've got to say I'm really enjoying it! The eyeshadows are decently pigmented and blend like a dream. I would of preferred a few more mattes in there, Teddy Bear and In The Buff are the only full mattes included, but considering the rest of the palette is mostly shimmer having a nice matte transition colour and highlight is pretty damn handy! Black Sugar also appears to be mostly matte with quite a bit of glitter but that generally blends away, which i kinda like. I really love the variety of colours in here you can create nearly an endless amount of looks with this, from daytime to night time smokey eyes to more colourful looks using the pink or GORGEOUS greens.


I'm not too fond of shimmer bronzers so i haven't really given these a bash yet, but i will try too soon. The blushes have really decent pigmentation and including both a pink and a peach makes the palette even more handy! It is really easy to create nearly an entire look with it. I haven't quite made my mind up on Candlelight Glow yet, its pretty glitter heavy, which with pores the size of potholes doesn't really work too well. But I'll keep experimenting as I'm a sucker for a good highlight!

And for the famous Shadow Insurance, well... I've not gotten on with it too well so far. I've used this palette with my trusty MUA primer and had no creasing issues but using the Too Faced primer it creased horrifically within a few hours, which shocked me. But, that could be due to over application, so considering how hyped it is, I'm willing to give it another try. The brush on the other hand, ugh. Its a sponge applicator on one end (WHY OH WHY?) and an unimpressive brush on the other end. But considering its the only thing I've had to moan about, overall this palette is doing pretty damn well....

Swatches!

L - R: In The Buff, Peach Fuzz, Marshmallow, Lovey Dovey, Copper Peony, Teddy Bear, Gum Drop, Malted Milk Ball.

L - R: Satin Sheets, Nice Stems!, Nice Ash, Cherry Cola, Honeymoon, Pastille, Cop a Teal, Black Sugar.

L - R: Sunny Bunny Light, Exclusive Bronzer, La Vie En Rose, Papa Don't Peach, Candlelight Glow.

Overall, i really bloody love this palette. Priced at £42 it is a smidge on the pricey side but if you consider what you are getting, including a full size Shadow Insurance, its a steal. I believe i used my ASOS student discount when my boyfriend purchased this, taking around 20% off. The packaging is so bloody cute, not very practical, but adorable nonetheless. 

So if you're a Too Faced fan or intrigued by the brand, have a little nosey at their stand when your next in Boots (don't forget your points card!). They might just still have this bad boy in stock!

Have you tried any Too Faced products?

Let me know your favourites!

xox

Wet 'N' Wild - Blue Had Me At Hello

Aloha!
I thought I'd stay on the say theme of my last post and show you some more Wet 'N' Wild goodies! I have a friend who recently went on an amazing holiday to Florida (jealouussssy) and was lovely enough to pick me up some Wet 'N' Wild bits and bobs while she was out there! The first thing I'll be showing you is this bad boy, the Blue Had Me At Hello palette!

I think Wet 'N' Wild have a few variations of these palettes out at any given time and were one of the things I'd been lusting over on eBay, but didn't really want to pay over the odds for a "Drugstore" product. So needless to say i was thrilled when i opened this! The palette boasts eight shades of shadow and has a lovely range of blues, a couple of blacks and a very pretty highlight shade.

Personally i think the pigmentation is a bit half n half on these. Some of these are absolutely gorgeous and pigmentation is superb, more or less the 4 or 5 in the middle. But the few on the ends, mainly the blacks were a little sheer, powdery and generally hard to work with. But the ones that are good, are gooooood! The blacks are still useable to define but just take a bit more work, and can definitely not be used on their own.

Priced at $4 (i think) these are a bit of a steal, even with the couple of dud shades. I can't vouch for the other 8 pan palettes in this range, but I'm looking forward to picking them up when i travel over the the USA later in the year. Overall i think its a pretty decent palette, and if you can get your hands on it, for that price is definitely worth a go!

