December Favorites - Product Edition

Here are my favorite items from the month of December. This post is long overdue and it's almost time for January favorites. I have already started working on that post so that I'm not so behind next month. Nonetheless, enjoy!

Urban Decay Perversion Eyeliner - I purchased this liner as part of the Urban Decay Ocho loco set. I use this one most often. This is the perfect creamy, jet black eye liner. Perversion is pigmented, glides on smoothly and it is easy to use in both your water line and on your eyelid to create a winged liner effect if desired. This is one of the smoothest, most gentle liners that I own. Sometimes I even use Perversion in my crease area to add dimension to an eye look, as it blends easily. This product can be found anywhere that Urban Decay products are sold and it retails at $19 when purchased alone.

Mac Indigo liner - I received this liner as a gift from one of my Instagram friends. This eye pencil is perfect for your water line and I love it for everyday looks. When placed in the water line it shows up like a black shimmer, kind of like the Chanel stylo yeux eye pencil in black shimmer. It reminds me of the color navy blue, where you personally know the item is blue but it is not as obvious to others, making it the perfect way to slightly glam up your daily beauty routine.  I believe that this liner is discontinued, however, you can probably find this indigo eye pencil at your local CCO (Cosmetics Company Outlet). 

Real Techniques Expert Face Brush - I love this brush for applying cream products. This is the only brush that I use to apply my Mac studio tech foundation, which I wear during the day. It helps me to blend the product seamlessly and it is super soft! If  I did not start building my brush collection with MAC brushes several years ago, I would have began with Real Techniques. These are quality, affordable brushes and I like most of their brushes that I own. Stay tuned for a full post about purchasing makeup brushes.

Elf Mineral Primer - for years Mac's Prep and Prime primer has been my go-to product. I discovered this ELF primer during my November haul and I have been wearing it with nearly every makeup look. It helps to prepare my face for foundation and helps to keep my makeup matte during the day. The product has a clear, serum-like consistency and it feels like a dry powder once applied to the skin. I recommend this product for oily skin types and for those with sensitive skin. I have very sensitive skin and in the past Mac's Prep and Prime was the only primer that I could wear without irritation, until I discovered this one. I am purchasing another bottle of this primer to add to my freelance makeup kit. 

Lorac Pro Front of the Line Liquid Liner - I shared with you guys back in November that I was looking for a liquid liner. I tried a few drug store products but I discovered that they dried out too quickly, had a brush that was difficult to work with, had formulation issues, irritated my eyes or just left much to be desired. This product came in the Lorac set that I purchased at Ulta during the holidays. I absolutely love this liner! Front of the Line is intense, dries matte (I hate wet formula liner), super easy to work with regardless of your eye shape or the size of your eyes. This product is for everyone, however, I specifically recommend this liner for ladies with small eyes, hooded eyes, sensitive eyes, and beginners who are afraid of liquid eye liner. 

Mac Nightmoth lip pencil - I have worn this liner with almost every single lipstick during the autumn/winter season. In the pic below, I paired it with Mac's Smoked Purple lipstick and it was a winning combination! I have used this liner with nearly every color from reds to pinks to purples to nudes. It is one of the most versatile lip pencils in my collection and if you are looking to start or expand your lip liner collection this one is a must have. You can look for dupes as well but Mac liners are the only ones that I prefer. I find that a lot of drugstore liners lack pigmentation and are not as creamy as Mac liners. Your lips are amongst the thinnest skin on your body, so be gentle with them and treat them well. I do not recommend that you cut corners by applying rough products that do not apply easily. I have an upcoming post about where to save and where to splurge when it comes to makeup products, so stay tuned. 

Mac Smoked Purple lipstick - When I posted a picture wearing this lipstick on Facebook and Instagram last month, I received several compliments and questions about where to purchase. This is a Pro product from MAC Cosmetics so it is only available at Mac Pro stores (we do not have a PRO store in Houston) or you can purchase it online at maccosmetics.com. This lip product goes on matte and I found it easy to apply. It is pigmented and it appears the same on your lips just as it appears in the tube, true to color.

