Too Faced Chocolate Bar Eyeshadow Palette

As hyped up and popular the Chocolate Bar palette is ever since its launch, I never considered actually buying it and that's purely because of the price. After I got TheBalm's Nude'Tude I didn't plan on buying another eyeshadow palette for a really long time, but I needed a proper treat for my birthday and one night I just decided to order it. And boy, am I glad I did. The raves are so justified and I can easily see why so many people put this palette into their last year's annual favourites. The shade selection is fantastic and the quality of the shades is brilliant as well. It may be expensive, but I don't regret buying it for a second.

Texture: All the shimmer/satin shades apart from the Candied Violet are buttery, incredibly pigmented and blend so well. The mattes are great too, more buttery than Urban Decay's, but they perform equally well. Candied Violet feels drier to the touch and it performed poorly from the start, however, now that I've swatched it properly, so gone through the top layer, it performs great. A similar thing happened with Strawberry Bon Bon, which swatched chalky from the start, but is now working just fine. In general the eyeshadows are more buttery than Urban Decay's and TheBalm's.

Colours: There are 16 colours in the palette, ranging from mattes to satins and shimmer shades. The shade selection ranges from chocolate browns, gold, greenish old gold, burgundies and purples. Black is missing and I would also add an even darker matte brown, like Sleek in theBalm's Nude'Tude, but otherwise, I love the shade selection. I love every colour and all are very wearable, I've even worn Candied Violet, which not a shade I typical wear. I have very little dupes for these in my collection, which is a bit sad considering I've been a beauty blogger for over five years and a beauty enthusiast for well over a decade.

Gilded Ganache - a shimmery green old gold shade. It's similar to Bronze Goddess by L'Oreal in the discontinued Infallible range, but less gold and green. It looks stunning on its own and I also I love combining it with Creme Brulee for an antiqued gold look.

White Chocolate - a matte skin tone shade. The perfect base and blending colour.

Milk Chocolate - a matte medium cool brown. Great crease colour, but quite a brown choice for something that fakes a shadow.

Black Forest Truffle - a shimmery brown burgundy. Finally a company that made such a shade right, all the rest I've tried weren't pigmented enough. I combine it mostly with Amaretto.

Triple Fudge  - a matte deep cool brown with some green tones. Great for deepening the outer corners, but I would make this shade darker.

Salted Caramel - a matte medium peachy brown. Very smooth and looks great on the lids in combination with blue eyes.

Marzipan - a shimmery light beige-peachy shade. Darker than Sin from UD's Naked or theBalm's Stand-offish, but with a similar effect on the lids. Great as a lid colour and as an intense inner corner highlight.

Semi-Sweet - a matte medium chocolate brown. A lovely darker shade for the crease and outer corners.

Strawberry Bon Bon - a matte pastel pink. Soft, but quite sheer, so it works as a blending out colour. 

Candied Violet - a medium violet shade with purple shimmer. This one was very deceiving from the start because it swatched sheer, but then I did a test with one eye bare and the other with a cream eyeshadow base. To my surprise I managed to build up a fully opaque layer of colour on both sides with no problems. It's a very pretty purple that looks even more interesting because of the red shimmer.

Amaretto - a gorgeous satin reddish brown shade. One of my absolute favourites and crazy pigmented. Looks great with green and blue eyes.

Hazelnut - a satin medium brown shade. Very similar in terms of quality to Amaretto, so amazing and one of my favourites. Love wearing this on the lids.

Creme Brulee - the perfect gold shade that doesn't look orange on me, instead it's much more old gold/bronze like. Undoubtedly my favourite gold shade so far so my colouring. Quality is like at Amaretto and Hazelnut.

Haute Chocolate - a darker version of Hazelnut shade. Another great quality one and one of my favourites. It use it mostly in the outer corners.

Cherry Cordial - a satin burgundy shade. Similar to Sexy in TheBalm's Nude'Tude, which I slightly prefer to this one, though both are great. 

Champagne Truffle - a satin light gold shade which is an excellent highlighter. It looks more pink in the pan, but the shimmer is gold.

White Chocolate as a base, Hazelnut on the lid and under the lower lashline, Haute Chocolate in the outer corner and in the outer third of the lower lashline, Champagne truffle in the inner corners. The eyeliner is Stila Stay All Day Waterproof and mascara Maybelline The Sensational Waterproof. On the cheeks Max Factor Creme Puff blush in Lavish Mauve and on the lips Sleek Matte Me Birthday Suit.