Have you tried any of the other palettes? Let me know! 

xox

Elf Cosmetics - Beauty Clutch

Ello again!

So this is the second part of my Elf palettes review. In a previous post i swatched and reviewed to Elf Pro Mini Palette, if you'd like to see that post click here.

I'd like to reiterate that I was fortunate enough to be sent these as Elf were looking for bloggers to swatch and review these for their swatch gallery. But just because i did not have to pay for these it does not affect my opinion in the slightest. Any review on my blog will feature my 100% honest opinion, including the good and the bad. Now onto the review!

The palette features 32 eyeshadows, a bronzer, two blushes, 6 lip glosses, brow powder and brow gel. The eyeshadows vary in texture and finish and this palette contains a lot less glittery shades than the previous one. The packaging is a little different, like the name implies it resembles a clutch bag. It has a flip top that holds a reasonably sized mirror and the eyeshadows and a slide out drawer that contains the rest of the products. Packaging for me isn't really my cup of tea, although it feels sturdy I'd be a little worried about it breaking in my bag. But that's just me!

The shadows have decent colour pay off throughout, with only having trouble with one or two shades. Like the other palette these are on the slight powdery side, and i did experience some fall out with these. But like i said in my previous review that's not too much of a problem as long as i remember to do my foundation last. Although there are a lot less glittery shades most are on the pearly finish side, which is a plus for me.

Row 1

Row 2

Row 3

This has got to be my favourite row. Just LOOK at that green and purple, gorgeous!

Row 4

The bronzer included is well pigmented but a bit too orange for my pale complexion although this may work well on darker skin tones. The blushes in include a nice peach and pink, they are a little on the sheer side but are easily build able. The highlight was a nice surprise, its a cream/gel like formula and although contains glitter sheers out nicely leaving a more subtle highlight.

As you can see most of the included lip glosses are on the sheer side, apart from the raspberry/red end colour. Glosses in palettes aren't my thing as i generally like to be able to chuck one in my bag. But these apply smoothly and are not very sticky, which is great. They do however have a noticeable artificial smell to them, which is something i dislike.

I unfortunately had a little camera issue when photographing the brow products. The powder is a very warm brown, which i think would be more suitable to redheads, and the gel is a very deep almost black brown. I'll hopefully get some pictures up of these asap.

Priced at £7.50 currently i think this overall is great value for money and i think the eyeshadows alone are worth that price. I look forward to uploading some looks using this palette soon.

If your interested in this you can check it out on the Elf website here.

xox

Elf Pro Mini Eyeshadow Palette - Cool Edition

Hey guys!

So a week or two ago the people from ELF UK advertised on their facebook page for bloggers to swatch and review two of their current palettes. I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the bloggers to do this and was sent two palettes to review. I'd like to start off saying just because i was sent these it does not effect my review in the slightest, all opinions are my own and are not at all influenced by not having to purchase the products myself. So just like every other review i do on my blog i will be giving you my honest opinion. So now the serious stuffs over... onto the review!

 

Today I'll be reviewing the Pro Mini Eyeshadow Palette, this palette comes in both warm and cool colours and being on the cool and extremely pale side this palette was the best choice for me. The palette contains 32 shadows in a wide range of colours, from brights, to smokey silvers to more neutral browns. Many of these shades have some sort of glitter or shimmer to them with the odd matte thrown in for good measure. I'm a fan of sparkle so these shades were right up my alley!

The palette has good pigmentation throughout, with only a few, mainly the matte black needing a little bit of layering. I did however experience some fall out when using these as they are a little powdery, which for me is fine, just means doing my foundation after my eyes. Like i said I'm a big fan of glitter, but without a sticky primer the glitter doesn't translate too well to the eye. So glitter fans will need to use a stickier base, but generally this can be said for most glittery shadows.

I'm a lover of blues and greens, i love to clash shadow with my hair (And yes, the reds back!). The shadow on the end is MUCH prettier in real life, its a matte black chock full of gold glitter so naturally would be the one to catch my eye.

