Category Archives: Swatches

Too Faced Diamond Fire Highlighter (Review & Swatches)

Too Faced Diamond Light Multi-Use Highlighter in Diamond Fire

Crashing the Too Faced Chocolate Gold palette launch was this beauty of a highlighter – the Diamond Light Multi-Use Highlighter!

Too Faced Diamond Light Multi-Use Highlighter in Diamond Fire
Too Faced Diamond Light Multi-Use Highlighter in Diamond Fire

With a cute, old-timey box and the name Diamond Fire, it’s hard not to be super into this beauty of a product!

Too Faced Diamond Light Multi-Use Highlighter in Diamond Fire
Too Faced Diamond Light Multi-Use Highlighter in Diamond Fire

The product itself boasts shades of blue, pink and yellow (as described by the brand), but I personally see a lot of green in my own product. I believe each compact will have different swirls of colour, so you may get one with more pink or more blue. Fundamentally, you can’t really be too precise with your brush if you want more blue or pink since those streaks of colour just aren’t big enough.

Too Faced Diamond Light Multi-Use Highlighter in Diamond Fire
Too Faced Diamond Light Multi-Use Highlighter in Diamond Fire

It also comes with a whopping 12 grams of product, so I assuree you you’re not going to be running out of this one any time soon!

Too Faced Diamond Light Multi-Use Highlighter in Diamond Fire - swatch
Too Faced Diamond Light Multi-Use Highlighter in Diamond Fire – swatch

All swatched together, my Diamond Fire comes out with a very strong green tinge. The reflection is jawdropping, and you may find you need to lay off on a heavy application until you’re used to the kind of payoff it delivers! No complaints here though – I like my highlighters to be cause almost mirrorball reflections!

Wearing Diamond Fire
Wearing Diamond Fire

On me, the green-tinge is there, but it’s transformed a bit more into a yellow-green hue. I love unique highlighter shades, so for me this is a glorious addition to my highlighter collection.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for something not only gorgeous in the pan, but also something a little bit more unique (because let’s face it – there’s plenty of gold or champagne coloured highlighters on the market), the Too Faced Diamond Fire highlighter is for you. Aside from excellent longevity (my highlighter is still beaming after an eight hour work day), there is something to be said for the beauty of this product. Seeing a gorgeously swirled marble product that delivers a unique sheen to my cheekbones? I’m alllll in!

The Too Faced Diamond Light Multi-Use Highlighter in Diamond Fire can be purchased on sephora.ca for $42 CAD and on sephora.com for $34 USD.

The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.

Too Faced Melted Gold Liquified Lip Gloss (Review & Swatches)

Too Faced Melted Gold Liquified Lip Gloss

Alongside the amazing release of the Too Faced Chocolate Gold palette, we saw a single item come out that I hadn’t been expecting: a Melted Gold Lip Gloss!

Too Faced Melted Gold Liquified Lip Gloss
Too Faced Melted Gold Liquified Lip Gloss

I had been so amped for the release of the Chocolate Gold palette (see my collection try on video here) that I hadn’t stopped to consider they’d make it a whole collection! So when I saw this product previewed shortly before the collection launch I was astonished – it was one of those items that kinda takes your breath away just because it was so unexpected.

Too Faced Melted Gold Liquified Lip Gloss
Too Faced Melted Gold Liquified Lip Gloss

Following along in their Melted Matte and Melted Latex packaging, the Melted Gold Lip Gloss is more similar to the Melted Latex in terms of application. The product, however, does not have that latex-like glossy sheen, but more of a pigmented gloss shot through with glitter shimmer.

Too Faced Melted Gold Liquified Lip Gloss - swatched
Too Faced Melted Gold Liquified Lip Gloss – swatched

I know when I say “gloss”, I tend to think of something a bit more translucent. And while there is that transparent edge to the product, you can definitely see from the swatch above that this is an *incredibly* pigmented product. More than I would ever expect any gloss to be! Also, don’t let my comment about glitter in the product scare you – it’s neither chunky nor going to fall off your lips. It’s more a fine particle shimmer… except there’s a ton of it suspended within the base of the gloss.

