Valentine's Day FOTD plus Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette Review

Hello JFOG Readers! I hope you enjoyed your Valentines Day! This marks the half-way point for February and this month is flying by! Last month during one of several trips to Sephora I picked up the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette and decided to use it for the very first time to create a look for Valentines Day!

Here is what I used:

Mac spiked brow pencil and Coastal Scents camo palette to define my brows

Too Faced shadow insurance to prime lids

From the chocolate bar palette - Salted caramel as transition, semi-sweet in crease, marzipan in center of lid, gilded ganache on inner lid and outer lid, haute chocolate in between marzipan and gilded ganache on outer half of lid to create gradient effect, & triple fudge to deepen the crease

I used Elizabeth Mott smooth shadow eye pencil in pearl in my tear duct and on my lower lash line 

Lorac front of the line liquid liner for lash line

Urban decay perversion for waterline

Andrea #33 lashes

Lorac Special Effects mascara

Face:

Maybelline baby skin primer

Lancôme teinte idole ultra foundation in 460 suede

Mac Pro longwear concealer in nw40 set with Ben Nye banana powder

Lamik mineral powder in warm caramel to set foundation

Elf Turks and Caicos as contour

Mac stereo rose as highlight

Too Faced the perfect flush blush

Mac cork lip liner and mac viva glam nicki 2 lipstick

Palette Review:
 

What I love: the packaging is adorable! The shadows are packaged in a metal tin that is in the shape of a chocolate bar. The palette features 16 shades - 5 matte shades and the rest are primarily satin finishes with a few shimmery shades. There are neutral shades to wear during the day, warm shades to create smokey looks to wear at night, and a few fun colors to create dramatic looks. This palette has something for everyone! The shadows are made with cocoa powder, thus there is a faint smell of chocolate which adds a little more fancy to the palette. The colors in the palette have fun names centered around the chocolate theme. The shades in the palette also have great color payoff, are easy to blend, and there is minimal fall out. I did not experience any fall out with the 6 shadows that I used to create the look above. 

What I am not featuring: my only gripe about the palette is that the names of the shadows are not embossed into the palette as they normally are. The names are listed on a plastic film inside of the palette and you have to keep up with it in order to know the names of the shades. The name situation is a turn-off but not enough to bypass this product. 

Overall: I love this palette! I love the versatility and I love that I can create entire looks using this palette alone! I do not feel that I own another palette that is comparable. I would definitely recommend the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette to others and I think it is a must-have in any collection.

Monthly Empties - January

I did not use up a lot of products during the month of January. It was a vey slow month for me as it was too cold for me to really enjoy life! This has been the longest, coldest winter ever! I am adjusting better this month so I will have a longer list for February. Nonetheless, here is what I used up:

Vaseline Spray & Go - This product was featured in a recent monthly favorites post. I finished this product in January and I have already repurchased another can. I really like this lotion especially for when I am in a hurry to get somewhere. It goes on quickly and dries quickly. If you dispense the product and too much of it comes out you're not stuck for 5 minutes trying to absorb the extra product as you would with creamy formulas. It is very moisturizing on my skin. To give you an idea, my skin does not dry out quickly and I can "get away with" skipping lotion during the warmer months, though I would never do such a thing. I hope that explanation helps you to understand my skin type in case you were wondering about the moisturizing properties of this lotion. I like that the spray does not leave a heavy texture or coated feeling on my skin. It also doesn't display a slick shiny appearance on my skin. If you prefer shinier skin, then you probably would not enjoy this product. Overall, I think this product is worth a try, especially if you've never experienced lotion application from an aerosol can.

Karen's Body Beautiful Luscious Locks Hair Mask - I absolutely love this mask. It is thin in consistency, it does not have a heavy or distinct fragrance, and it leaves my hair super soft and moisturized after using it to deep condition. This mask retails for $25 per 8 oz and I always get it on sale. In the past I was able to get 4 uses out of one jar but now that my hair is longer I am only able to get 3 uses per jar. Whether on sale or purchased at full price I can not justify buying anything that I can only use 3 times, thus at this time I do not plan to repurchase and unfortunately I do not have any back ups of this product in my stash. I have plenty of deep conditioners and I feel that I need to use all of them before I repurchase the more expensive ones.