Staying power: They last all day on the lids, but they do sometimes crease if I don't use a primer because some shades are so buttery. In that respect I actually find TheBalms' are better. With a primer they work great. I use theBalm's Put a Lid on it eyeshadow primer, but mostly I use a cream eyeshadow as a base to intensify them and make them last all day.

White Chocolate as a base, Amaretto on the lid, Black Cherry Truffle in the outer corners, Champagne Truffle in the inner corners. Eyeliner again Stila, blush Max Factor Creme Puff in Lavish Mauve and on the lips Golden Rose Velvet Matte 12.

Scent: The first couple of days I could not smell any chocolate, but now I do. It really does smell faintly like chocolate and cocoa. So far everyone has noticed the scent, even though I haven't told them that its scented.

Packaging: The packaging is metal with a magnetic closing system. It has a decently sized mirror inside. It's bulkier than my other palettes, but it's the only one made from metal. 

Price and availability: Mine is from Beauty Bay for 54.70 € (41.75 GBP). I hear Beauty Bay will now stop selling Too Faced, which is just the stupidest move ever. French and Polish Sephora ship Too Faced to Slovenia or you can go to Italy's Sephora. I'm not sure where else you can get this brand.

I just adore this palette. I has a wonderful selection of shades that are so completely up my alley. Maybe I'm missing a taupe shade or two, but I have them in other palettes anyway. I love how pigmented these are, since I have zero patience when it comes to application and they blend so well. This may well be one of the best purchases I have made in this year.

Have a great day!

New In #38

TOO FACED Chocolate Bar Eyeshadow Palette

I never do anything as stupid as spending a load of money just because I feel like it in the moment, but I wanted to treat myself for my birthday and I decided to order this quite out of the blue one week before. I'm so glad I did because this is an awesome palette. I'm still exploring the colours, so every day I feel like a kid in a candy store. The colour selection in this palette is fantastic and believe it or not, I don't actually think have dupes for these, at least for a great majority of the colours. The pigmentation is superb at most shades, mattes included, though there are a few less pigmented exceptions, but luckily they are my least favourite colours. They do crease at the end of the day if I don't use a primer and I think that's because they are so buttery and creamy. The first couple of days I could not smell any chocolate, but now I do. It truly does smell faintly like chocolate and cocoa. Really, really glad I bought this. 

Beauty Bay, 54.70 € (£41.75)

STILA Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner 

Intense Black

 This has been on my wishlist for such a long time and I kept avoiding buying it because it so expensive. It's a classic felt tip eyeliner with a precise nib with which it's easy to draw very thin lines, but the tip feels almost like it's a bit old, as the end is a bit flimsy. The formula was very liquid and wet from the start, but now it's already much better. Once this sets on the skin, it's rub-proof. You can rub it as hard as you can and it won't come off. It's not completely waterproof though, but it doesn't smudge during the day. Actually at the end of the day, it's still perfect and that's including the flicks. So far, I'm impressed, but I'm really interested if it will last longer than the rest I've tried.  

Beauty Bay, 18.30 € (£14.04)

BEAUTY BLENDER Premier Blendercleanser Solid 

15 g

This was a gift with purchase and it's quite small, but the full size is only 28 g. It's meant to clean beauty blenders and other sponges as well as brushes. Honestly, I don't think it's worth it. I had to wash my foundation brush four times and it still wasn't spotless. It did clean eyeshadow brushes very effectively, though. It works like any other bar soap I've had on hand, from Fa to Palmolive and other cheap ones. It smells like lavender, but in a soapy way. I need to use it more to see if it impresses me in the future, but 18 € for a small bar soap - they must be joking.

Beauty Bay, €18.20 (£13.97; 28 g)

SLEEK Matte Me Lip Gloss

Birthday Suit

Birthday Suit was a shade I was always dubious about. I've seen it only on girls with a medium skin tone and on them such shades look amazing, but on a pale girl like me, there is always a risk it'll look ugly brown. But in the spirit of birthday splurging, I took a chance and just got it. It's turned out better than I expected. It's a brownish-pink shade which has enough of those rosy tones that it looks good on me. Considering how concerned I was, I truly am enjoying this shade. The formula is strange, different from what I'm used to. It start almost as an oil, a very light one at that, but after about 3-5 minutes it starts drying and it dries to a perfect, "Instagram-matte" finish. This probably has the best proper matte finish I've tried. However, it does feel like a film on the lips and it can feel a bit tight, so avoid this if you have dry lips. 

