Hello lovelies!

I’m so sorry for the lack of posts since last week, but the site has been undergoing a face lift – what do you think???

I’ve always been drawn to the brand Too Faced – the cute packaging, the scented products and the raved-about quality sounded amazing!  Granted, a lot of the packaging is possibly more suited to a school girl, as it sometimes borders on kitsch, but I think that’s where the charm actually lies.

My very first Too Faced product was a lipstick I received in a box swop with a girl in the UK.  We met on a very strictly controlled Facebook group where we sent out a box of goodies tailored to the receiver’s tastes and wants, and each box contained goods of the same value.  We both loved makeup and skincare, so our boxes both mostly consisted of these, and Hayley bought me a beautiful fuchsia lipstick.  After that, my obsession grew, and I knew I needed more products.  I’ve since bought myself two eyeshadow palettes, and was given one as a gift from overseas, the last time my parents visited family in Dublin.

So let us begin!

LIPS: 

I was given the La Crème Colour Drenched lipstick in the shade Fuchsia Shock – a bright hot pink shade.  I felt a little self-conscious wearing this at first, as it’s very much a moisturising and glossy finish.  There’s nothing worse than a girl wearing a vibrant coloured lipstick, and then when she smiles you see it all over her teeth.  I find that the glossier the finish, the more chance of it getting on your teeth.  However, I love the colour so much that I simply apply it, stick a finger in my mouth and after closing my lips, I pull it out and any lipstick that was too close to my teeth has been removed on my finger.  I also blot it with a little tissue paper, so it’s not as glossy.

With these little precautions, I don’t get lipstick on my teeth and it wears relatively well considering that it’s more a ‘colour drenched’ formula as opposed to a long-lasting, matte one.

I can’t seem to find this colour on the Too Faced website, so I assume it’s been discontinued, HOWEVER, I would love to get my hands on the shade Unicorn Tears, and iridescent shimmer shade that looks blue in the tube, but either applies as a lilac lippie with an iridescent sheen, or as a beautiful topper on other shades of lipstick to switch up how they look.

EYE SHADOW PALETTES: 

I have favourite shades out of each of these palettes, and shades that I feel the quality really wasn’t up to par.  I’ll go through each palette for you and provide swatches for you to see them on skin as opposed to in the palette.  Each swatch is just a single swipe over my skin, I haven’t loaded them up to try and show more payoff than you actually get.

Christmas in New York Merry Macarons palette

This palette was a limited edition release from Christmas last year.  It came in a super cute box and included a deluxe sample size of their Better Than Sex mascara too, which I passed on to my sister.  You can still find some palettes on places like Amazon and Ebay.  It also has a sweet vanilla scent which is exceptionally subtle.

Favourite shades:

Cookies and Cream: A black shadow with some glitters in it.  Very dark, very pigmented and super easy to blend

Violet Cassis: Bright purple, this is such a pretty statement shade.  Super smooth and buttery.

Chocolate Raspberry: This is a cross between a deep bronze chocolate shade and a burgundy.  It actually makes me think of chocolate covered cherries!

Praline: The prettiest goldy-bronze shade.

Tiramisu: Lovely crease shade, this is a warm brown colour, reminiscent of milky, creamy coffee.

Worst shades: 

Honey Lavender: This colour looks so pretty in the pan – a cool toned shimmer that reflects a bit of purple and a bit of champagne.  BUT it is so flakey and doesn’t blend at all.  Even using a finger, it’s difficult to apply this nicely, and chunks actually fall off while you do so.

Chocolate Bar Palette

This palette is one of their best sellers.  It’s shaped like a slab of chocolate, and not only have the shadows been formulated with cocoa powder, they smell like chocolate too!

Favourite shades: 

Champagne Truffle: This is the most beautiful shade to use as a highlighter – it’s a golden sheen in a white shadow, so it can be used to highlight the brow bone, the inner corner of your eye, and even your nose, cupid’s bow and the tops of your cheekbones.  It can be applied to be quite subtle, but can also be used to create a super duper intense highlight that’ll have you glowing like a goddess!  You can even pop a little of this on the centre of your lid using a finger, to create a halo makeup look.

Creme Brulee: Beautiful antiquey bronze shade, this colour is warm and stunning.  I’ve used this as a one colour wash over the lids, with a teensy bit of Salted Caramel blended in the crease to help it blend out.

Salted Caramel: The best transition/crease shade I’ve ever used.  This works for every single warm toned look I’ve ever tried, and some cool ones too, plus dark black smokey looks.  It’s super warm and makes me think of toffees.

Marzipan: Sadly this baby is almost finished, and it broke my heart to ‘waste’ it on a swatch that I was just going to wipe off.  It’s a beautiful rose gold shade that applies flawlessly and brings out the green in my eyes.

Worst shades:

Candied Violet: This colour looks super impressive in the pan, but when swatched, there is barely any payoff.  What does come out is only the glitter in the pan, and no shadow behind it.

Strawberry Bon Bon: The most pointless colour in the palette.  The pigment is non-existent, and even then it just doesn’t go with the rest of the shades in the palette.

Cherry Cordial: I loved this shade when I first saw it, but on swatching, it was a similar story to Candied Violet.  It looks like a lovely warm berry shade, but when you swatch it, it just comes out like a dirty, muddy brown.  And even then, there’s barely any payoff.

Natural Eyes Palette

A basic palette that is easy to travel with, this little gem is by far my favourite.  I use this to do my eyes, my brows, and my highlighter, and I’ve even used it to bronze/contour before.  It has a decent little mirror in, and is super to pack when you want to be able to wear pretty eye makeup, but you just don’t have space for a lot of makeup.

Favourite shades:

Sexspresso: Deep, dark, rich matte brown.  This colour is super pigmented, blends like a dream and wears all day.  Great for day and night looks.

Push-Up: A pretty bronzey shade, this colour is similar to Marzipan in the Chocolate Bar palette, but a little darker.  I’m trying to let this one live a longer life than the other!

Honey Pot: Beautiful metallic gold, this is stunning for night time looks.  Even though I wear it during the day too!

Silk Teddy: Once again, a beautiful highlighting shade.  Can be used on the brow bone, inner corner of the eye, and then as a face highlight too – gives a soft, slightly pinky sheen that is super natural but can be built up to be more intense.

Worst shades:

Chocolate Martini: This shade also got me all a tizz – a chocolate shade with gold glitter in?! But when swatched, or applied on the eye, you can barely see the gold at all.  You might get one or two flecks, but when you compare the swatch to the pan, they look like different shadows.  Super disappointing.

Erotica: This is a cool-toned brown that also had a bit of shimmer in it, and also swatches with little to no shimmer.  Plus, it has almost no pigment to it, so the payoff is shocking.

My overall impression of the brand is great – I love the cutesy packaging, and I love the product.  I know there are some shades in the palettes that aren’t up to scratch, but I think it’s very difficult for a brand to get every single shadow perfect.  I have other palettes where more than half the shades are of poor quality.  These palettes have far more good than bad shadows, and even the shadows that aren’t fab can be made to work.  I’ve used these palettes so much and still love them!

Have you tried anything from Too Faced??