Pinks, blues and purples.

Smokey silvers. This row is great for creating a smokey eye and includes a range of slivers, greys and a matte black.

Slightly warmer browns and neutrals. This row was used to create the look below, and paired with liquid liner created a simple pin up style winged eye. These could also be used for a bronzier smokey look.

Shadows from the bottom row were used to create this look.

And onto the black with gold glitter i mentioned earlier, i really wish my camera picked this up better. Over Pixie Epoxy the glitter really stuck and made the colour a lot more wearable for me, i fell in love with the purple and had to use it to add a pop of colour!

I was really pleasantly surprised by this palette, i own quite a bit from Elf and their shadows don't get a lot of love, so this is one I'll definitely be keeping in my makeup bag! This currently retails at £3.75 which i believe is a half price offer Elf are currently having, which is simply a bargain. You'd possibly be able to purchase maybe one high street shadow for this price. It offers a great range of brights and neutrals and I personally think the only thing this palette is missing is a highlight shade.

 Overall i think this is one of Elf's hits, its great value for money and a nice addition to any ones collection.

You can find these on the Elf website here.

Do you have any favourite Elf products? Let me know!

xox 

Review: e.l.f. Limited Edition Christmas Party Eyeshadow Palette

I got this palette for free with a promotional code for e.l.f. cosmetics' 3rd birthday.  I wanted the neutral one as I favour neutral shades more but I was really amazed with the colours in this one! I thought they were going to be the usual blacks and purples but boy I was so wrong!

The packaging is very sleek and professional looking and I like the little windows thorough which you can see the colours.  On the inside is a small mirror, enough to see your eyes in and the palette also comes with a small brush which I deem more fit for use with eyeliner rather than eyeshadows.  The palette comes in a cute black box with snowflakes on it (you can check it out here as I have already thrown it away... lack of space hehe).  I believe all the limited edition Christmas range comes in a similar package except for the nail polishes which are supplied in the usual package (however, they are also limited edition).

As you can see from the photos above, the palette contains 6 shades; all of which are nicely pigmented, the black, grey and white being very sparkly and glittery whilst the frosty white, greige and purple are shimmery but not overly glittery like the others.

I like the choice of colors in this palette but I was disappointed when I tried a look with this palette and I didn't apply a primer or a cream base underneath... the colours just faded away after a couple of hours.  However, when a primer is applied (I use elf Eyelid Primer) or another cream base (elf All Over Colour Stick in Persimmon is an excellent alternative), provided they are somewhat sticky, the eyeshadows last all night without fading or smudging.  Therefore, I highly recommend using a good sticky cream base when using these eyeshadows.

For £3.50/€4 I think this palette is good value for money, pity it is limited edition :(

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Review: Deborah stories Eyeshadow Palette (large)

Here's another palette I got as a Christmas Gift. I never actually had to buy eyeshadows cos I get so many as gifts (I have tons more to use up and two palettes which I haven't yet used :S; it's the same story with body lotions but at least I use these quickly).

Anyway, this palette is one of my faves for various reasons. Primarily, it was given to me by my neighbour as I take care of her adorable 4-year old daughter when she's not home (at the time she bought me the palette, her daughter was like 1 and a half years old ^.^). Secondly, Deborah is one of my top make-up brands; thirdly, the butterfly design (inside) & orange colour of the palette and finally, all those bright eyeshadow colours!!!

The palette comes supplied in a transparent plastic box (which I threw away long ago) and it contains:

~ Big mirror
~ Mini Black Mascara
~ Mini Black Eye-Pencil
~ 3 overlapping decks of eyeshadows x 12 each, a total of 36 eyeshadows!!!!
~ 2 wedge eyeshadow applicators
~ 1 blush brush

First, let's start off with the supplied extras.

Mirror: a good-sized mirror which I use to get a better picture of how the eyeshadow application is going.

