The Holiday Collection: Too Faced Sweet Indulgence Palette

The holiday season at cosmetic stores and counters are all about palettes and gift sets.  Every year, brands release limited edition holiday sets that combine a number of different products into one handy set. Too Faced cosmetics is no different.

Special for the holiday season 2012, Too Faced introduced the Sweet Indulgence Palette, which combines over $500 worth of products into one handy set for only C$62.  The set includes:

  • 16 x 0.06 oz Eye Shadows in In the Buff, Peach Fuzz, Marshmallow, Lovey Dovey, Copper Peony, Teddy Bear, Gum Drop, Malted Milk Ball, Satin Sheets, Nice Stems!, Nice Ash, Cherry Cola, Honeymoon, Pastille, Cop a Teal, Black Sugar
  • 2 x 0.14 oz Blushes in La Vie en Rose, Papa Don’t Peach
  • 2 x 0.14 oz Bronzers in an exclusive shade and Sun Bunny Light
  • 0.14 oz Highlighter in Candlelight Glow
  • 0.35 oz Shadow Insurance Eye Shadow Primer
  • Exclusive double-ended brush
  • 3 x get-the-look cards

This is my first foray into Too Faced’s products and this palette does not disappoint.  With 16 eyeshadows you can create virtually any eye look, and with two bronzers (a lighter one and a darker one) and blushes (pink and peach) to choose from, as well as a highlight and full-size eyeshadow primer, this set includes it all to make your face party perfect.

I absolutely love this set and it would make the perfect gift for anyone who is just getting into makeup or who doesn’t have a lot to begin with. Aside from foundation and lip products, this palette is honestly all you need in one handy tin.  This would also be perfect for traveling as it includes all the staples, just throw in a foundation and some brushes (it includes an eyeshadow blush with a sponge applicator on the other end) and you are good to go.

The only negative I can think of with this is it is a bit bulky and does take up a lot of room.  I have to keep this product outside my makeup container because it doesn’t fit, but once you consider how much product they packed into this two level tin, it makes up for it.

This palette, available from Sephora, is perfect for anyone young or old; in fact, I can’t think of one single person I wouldn’t buy this for.  It’s a great deal considering the amount of product you are getting (the full-size Shadow Insurance alone costs C$24).  Sometimes with palettes the quality of the product is diminished to make up for the price you are paying (I often find this with MAC brush sets), but this isn’t the case with Too Faced.  I have tried their Naked Eye palette (although I don’t own it), and all the eyeshadows seem to be the same quality.  They are very pigmented and blend well.  Same with the highlight, blushes, and bronzers.  If you are looking for a makeup set that includes all the staples, this is it.

If you are interested in this set, Sephora is offering their VIB-only holiday shopping event November 8 to 12, so if you have reached VIB status (spend $350 at the store in one calendar year) then you can pick it up for 20 per cent off.

Daytime look. On the eyes: Marshmellow (lids), Teddy Bear (crease), Lovey Dovey (to darken up the crease), Black Sugar (eyeliner). Cheeks: Sun Bunny Light as a contour and Papa Don't Preach blush. Highlight: Candlelight Glow

Night out look. Eyes: Malted Milk Ball (lids), Lovey Dovey (crease), Cherry Cola (to darken up the crease). Contour: Sun Bunny Light. Cheeks: La Vie en Rose. Highlight: Candlelight Glow. Lips: Illamasqua lipstick in Liv.

Is the Too Faced Sweet Indulgence Palette on your wish list?

Please note I was sent this product from PR. All opinions are my honest own.

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Essie Leading Lady winter collection 2012

When I think of holiday nail polish collections, glitter and red come to mind.  Essie’s 2012 winter collection, aptly titled “Leading Lady” doesn’t disappoint, with two glitters and two reds (well three if you count the red glitter), plus a couple unexpected shades thrown in for good luck.

In the press materials, essie founder and global creative director Essie Weingarten describes this collection as “one part Queen Elizabeth, two parts Dutchess of Cambridge. They don’t mince words, and they never mince colour.   They always go straight for the jugular.”  This collection is one part traditional (reds and glitters) a la Queen Elizabeth, but then with a Tiffany blue and a beautiful colbalt thrown in the mix, it redefines what holiday collections are all about; it’s a new generation of what the holiday standard is (aka the Kate Middleton of the collection).

As much as I love a good red and glitter, the stand out shades for me in this collection are Butler Please, a blue-blooded colbalt, and Where’s My Chauffeur?, a driven, gorgeous turquoise. These shades could have been released with any collection, no matter the season and I would have picked them up, but I love how essie released them for the holidays. They are just so unexpected.

