[Review] Too Faced – Chocolate Bar Eyeshadow Palette

I received this as a gift together with Naked Original Palette!  How beautiful right ^__^  One thing for sure is my obsession for eyeshadow palettes just grew stronger and it is literally dangerous to walk into Sephora now LOL XD  So many beautiful eyeshadow palettes there!  I’ve heard good things about this one, so let me do my own review~

Brand:    Too Faced
Product:  Chocolate Bar Eyeshadow Palette
Price:    SGD 69 (or USD 49)
Type:     Eyeshadow Palette
Size:     0.95g x 14 shadows + 2.2g x 2 shadows
Origin:   Made in USA
Website:  Too Faced website

THE PACKAGING

Comes in a pretty pinkish box.  Actual palette is housed in a Chocolate Bar design ~ yum!  I love the glossy chocolate plastic finish – simple and sleek.

Back view~

When you open the Chocolate Bar, the first thing that greets you is the smell of chocolate!  Think this is a first in makeup product history – so innovative 🙂  You also see a mirror of decent size – can fit your eye frame perfectly; and a piece of transparent film with the shade colours imprinted on it.

There is no space for brush. I don’t know about you but my fat fingers can’t do the intricate work of inner/outer corner detail smudging/blending so gotta remember to pack your brushes when you travel.

Taking off that film to show the shadows more clearly 🙂  Don’t understand why they can’t print the shade names below the shadow (like the Naked Palette)?  Make things much easier isn’t it hmm…

THE SHADOWS

“The eye shadows are pigmented with pure, antioxidant-rich cocoa powder and includes 16 matte and shimmer shades of natural browns, delicate pinks and luscious plums.”

Wow cocoa powder!  That explains the wonderful chocolate scent 🙂

There are 2 larger pans (2.2g each) for the highlight shades – White Chocolate and Champagne Truffle.   The rest of the 14 shades are equal size at 0.95g each.

10 shimmer shades. 6 matte shades.  (Wow 6! I’m a sucker for matte stuff)

SHIMMER shades

• Gilded Ganache – Khaki green with gold tone shimmer.  Love the variety shift from typical browns.
• Marzipan – Pink, rose gold shimmer shade (love this as a lid colour). Abit like Sin from Naked, but darker.
• Hazelnut – Coppery brown shimmer shade.  Like milk chocolate ~
• Creme Brulee – Gold~~ great as centre highlight of the lids
• Haute Chocolate – Dark brown with gold shimmer.  As fine as dark chocolate~
• Black Forest Truffle – Another dark brown with deep plum tone and multi-colour shimmers.
• Candied Violet – Cool purple shade with multi colour shimmer.  Another beautiful change from typical browns.
• Amaretto – Burgundy with gold shimmer.  (I looooooove burgundy shadows)
• Cherry Cordial – Plum and brown.  Looks really plumy but swatch appears more brown.
• Champagne Truffle – Beigy light pink highlight shimmer.  Universal global-must requirement.

MATTE shades

• White Chocolate – Matte white.  Brightens eyes with just a swipe under eyes or brow bone.
• Salted Caramel – Deep pink, light coral matte.  Special isn’t it?
• Milk Chocolate – Middle brown shade.  Kinda in between Naked & Buck in the Naked Palette.  Universal transition shade.
• Semi-Sweet – Deeper brown than Milk Chocolate, but lighter than Triple Fudge.
• Triple Fudge – Deep dark brown.  Yum.
• Strawberry Bon Bon – Light and cool bright pink shade.  Think would be a great brightener or even sweet blush.

There are enough matte shades to create many looks without even touching the shimmer shades, yea?  Gotta try an all-matte look one day!

SWATCHES

LEFT SECTION (3 columns)

The matte shadows can be a little powdery (which means greater tendency for fallouts) and need a couple layers to show the colour more clearly.  Marzipan, Creme Brulee and Haute Chocolate has beeeauutiful shimmer, but the other shimmer shades seem to have lower concentration of shimmer in it.  Not a bad thing I guess lol, but you can see a difference.

RIGHT SECTION (3 columns)

Love the colour of Milk Chocolate and Black Forest Truffle.  Wish Amaretto and Cherry Cordial could have more reddish / burgundy tone – they look more brown when swatched.  Champagne Truffle is just like Virgin in Naked Palette – beautiful beautiful highlight shade.

MY VERDICT

Pros

• Superb variety and versatility. Can’t even count how many looks can be created with just one palette.
• High pigmentation on most shades
• Great value for money.  16 shadows, girls!
• 6 matte shades!  Love the variety on matte shades alone.
• Compact and sleek packaging
• Anti-oxidant cocoa powder based with chocolate smell.  Yum.

Cons

• Some powdery / less pigmented shades.  Plumy shades don’t look as plum as it appears.
• Some fallouts when applying.
• No space for brush.  Gotta pack separately.
• Flimsy transparent film to know the shade colours

Overall

I feel pros outweigh the cons, and it is no doubt a great palette to have.  If you love brown, warm shades only – Naked Original Palette would be a better pick for you.  If you like some fun to play around with more matte shades or Khaki Green or Violet, then Chocolate Bar will satisfy your needs. 🙂

Sample look with Marzipan all over lid.  Semi-Sweet and Cherry Cordial in the crease and outer corners. Creme Brulee in the centre of lids. Triple fudge to smudge my MAC Pearlglide Intense Eyeliner in #LordItUp (see review here).  Champagne Truffle in inner corners of eye.