Black Mascara: I've used this mascara in no time! It was so tiny so I got through it after like a month or so.

Black Eye-pencil: I was really disappointed with this pencil I'm afraid. It was hard to apply and even after warming it for some time, still no colour would transfer. I chucked this out.

Eyeshadow Applicators: there were 2 of these in the palette. However, they were so small, even with my tiny hands I couldn't quite get to grip them and apply the eyeshadow. I also threw these away.

Blush Brush: yet another flaw! Again, the bristles were like less than 1cm in collective width! How would you expect to apply blusher on the cheeks? And again, this found its way in the bin.

And here is the review on the eyeshadows!

All the points lost by the palette for the supplied extras, were surely regained when I tried the eyeshadows. They are really pigmented and really stand out... even the lightest of them! The shadows glide on smoothly and last pretty much all day/night long without fading or creasing!

Being powdery, it is best to use a sponge or wedge eyeshadow applicator to apply these as the bristled brushes will contribute to powder falling on your face whilst applying. If you don't own a wedge applicator, use a tissue underneath your eye whilst applying the eyeshadows.

My favourites have to be all the green hues and the mauve shades. Which shade(s)do you like best ladies?

Review: Estee Lauder Two-in-One Eyeshadow Wet/Dry Formula

I love Estee Lauder make-up and my aunt is the one to blame! She always gets me some make-up from this brand whenever she visits and the last time she was here she got me the eyeshadow palette I will be reviewing, a lip pencil and eyeliner pencil to go with it!

Here's how the palette looks:

Sleek brownish case with the names of the eyeshadows in gold and a good-sized mirror... every inch of it screams classy & chic! Probably, the first thing that catches your eye in the photo is the empty Khaki eyeshadow space. I loved this colour so much I've used all of it in no time (I have backups though hehe)!

You can see from the photo above that the eyeshadows are very well pigmented. What I love about these is the fact that most of them are neutral shades and go with everything. I'm a big fan of neutral eyeshadows and never get enough of them. I love how the dark and light shades blend well together to create both subtle and even dramatic looks. Don't get me wring here though! I love colored eyeshadows as well :) I usually apply an eyelid primer underneath the eyeshadow to help them last longer and it also enhances the colour; this also eliminates need to wet them.

* A similar Khaki shade from another palette is swatched to give you an idea of the colour.

The palette also comes with two wedge eyeshadow applicators but these didn't last long. I had to throw them away after a couple of washes because they were withering.

Have you ever tried any make-up by Estee Lauder? How did you find it?

Lara xoxo

Review: Revlon Illuminance Creme Eyeshadow Limited Edition 10-Shade Palette in Warm & Toasty 02

Hello my lovelies. Today, I'll be reviewing Revlon Illuminance Creme Eyeshadow Limited Edition 10-Shade Palette in Warm & Toasty 02.

My cousin and his lovely wife bought me this palette as a gift when they came over for a visit. We do get Revlon here in Malta but not all the stuff, as was the case with this palette. I immediately fell in love with all the neutral tones and when I turned to the back of the palette and read 'limited edition', I was over the moon. It is the only creme eyeshadow palette I own and I really love it.

Be it summer or winter, these eyeshadows never fail to impress. Especially during summer when make up seems too worn out by the heat that it doesn't want to stay put! The colours come out really nice and I like to experiment with new combinations. However, applying a powdery base (mineral foundation, pressed powder or simply a similar coloured eyeshadow) prior to applying the creme ones, will help prevent creasing + a similar coloured eyeshadow underneath will make the colour stand out more (not that these ones in particular need it). Further more, the colour stays put until I take it off with an eye-makeup remover.

The different shades in the palette compliment any skin tone and are perfect for day or night. I prefer to use the lighter colours during the day and the darker colours at night though I do mix different scales of the browns to achieve a different look each time. The image on the right shows swatches of the 10 different colours in the palette.

Until next time, take care & stay beautiful

Laraxoxo