Boots International, £4.99

BOURJOIS Rouge Edition Velvet lipstick

Happy Nude Year and Plum Plum Girl

My collection of Velvets is growing. I got two shades that as far as I know aren't sold here, Happy Nude Year and Plum Plum Girl, the latter was released recently along with two other shades. I've done reviews of four shades already (Grand Cru, Nude-ist, Frambourjoise and Olé Flamingo) and it's no secret how much I love these. Happy Nude Year is not what I imagined it to be and looks so much different than on my friend. On me HNY is a very peachy shade with very little pink. Plum Plum Girl is a great shade though. It's a deeper magenta-purple shade, a bit like mixing Mac's D for Danger and Rebel together. I have Plum Plum girl on my lips here. 

Boots International, £8.99

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream

Cannes

It's been many years since I bought one of these. I have Tokyo, Istanbul and Addis Ababa, now I got one of the newer shades Cannes, though I was thinking about buying more of these, at least Copenhagen, but also Transylvania, Prague, Zurich and Ibiza. I remember when I first got these, I realized they are exact dupes for Manhattan's Soft Mat Lipcreams (now sadly discontinued) and loved them. Istanbul was actually my most worn shade in my first couple of years at university. But now I don't actually think these are the best liquid lipsticks. They are good, but there are better ones. They start off as very light, slightly greasy creams and it takes long for them to dry to a matte finish, maybe 10-15 minutes. The pigmentation isn't as intense as at the competition either, but in general these are still nice and very comfortable to wear considering they are matte. Cannes is a shade I would never expect I'd like. It's the type of shade that looks amazing on medium skin tones and brown on light ones, but I actually like this one on me. It again has enough rosy-peachy tones that I can pull it off, but it's a very 90's inspired shade.  

Boots International, £5.50

BOURJOIS ColorBoost Lip Crayon

Plum Russian

I got this is as gift with purchase and I didn't get to pick the shade nor did I know before putting it in the shopping cart what the gift actually is. I have Peach on a Beach, or had it, I can't find it anywhere. Anyway, I was not a fan of that one, but I'm really digging this one, especially when I wear it in combination with a chocolate smoky eye. Plum Russian is a sheer deep red-plum shade that's glossy and I'm not a massive fan of such finishes, but I can always just blot it. The pigmentation of these is the best out of all such products I've tried and it's closest to full opacity, though it's still see-through. 

Boots International, £7.99

SANCTUARY mini Foaming Bath Soak 

75ml

Boots had a 3 for 2 and since I had two items already in the cart, I just chucked this in (I'll show the rest of the Boots purchases in the next new in). It's a bubble bath that smells of nothing special, just a clean type of scent with a hint of citrus like a lot of 1l cheap baths. It foam well and the scent is noticeable when in the bath, also my skin wasn't dry after. It's ok, but I would prefer a more exciting, luxurious scent.

Boots International, £2.50

YANQUINA Waterproof Eyeliner 

I really needed a new eyeliner at the beginning of the year, so I "splurged" for an 80 cents one from AliExpress, which I actually mainly got because of its cute polka dot design. It caught my attention on one of Beautysaur's pictures and she later spoke about it here, it was her who actually gave me a link to it. I expected nothing for this price, but it's very decent. In the first few days it performs like a brilliant eyeliner that is super black, well saturated with product and very precise. However, it takes some time for the nib to get saturated with product again, so if you use it often, it gets dry. I would suggest getting two at once, they are cheap as chips anyway, and then swap them each day, keeping the other one stored upside down. The nib is stiffer than Sweet Pink panda shaped one's, actually it's more similar to Collection's and Essence's nibs, but smaller and therefore more precise. It's nice considering it's so cheap, but the Sweet Pink one and a majority of others are a lot more reliable. 

AliExpress,  $0.76

ESSENCE Big Bright Eyes Eyeliner

01 …Highlight it Nude

So Essence is breaking my heart again, they are experts at that. They decided to discontinue these amazing drugstore gems. If you check my Instagram, then you've probably seen this eyeliner a gazillion times, since it's the liner I use almost every day and it's on my waterline in pretty much all of my pictures on this blog. Naturally I stocked up before it's are gone, it's so cheap anyway. It's the perfect nude slightly pink eyeliner that makes my eyes look more awake and bigger. The formula is so creamy and it easily transfers to the waterline, but also manages to hang on quite well. I just can't believe they are discontinuing these.

