Chocolate Bar Palette | Too Faced

Happy new year everyone! I must apologise for my lack of posts recently, I have currently been snowed under with university coursework and exams, ridiculously boring I know.

Sometime before Christmas (which seems like an age ago now!) I caved and treated myself to the much loved Too Faced Chocolate Bar, and MY GOD is it fabulous. It is a range of sixteen gorgeous buttery soft and heavily pigmented, matte and shimmery eyeshadows.

First can we just talk about the smell. You might be thinking erm... it's an eye product what on earth is this girl on about? Well, as soon as you open this palette you are enveloped by the sweet smell of chocolate and let me tell you, it's divine! The eyeshadows themselves were made using pure, antioxidant-rich cocoa power giving them their dreamy scent. Every time I use this palette I have to smile purely because it smells absolutely heavenly.

I find chocolate bar style packaging absolutely adorable. Inside, each of the carefully selected shades come together to give a palette which is neither overwhelmingly cool or warm, making it the perfect palette for a whole array of skin tones and shades.

 
(L to R) Gilded Ganache, White chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Black Forest Truffle, Triple Fudge

(L to R) Salted Caramel, Marzipan, Semi-Sweet, Strawberry Bon-Bon, Candied Violet, Amaretto

(L to R) Hazelnut, Crème Brulee, Haute Chocolate, Cherry Cordial, Champagne Truffle

Being a lover of all things gold and glittery I absolutely adore the shade Crème Brulee, I think it would work well to complement just about any eye colour or skin tone. I wear it pretty much everyday. The Shade Champagne Truffle is another personal favourite, it's a delicate pearly, ballet slipper pink shade, perfect for the inner corner of your eye or even doubling up as a highlighter, simply stunning!

For me this palette is a definite 10/10, it has the perfect balance between matte and shimmer, and the formulation of the eyeshadows themselves are absolutely perfect, they are easily buildable and blend like an absolute dream, the scent itself makes this an total must for me. I understand than shimmery shadows aren't everyone's cup of tea but personally, this palette is right up my street. One downside however is, a few of the darker shimmer shades have a slight amount of fall out when applied, but honestly I think that is to be expected with any product containing that amount of sparkle. 

This palette is incredibly versatile, the shades contained can be used to create a soft everyday look as well as a more dramatic smokey eye for nights out. It is available here and retails at £39, which I think is fairly reasonable for sixteen, high quality shades.

Have you tried this palette? If so what did you think?

Love, Katie x

H&M Eye Shadow Sticks

After seeing the recent hype concerning H&Ms newly revamped beauty section I just KNEW I had to give at least one of their products a try. I thought I'd just try out something small as being a student and it being close to the end of term, I'm sadly running on quite a low budget. Sigh. 

Eventually, after ohhing and ahhing over their vast selection of products for quite a while I decided on two of their Eyeshadow pencils in the shades 'Chantilly' and 'Sun on sand.' 'Chantilly' being a delicate shimmering white , perfect for the inner corners of the eye and 'Sun on sand' a gorgeous golden goddess-like shade, which I thought would be stunning for all over the lid. I went for these as I thought they looked like good dupes for the Charlotte Tilbury Colour Chameleon Eyeshadow Pencils which I have been dying to try for months. But at only £3.99 each the H&M versions are far more budget friendly. 

When I got them home and tested them out I loved how convenient and easy to use the pencil formulas were. The product itself was fairly creamy and glides onto the skin, however one negative that I found was, thanks to the oily formulation they were a tad sticky and quite hard to blend with a brush, I found fingers worked better as the heat from them helped to melt the product into the skin more. 

Although not the most pigmented shadows in the world, they add a subtle amount of shimmer perfect for a soft daytime eyeshadow look. It took a while to build up the product to my chosen pigmentation, totally frustrating when in a rush. 

Despite promising to be water resistant, by the end of a day at uni they had rubbed off quite a bit, despite my using a primer underneath. (see below pictures)

At £3.99 I'm in two minds about this product, on one hand they're a buttery, easy to apply to the eyelid (all you have to do is scribble) but on the other hand I found blending and building the colour up to be a bit tedious. 

They're a fun experimental product- having never tried out pencil eyeshadows, they're also inexpensive so you don't really need too much extra cash on hand. Especially perfect for beginners and people who aren't very confident with eyeshadow, those who just want a nice all over colour on the lid, as well as those who have a soft spot for all things shimmery. Available online here.

Have you tried any of the new H&M makeup products, if so what did you think?

Love Katie x