Wearing Melted Gold
Wearing Melted Gold

Over top of my naked lips I feel like the colour is STUNNING. I had no concept that a gold lip gloss would be something that I was missing in my collection as a standalone product. I had thought that I would only wear this on top of a red lipstick to give it some oomph – not wear it by itself! But now that I’ve seen what I look like with gold gloss on… well… I’m enamoured!

Wearing Melted Gold
Wearing Melted Gold

The close up shot above should give you an idea as to the texture of the product. It’s not extremely sticky, although – let’s face it – glosses are inherently sticky, and to say otherwise is just flat out wrong as they have to have some tack to them in order to stay on your lips. The gold glitter particles are quite tiny, but you can see them everywhere!

Lasting power is as you would expect for a gloss: 2-3 hours before you’ll need to reapply it provided you’re not eating or drinking, which will, of course, cause product transfer.

Final Thoughts

I had no idea I needed a gold lip gloss in my life aside from extremely temporary use, but now that I’ve got one I’m in love! This might be the sort of thing you pick up for special occasions, or for a unique makeup look, but you may also want to give it a shot just to see how it looks of yourself. As I said above, I wasn’t expecting this to look so nice and, frankly, almost natural on me. I think it’s one of the more fun products I’ve tried of late!

The Too Faced Melted Gold Liquified Lip Gloss can be purchased on sephora.ca for $25 CAD and on sephora.com for $21 USD.

The product featured in this post was set to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.

essence BLUSHplay Sculpting Blush Palette (Review & Swatches)

essence BLUSHplay Sculpting Blush Palette

When I filmed my new essence Fall/Winter 2017 products, easily the most requested product for review was the BLUSHplay Sculpting Blush Palette. And I have to say, it intrigued me to – the layout and colour scheme of it is very similar to my beloved Smashbox LA Lights in Culver City Coral.

essence BLUSHplay Sculpting Blush Palette in Play It Peach
essence BLUSHplay Sculpting Blush Palette in Play It Peach

You’ll have to pardon my product shots of these – I thought I had colour corrected them appropriately, but I can see now that they’re coming off very red/orange, which is not the shade they truly are in the pan. This trio set is the “Play It Peach” option (they have a more pink-toned one as well) and the coral tones of it are right up my alley. They’ve structured the palette to have a highlighter, a deeper shade (sculpt) and a paler tone (define). I don’t personally layer my blush in any kind of construction like they’re indicating, but I think it is nice to have two blush shades and a complementary highlighter all in one palette.

Despite my product shots looking slightly off-colour, the swatch shots above are bang on. This is a perfect representation of the shades, so you can definitely see that this fits more into the coral/peach side of things.

Wearing highlighter
Wearing highlighter

Those looking for a super reflective highlighter may want to look elsewhere, but the BLUSHplay highlighter is still quite stunning. I know we’re so locked into basically creating a lens flare on our faces now, but there is something to be said for a natural sheen. The highlighter in this palette definitely delivers on the more natural side of things.

Wearing define
Wearing define

What surprised me the most is that I see no colour difference on my cheeks between define (pictured above) and sculpt (pictured below).

Wearing sculpt
Wearing sculpt

I went over my photos so many times to figure out if I had screwed up labelling them and I’m pretty sure I didn’t. Which is why I’m so surprised that the paler shade looks so dark on me! I can only assume that the pale shade has more pigment that I anticipated, and the darker shade has less. Both shades provide a BEAUTIFUL colour on my cheeks, but I’m really stunned that they basically look identical.