I discarded the following products before finishing:

ELF blushes - I had 3 blushes from ELF for which I paid $3 each and owned for more than 2 years and never used them. I had the colors pink passion, fuchsia fusion, and blushing rose. These products have more shimmer than I prefer (glitter-like shimmer) and the formula tends to appear chalky when applied to the skin. A lot of people compare these blushes to MAC or NARS because side by side when both products are in their respective containers they look similar, however the performance is not comparable. I do not think that these blushes are dupes for any high-end blush and I would not repurchase another ELF blush in this formula, nor would I recommend these blushes to others. There are other drug store brands that are worth a try, but I do not have a recommendation at this time. 

ELF precision liquid liner - the brush/applicator of this liquid liner is too thick for my preference. The width of the applicator reminds me of that of a standard nail polish brush. The product is very "wet" in formula and does not dry matte. It smudges and it transfers to the top portion of my hooded eyes. If you have trouble applying liquid liner or have hooded eyes, or prefer a matte finish for eye liner I would not recommend this product. I do not plan to repurchase this product.

Bear Fruit Hair Mango Macadamia Conditioner - this product started to collect mold. It is advisable to keep some natural hair products refrigerated and I keep most of mine in a small beverage refrigerator, but I took this one out and took my time about using it and it was molded when I got around to trying to use it so I threw it away. Most products from the BearFruitHair line work well but they are expensive, the company rarely offers sales, and the product comes in these "cute" rectangular bottles that are impossible to use. I have to slice open the bottles and transfer the product to recycled jars from other companies just to be able to use these. I have a few other products from this company but I do not plan to repurchase. The packaging is an absolute deal breaker for me!

That is all for the month of January. I have already started compiling my February empties post so stay tuned for more product reviews. If you have opinions that you would like to express regarding any of these products or if you have additional questions or comments please feel free to leave them below. You can also email me at jarfullofglam@yahoo.com if you have additional inquiries.

January Favorites - Products & Client Edition

Hello readers! It has not been very long since I posted my December favorites and I am already overdue for January favorites. I have been getting awesome feedback from a lot of you and I really appreciate the support. If you have additional questions and you do not feel comfortable leaving a comment below please feel free to email me at jarfullofglam@yahoo.com and if you follow me on social media (Twitter: @chanelgloss and Instagram: @chaneldior1913) feel free to send me a message there as well. Here is a list of things that I loved during the month of January:

Mac eye kohl in smolder - this is a multi-purpose product for me. I used it as a lipstick (see pic below) and I found that it was a great substitute if u were unable to get the limited edition Mac hautecore (matte black) lipstick. I also used this eye kohl in my waterline and it applies very smoothly yet intense. This is one of my fave black liners from MAC thus far and I have tried several! I purchased this product at maccosmetics.com.

Urban Decay pore perfecting primer - this primer helped my makeup go on smoothly over my large pores. And best of all it did not irritate my sensitive skin! I have tried the very popular Benefit Porefessional primer and it dried out and irritated my skin so I am always nervous about primers. Most people look for primers to control oil but this formula is not for oil-control. I have noticed that a lot of women use a pore reducing primer coupled with an oil control primer to meet their needs. Another option would be to use a mattifying setting spray which controls oil. Look out for my upcoming post about primers if you are interested in finding other options. I purchased this product at Nordstrom Rack but it is available anywhere that Urban Decay is sold. 

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Sebastian lip tar - this is a beautiful, unique color. It was released in OCC's fall 2013 collection. Like all OCC lip tars, this product can be mixed with other lip tars to create beautiful hues. This was the perfect nude lip for me! This lip tar is versatile enough to wear both during the day or for a night out. I purchased this product at lecosmetique.com but it can be purchased anywhere OCC products are sold (including Sephora). Below I am wearing this lip tar with MAC Cork liner, and you can also see more pics on my Naked 1 FOTD post. 