From L to R: Beyond Cozy, Where's My Chauffeur, and Butler Please

Other colours in the collection include Snap Happy (incandescent vermillion), She’s Pampered (flagrantly luxe scarlet), Beyond Cozy (high-carat gold sparkle), and Leading Lady (glittering crimson regalia).  

She’s Pampered is described as a luxurious scarlet and I have to agree. This is a deeper red, but not anywhere near a bordeaux.  If you are looking for something along the lines of a traditional red, this would be it.

L to R: Snap Happy and Like Me

Snap Happy is a vermillion red, similar to a poppy.  This colour, to me, is the least original shade (other than the glitters) in the collection.  I have many shades similar to this one, including Like Me by essie, which was given away through a Facebook contest when essie launched in Canada.

L to R: essie Where's My Chauffeur and China Glaze Aquadelic

Where’s My Chauffeur is a gorgeous turquoise colour reminiscent of Tiffany blue.  This is one of my favourite shades in the collection because it reminds me greatly of China Glaze’s Aquadelic which came out in January 2012 with their ElectroPop collection.  Aquadelic is one of my all-time favourite nail polish colours so I was excited to get the essie version.

Butler Please is a cobalt blue unlike any other colour in my collection. This one stands out beautifully on the nails and is just so eye-catching; I often found myself just staring at my nails whenever they catch my eye.  This shade reminded me of Sally Hansen’s Pacific Blue, although it may be a touch darker.

Beyond Cozy is a golden glitter colour with a touch of silver.  This isn’t my favourite gold glitter that I have but it does remind me of Christmas a great deal.  I own other glitter polishes which are definitely more shiny, but if you are looking for something more understated, this is it.

Leading Lady is a red glitter colour that is perfect for the holiday season.  Like Beyond Cozy, this isn’t the shiniest glitter colour I have ever used, but if you want a touch of glitter, this is perfect. These two glitter polishes don’t feel grainy when they are dry so that’s always good, however, I did find they do chip off faster than the creme colours.

All the colours seemed to have very good staying power, with at least three days wear before minor chips appeared.  The glitter polishes, as I stated before, lasted about a day to a day-and-a-half before they started to chip.  Two coats of each polish were enough to get an opaque finish, and as usual I used Poshe Top Coat and Beauty Secret’s Base Coat from Sally’s Beauty Supply.

I really like this collection as it is something traditional mixed with something different.  The stand outs in the collection are definitely Butler Please, Where’s My Chauffeur, Beyond Cozy, and She’s Pampered.  The glitters are okay, they aren’t anything really special; other brands put out better glitter polishes in my opinion.

Have you tried any colours from essie’s winter 2012 collection? If so, what were your thoughts?

Please note, I was sent these products for review purposes, however, all opinions are my honest own :).

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Fitness Fridays: Fitness podcasts

Don’t have the time or money to go to the gym?  Enjoy doing fitness DVDs?

I have a few different fitness DVDs (and VHS’); everything from yoga to dance to pilates.  Workout videos are an easy way to get a good workout for an affordable price and in the comfort of your own home.  Now if you are like me and get bored of the same thing over and over again but don’t want to fork out the money to have a huge library of fitness DVDs there is a simple solution: Fitness podcasts.

Want more options than Sweating to the Oldies?

If you search on the iTunes store under video podcasts for fitness-themed videos a whole whack of them come up.  Yoga fan?  There’s a podcast for that.  Same with pilates.  And, it doesn’t just stop at exercise.  You can download anything from healthy eating tips to recipes and more.

My favourite podcast channel is eFit30, which has videos on everything from high-cardio workouts to yoga to pilates.  Each video is around 30 minutes so it’s the perfect length when you don’t have a lot of time and still want to fit a workout in. Another podcast channel to check out is Diet.com, which features exercise videos, tips, recipes, healthy eating, and more.

Now since you are streaming these videos to an electronic device, the screen can be quite small.  You can either use your computer, iPhone (which is just way to small in my opinion), iPad (which I often use), or my favourite option, an Apple TV (which you can watch directly from the device or stream it using AirPlay).

Having a ton of fitness DVDs can get quite expensive and watching podcasts, I find, provides me with more options so I can switch it up everyday and really get a full body workout.  I teach a high-intensity strength-training fitness class anywhere from two to four days a week, and honestly, after doing a pilates workout I am feeling muscles that I didn’t even know existed.

Have you tried any fitness podcasts?  What are your favourites?

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