Final Thoughts

Although I’m extremely surprised that the two blush shades ended up looking the same (and honestly, I can’t help but wonder if I screwed up application and applied the same shade twice because I really do not get it), I have to point out that the colour(s) are gorgeous. The highlighter is more subtle, but it does provide a beautiful glow to the skin. I also like that the colour tone is in line with the blushes, so you don’t have to be worried about applying a clashing highlighter to your face. The price tag is super low on this ($6.99 CAD), and honestly the product way outperforms the associated price point. This isn’t a “decent for its price tag” product – this is good DESPITE the price tag!

The essence BLUSHplay Sculpting Palette can be purchased on essencemakeup.ca for $6.99 CAD.

The product featured in this post was sent to me for review.

Swatch Sunday: Too Faced Clover

Too Faced - Clover

I was soooo excited for the Too Faced Clover palette launch! And then suddenly less excited when I thought it was only a TooFaced.com exclusive item (shipping to Canada, including customs, is kinda pricey on their web site), but I was able to ship it to my in-laws in Wisconsin and picked it up over the holidays!

Of course, I’ve since discovered that the Clover palette is now also available at Ulta, which should make it a little more accessible to people (for us Canadians, it’s worth repeating – Ulta ships to Canada now too!).

Too Faced - Clover
Too Faced – Clover

To celebrate the launch of the Clover palette, the company donated $250,000 to the Best Friends Animal Society which is a national (USA, I presume) no-kill sanctuary for animals.

Too Faced – Clover Swatches

Too Faced - Puppy Eyes
Too Faced – Puppy Eyes
Too Faced - I Ruff You
Too Faced – I Ruff You
Too Faced - Cuteness Overload
Too Faced – Cuteness Overload
Too Faced - Lucky Clover
Too Faced – Lucky Clover
Too Faced - Paw Print
Too Faced – Paw Print
Too Faced - Best Friends
Too Faced – Best Friends
Too Faced - Chihuahua
Too Faced – Chihuahua
Too Faced - Ruh Roh
Too Faced – Ruh Roh
Too Faced - Cuddle Buddy
Too Faced – Cuddle Buddy
Too Faced - Fur Baby
Too Faced – Fur Baby
Too Faced - Love is Love
Too Faced – Love is Love
Too Faced - Daddies ♥ Me
Too Faced – Daddies ♥ Me
Too Faced - #SaveThemAll
Too Faced – #SaveThemAll
Too Faced - Wet Kisses
Too Faced – Wet Kisses
Too Faced - TF Mascot
Too Faced – TF Mascot
Too Faced - Spoiled
Too Faced – Spoiled
Too Faced - Woof
Too Faced – Woof
Too Faced - Good Boy
Too Faced – Good Boy

The Too Faced Clover palette can be purchased on ulta.com for $49 USD or on toofaced.com for the same price.

This post contains affiliate links.

Swatch Sunday: Tarte Tartelette Toasted

tarte - Tartelette Toasted

Coasting in on the warm palette steamtrain, tarte has released their Tartelette Toasted palette!

tarte - Tartelette Toasted
tarte – Tartelette Toasted

The tones and idea are similar to the rest of their Tartelette palettes, but obviously this one has more of a rusty, warm edge.

tarte - Tartelette Toasted
tarte – Tartelette Toasted

 

tarte Tartelette Toasted Swatches

tarte - S'more
tarte – S’more
tarte - Cashmere
tarte – Cashmere
tarte - Candle
tarte – Candle
tarte - Sunrise
tarte – Sunrise
tarte - Warmth
tarte – Warmth
tarte - Latte
tarte – Latte
tarte - Sunset
tarte – Sunset
tarte - Flame
tarte – Flame
Tarte - Simmer
Tarte – Simmer
tarte - Crackle
tarte – Crackle
tarte - Cozy
tarte – Cozy
tarte - Fireside
tarte – Fireside

The tarte Tartelette Toasted palette can be purchased on sephora.ca for $60 CAD or on sephora.com for $46 USD.