Mac Constructivist paint pot - this was my everyday lid color during the month of January. I love that you can wear this color alone or you can wear it as a base under your shadows. It's pigmented, long-wearing and lasts all day. There is no need to apply a primer when using paint pots as they do not crease and they are long-wearing. I usually apply the constructivist paint pot to my lid and use a basic transition color (I usually use my ELF bronzing powder in Turks and Caicos as a transition shade in order to save time in my everyday beauty routine). I can also use this as a base for a chocolate smokey eye or even a neutral day look. I purchased this product a couple of years ago at the Mac counter. It is a permanent item and is still available. Here is a pic of me wearing constructivist and Turks and Caicos (my camera has been creating a halo effect around my head and makes my hair look dead so my hair is cropped out of this pic).

Lorac Pro palette - this is the palette that I reached for nearly everyday during the month of January. It's the perfect neutral palette. I can't believe I overlooked this palette for so long. I haven't been able to really do a thorough comparison of my naked palettes because I've been wearing this everyday. If you are a minimalist and looking for just one palette that is worth the money and that you can use everyday this is the one that I would recommend. I like this palette over the naked palettes because it has everything that you need regardless of your skin tone. It features a row of 8 shimmery shadows and a row of 8 matte shadows, making it possible to create day or night looks. There is also a transition color for every complexion, which is rare in a palette. The shadows are pigmented and creamy, thus they apply easily with minimal blending. I also recommend this palette for ladies with mature skin since the creamy formula is less likely to settle into wrinkles when a primer is applied. I purchased my palette at Ulta but you can also find it on Lorac's website. 

Kate Spade iPhone 5 case - I bought quite a few phone cases in December but this pink and cream case is the one that I absolutely loved during the month of January. It is a rubber-like case that is very easy to clean (stains just smudge right off of it) and it works to protect my phone from damage.  I found this case at Nordstrom Rack and it was less than $20. It was priced between $16.97 and $19.97 as I can not recall the specific sticker price. It is easy to find inexpensive Kate Spade tech accessories at stores like Nordstrom Rack, Marshall's, and TJ Maxx. 

Snyder's chocolate covered pretzels - I know it is totally random for me to post a food product on here but everyone eats and everyone loves a good snack! If you like chocolate and pretzels and enjoy the taste of sweet combined with slightly salty you will probably enjoy these. They are especially good for a grocery store novelty item (you know the type of quality that you usually find at chain retailers) and I would totally serve them to guests. I found these pretzels at Target around Christmas and saw them in stores in January but when I went to look for them for a Valentine's Day event they were nowhere to be found! I am not sure if they were limited edition but if you see them in stores they are worth a try. 

 

 

H&M leggings - I bought a few pairs of these leggings at H&M before the season began. I paid $12.95 per pair. I have lived in these this month! I slept in them, wore them to the grocery store or to run errands, and I even worked out in a pair of these. They are opaque so your undies don't show through and they conceal cellulite so no need to be self-conscious about imperfections when wearing these. They are generously sized so most people are able to size down in these. They are long enough so there isn't an awkward space between the leggings and the tops of the shoes, even if you are fairly tall (I am about 5ft6''). They are large enough - once again you can absolutely size down in these - I don't have to worry about losing my pants as I walk because these fit very well. I have washed and dried these 100 times just in the month of January alone and they have never shrunk or faded. H&M has everyone's size so I think these are worth a try for everyone as I have not seen this type of quality in leggings at this price point. I am not a "leggings type of girl" as in you won't catch me wearing them to an event (though I plan to experiment with ways to make them look more tasteful) but these are essential to every wardrobe!

 

 

I decided to include my client favorite with this post because I didn't do many freelance jobs in January but here is one of my favorites:

We used NARS Sheer Matte foundation in Macao to even out her complexion and MAC Nightmoth and Rebel are on the lips. 

Have you guys tried any of these products? I would love to hear your thoughts. Let me know in the comments section below.