Müller, 2.20 €

L'OCCITANE Shea Cleansing Oil 

I nearly finished the Immortelle version which is so far by far my favourite oil cleanser mostly because it keeps my skin in check, while other oils tend to make it less clear if I use them too long. The reason I got this one instead is not just because it's a bit cheaper, but also because Immortelle one doesn't smell the best to me, as it has a wildflower/hay scent. I gave it a try before I finished Immortelle, which I normally don't do, but I was curious. I like it more. It does the same job of removing makeup plus waterproof mascara and cleans the skin, but it smells nicer and it feels better, a bit more "soft" or comfortable. I haven't tried an oil like it and I've tried quite a few. It's my new favourite oil, although I should wait before I say that with confidence, as it could break me out and in that case I'll go back to Immortelle, but I'm also interested in Balea's one. 

L'Occitane, 19.30 €

L'OCCITANE Melting Honey Exfoliating Sugars

I think I just found my new all-time favourite scrub. I was sure I missed the entire Melting Honey collection due to my avoiding going to the shop (I'm a person who likes to be left alone and I need to mentally prepare myself before I got to such shops), but I was so delighted to find this scrub, as it was the item I most wanted to get my hands on. A few bloggers told me that this collection didn't smell like the old honey one, but this scrub smells very close to the original honey scent they had in 2006. The SA just opened the pot and I immediately knew it has to go home with me. It's a sugar based scrub that is closest to my old favourite Soap & Glory Flake Away, but it's much thicker and smells utterly divine. It does smell more like a flowery version of honey, but that flowery note is the same as in my favourite fragrance by L'Occitane Vanilla, which they discontinued years ago, I think it's orchid. Anyway it creates the most amazing scent and they should really think about creating a fragrance like it. As I said the texture is very thick, like a balm and it's not just sugar particles, but something dark as well (ground pits maybe), so it's an intense scrub, just the way I like it. It leaves a balmy-oil layer behind, so no lotion is needed afterwards. I really love this.

Ingredients.

L'Occitane, 23.40 €

*My Beauty Box Slovenia January

I was send another surprise Beauty Box, this time for January-February. It has five products inside: 

RIMMEL I <3 Lasting Finish Nail Polish in 170 Lively Lilac - a pastel violet shade. Needs three coats for full opacity.

KNEIPP Herbal Bath Pure Bliss Red Poppy and Hemp - A small size bath oil that looks like blood because of the thickness and colour. It's really strange pouring it in the bath, but it turns the water into a nice shade of pink-red. It smells nothing special, relaxingly floral, but it's not strong enough for me. There is not need for a lotion after this bath.

LAVERA Bio Almond and Bio Macadamia Oil Natural Shine Intensive Care - Haven't tried this yet and I doubt it'll be enough product for my hair, but I don't have the best experience with hair products from this brand, so I'm hoping for the best. 

LAVERA Basis Sensitiv Lip Balm - A classic lip balm that claims is for sensitive skin. It's waxy, but nourishing, pretty standard to be honest. I don't like the flour scent though. 

TEAPIGS. Tea Skinny Dessert and Bolly Good - the first is a rooibos tea with caramel pieces and Bolly Good is an assam tea with spices and cinnamon flavour.

My Beauty Box Slovenia, 15 € + shipping.

YANKEE CANDLE Tarts 

Soft Blanket, Vanilla Cupcake, Clean Cotton and Pink Sands

I realized Yankee Candles don't smell strong enough for my liking, but their tarts are great. So I picked up four that I liked most in our Müller. We don't have a big selection, but I got my old favourite Soft Blanket, which is a fantastic cosy-clean scent, Vanilla Cupcake, which is outstanding and smells like vanilla pudding, also it's the strongest in the bunch, Clean Cotton which smells like fabric softener and clean laundry (this one starts smelling like burnt wax after a while) and Pink Sands, which is a nice tropical fruity scent. I hate that I can't get my hands on my favourite Cranberry Pear here where I live, but I'm not paying for their shipping and I'm not going to the centre of Ljubljana just for that.

Müller, 1.79 €

I split the New in in two parts. I'll post the rest tomorrow or sometime soon.

Have a great day!