And of course wonderful ‘Vintage’ camera filter on the LINE camera app lolxxx.

[Review] Urban Decay – Naked Palette (Original)

Hoola, my first post! Been thinking of starting a blog for ages and no more procrastination! Since I just moved back to Singapore marking a “new” chapter of life, I thought it will be nice to write about what I received as a welcome gift the moment I touch down 🙂

I know Urban Decay Naked Palette has been overly reviewed and swatched, but I still like to have my own page about it. So here goes:

Brand:    Urban Decay
Product:  Naked Palette Original (or Naked Palette 1)
Price:    SGD83 (or USD54)
Type:     Eyeshadow Palette
Size:     12 x 1.3g
Origin:   Made in USA
Website:  Urban Decay Naked Palette 

THE PACKAGING

The box and the dark brown velvety case with gold wording imprint.

Definitely looks and feels classy and elegant, but I can’t say I like the velvety texture. It looks best in a brand-new state but tends to get dirty easily and I have witnessed some over-touched tester palettes in Sephora and velvety becomes gruey….quite disgusting.  I’ll make an effort to maintain it clean so it remains mint and elegant!

THE PRODUCT

Beautiful. What can I say… j.u.s.t beautiful.

12 slim long shadow fills, a double-ended shadow/blending brush and also a mirror of decent size.  All in a cardboard based box and magnetic closure.

Quoting from the website and the description on the box:-

It’s the palette that revolutionized neutrals forever. Loaded with 12 bronze-hued shadows in an insane range of textures only Wende and our product development team could dream up—including matte, satin, shimmer and sparkle—Naked proves that neutral is anything but boring. From the palest champagne to the grittiest gunmetal, it’s all here. Whether you’re going for a laid-back, beachy vibe or black-tie drama, you’ll definitely look better Naked.

Fill Weight: Eyeshadows: 12 x 1.3g e 12 x 0.05 US oz

Close up the 12 shadows.

Virgin (cool pale beige shimmer); Sin (champagne shimmer), Naked (nude matte), Sidecar (beige shimmer w/silver micro-glitter), Buck (fawn brown matte), Half Baked (golden bronze shimmer)

Smog (deep coppery bronze shimmer), Darkhorse (deep mocha shimmer), Toasted (antique copper penny shimmer), Hustle (plum-brown satin), Creep (onyx shimmer w/gold sparkle) and Gunmetal (dark metallic gray shimmer w/silver micro-glitter).

THE BRUSH

This is the double ended brush – one side visibly for main shadow packing onto the lid and blending, and the other slightly shorter and thinner for some eye corner work or liner.

Made of synthetic fine hair.  It’s my first time using synthetic brushes for eyes and I had the impression synthetic doesn’t work well with powders but I was proven wrong by these. Blending was a breeze and I did not have any fallouts!  I was glad it became a double-ended brush as opposed to the previous version where it came with a liner pencil.  With the brush, the palette is truly travel-friendly on its own!

MY VERDICT

Pros

• 12 beautiful, beautiful neutral colours that is really flattering on any skin tone
• Contains full range of colours from highlight (Virgin, Sin) to basic contouring (Naked, Buck) to dark colours for adding depth (Darkhorse, Creep) which also means it takes you from Day to Night
• Super blendable and velvety texture
• High pigmentation
• No fallouts
• Strong lasting power of >8 hours (used together with Innisfree Eye Primer) (their claim is 24 hours if used with Urban Decay Primer!)
• Awesome brand and feel of the product (makes me happy just having it haha)
• Comes with high quality double ended brush (truly travel friendly!)

Cons

• Only 2 matte shades.  I really love Naked and Buck, they are awesome shades but sometimes just wish there is 1 or 2 more matte shades in other tones to play around with.
• Velvety exterior (a plus for some, but not for me) gets dirty easily so needs more care
• All shadows are same size but obviously we will never use as much Creep as Sin or Naked. Would prefer if they contain more product of the base shades although that might mess up the 12 symmetric look of the palette.
• Pricey.  But I’d say for the quality and the lovely colours, it’s definitely a worthwhile investment if you love neutral shades for your eyes.  Certainly not expensive if you reach for it daily! 🙂

Overall

I’m so happy to receive this as a gift and have used it continuously for days now and everyday is a joy playing with the different types of shades and looks I can create with this palette.   I love neutral natural daily look for the eyes and I find Sin, Naked, Buck and Darkhorse to be my favourites.  Virgin is the most gorgeous highlight for under-brows and inner eye corners.  Toasted and Hustle are beautiful taupe-like shades.

Haven’t tried a few shades yet but there is no shade where I’d go “when I would ever use that shade….”.  I’m so excited to try all the shades and would so highly recommend this palette to neutral eyeshadow lovers 🙂

SAMPLE LOOK

A sample look using Naked Palette ^^

Sidecar all over lid. Darkhorse in the outer corners and outer under-eye. Half baked in the centre of lids. Sin in the inner eye corners and inner under-eye. Virgin as highlight under the brow bone.

I like it light and mild, very suitable for daily look.  Of course the palette can create many other ‘heavier’ or ‘darker smoky’ looks but daily is most practical for me.  I will certainly try smokier looks on weekends or special occasions. What do you think? ^^