Thank you for allowing me to download with you about my favorite products from the month of December! I hope that you found this review helpful. If you have any additional questions or comments please feel free to leave them below. 

FOTD and Too Faced Joy To The Girls Palette Review

I featured the Too Faced Joy to the Girls palette for today's look. I have used this palette twice. I will list the products used first, and the review for the limited edition holiday palette will follow.

Here is what I used:

Eyes:

Brows: MAC Pro longwear concealer in NW40 and MAC penultimate brow pencil

Mac painterly paint pot to prime lids

Transition: MAC MSF Deep Dark, Mac texture, swiss chocolate, and folie eye shadows 

Lid: Too faced Joy to the Girls palette colors - mulberry and sugar plum
Inner Corner: Too Faced Cheers
Crease: MAC Shadowy Lady and Fig 1
Outer V area of eye: Urban Decay perversion liner blended out with Too Faced coal
Under Eye - Too Faced sugar plum and yule log

Urban Decay Perversion in waterline

Face:
Elf Mineral Primer

MAC Studio Tech Foundation NW43

Mac prep and prime highlighter in bright forecast

Mac Pro longwear concealer in NW40

Ben NYE banana powder to set concealer
MAC MSF Deep Dark to set foundation
ELF Turks and Caicos as contour
MAC MSF Scene to be Scene as highlight

Rimmel shimmering bronzer in Sun Kiss applied all over to add additional warmth to skin

Mac nightmoth lip liner

Mac Smoked Purple Lipstick

 

I had to use a lot of colors on my eyelid to create the look that I desired, I will tell you why below.

 

Too Faced Joy to the Girls Review:

I did not initially plan to purchase the Too Faced Joy to the Girls palette because the online reviews were negative. Most bloggers complained that the shadows were too sheer. I also noticed that the color payoff was not as great once applied to your lid, as it is when swatched. Nonetheless, the palette was an impulse purchase for me. I went to Ulta in search of other items and saw and swatched the Too Faced palette and I knew that I would not rest if I didn't buy it. 

Here is what I love about it:

Packaging - beautiful! So aesthetically pleasing. I love mint and gold!
 

Features shades unique to my collection - the stars in this palette are the gold/ bronze shades. I did not have any shadows that were those hues and that had the color payoff that I experienced from the bronze/gold shades in this palette, so that alone sold it for me. 

Cons:

There are always cons in life!
 

Lack of Versatility - The versatility in the palette lies in the shimmer shadows. The matte shades featured in this palette are all very similar in color, thus I had to reach for my custom Mac palettes for transition colors to complete my look. There are two white shadows and a powder blue shadow that I would possibly never use. However, the Too Faced palette does feature a matte black, and a matte black shade is practically a necessity for me!
 

Fall out from shadows - I experienced tons of fall-out when applying my eye makeup. However, there are few shimmer shadows that are unaccompanied by fall-out, thus it comes with the territory.

Poor Color Pay-off - The bronze/gold/black shades were the only shades that I felt had great color-payoff when actually applied to the lid. I had better luck using the other shades with a wet brush. I also had to layer other eye shadows over the Too Faced shadows to create the desired shade. I was most excited about the purple shimmer (sugar plum) but it was so sheer that I had to use matte shadows from my collection to add depth to my look.

Packaging - Although I love the aesthetic properties of the palette, the palette was difficult to open and close and the tab used to access the shadows fell off during the second time that I used the palette, so I exchanged it.

The Bottom line:
 

Aside from the mishap with the packaging and the poor color payoff, the deal breaker for me was that this palette features four very similar pink shades, in addition to three shades that I do not use at all (powder blue and white), and there are only 15 colors in the palette. The palette features a full-size mascara as a bonus, but I was not crazy about the plastic bristles of the mascara wand.  If you are deciding on a final last minute limited edition palette before they are gone forever, I would not recommend this one as the one! Too Faced makes great products and stellar palettes, however, this was not one of my favorites from this season.

 

 

 

What palettes have you purchased lately? Please leave responses/questions/feedback below. If you have questions about my natural hair, look out for a post on the hairstyle in this picture. If you would like additional information please email me at jarfullofglam@yahoo.com