Review and swatches: Too Faced Chocolate Bar eyeshadow palette

What girly girl wouldn't love an eyeshadow palette that looks and smells like a chocolate bar? For someone like me who could never choos...

What girly girl wouldn't love an eyeshadow palette that looks and smells like a chocolate bar? For someone like me who could never choose between a love for makeup and sweets, this seemed like the perfect combination!


Too Faced Chocolate Bar eyeshadow palette

Such adorable packaging, with the cute box and metal tin!
Comes with a how-to guide.

The carton box says this on the back: "Indulge your craving for chocolate with these 16 antioxidant-rich cocoa powder infused matte and shimmer shades. Inspired by our best-selling cocoa powder based Chocolate Soleil Bronzer, Chocolate Bar comes with our signature Glamour Guide with three beauty looks to get you started."

Get a whiff of chocolate when you open the box. Mmm.

This palette has 16 eyeshadows. 14 are .95 grams while two are 2.8 grams. 

Left side of the palette

Right side of the palette.
(The smudge on the largest pan was already there when I opened it.)

Left side of the palette.
(L-R) Gilded Ganache, Salted Caramel, Hazelnut, Marzipan, Creme Brulee, Semi-sweet, Haute Chocolate

Closer look: Gilded Ganache, Salted Caramel, Hazelnut, Marzipan

Closer look: Marzipan, Creme Brulee, Semi-sweet, Haute Chocolate

Right side of the palette.
(L-R) Milk Chocolate, Strawberry Bon Bon, Cherry Cordial, Black Forest Truffle,
Candied Violet, Triple Fudge, Amaretto

Closer look: Milk Chocolate, Strawberry Bon Bon, Cherry Cordial, Black Forest Truffle

Closer look: Candied Violet, Triple Fudge, Amaretto

These are the shadows in the two larger pans.
(L-R) White Chocolate, Champagne Truffle

I did these swatches with two swipes from the pan on the pads of clean fingers, before doing one swipe each on the inside of my arm. The outer packaging says this has "matte and shimmer shades," but to me it actually has matte, shimmery and sparkly textures.

Matte: Salted Caramel, Semi-Sweet, White Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Strawberry Bon Bon, Triple Fudge
Shimmery: Gilded Ganache, Hazelnut, Marzipan, Creme Brulee, Haute Chocolate, Amaretto, Champagne Truffle
Sparkly: Cherry Cordial, Black Forrest Truffle, Candied Violet

Although the matte shades swatched poorly, White Chocolate, Milk Chocolate and Triple Fudge were fairly pigmented and blendable when I used them with a brush on my eyelids. The shimmery shades like Marzipan and Hazelnut were wonderfully smooth, buttery, and pigmented. As of this writing, I have not yet used any of the sparkly shades.(I will update this post once I have.) The shades that I did use lasted nine hours before the first sign of creasing, although I'm not sure how much my Benefit Stay Don't Stray primer had to do with that. I am quite impressed, considering it was 31 degrees Celsius today with over 70% humidity.

For the other shades I haven't mentioned, I haven't used all of them yet, but based on the swatches I think they will probably deliver the same way as they swatch.

As you can see, the palette has a range of cream, brown, pink and purple shades. I think one grayish shade couldn't have hurt; gray veers a little from the chocolatey theme, but so does Gilded Ganache, which is a khaki green with gold shimmer. But I still love all the beautiful colors that went into this palette.

The only thing I wish Too Faced had done differently with this palette was the labeling. I wish they had put the names of the shadows on fine print by the pans, instead of just on the box and on the printed plastic insert. This palette is also a little thick and isn't the handiest to tote around, but you might still want to, just to have its cuteness and chocolatey smell close at hand!

Overall I'm very happy with this palette for its range of textures, smoothness and blendability during application, and the range and wearability of its colors. And again, the adorable packaging and luscious smell!

I purchased this palette for P2,700 from Karryl @makeuplush on Instagram, whom I regularly buy from as she's a former school mate, very nice and easy to deal with, and regularly ships about twice a month from the US, so she's always got new and fresh products.

What do you think of this palette? Do share your thoughts if you've got one as well.

Review and swatches: NYX Butter lipstick in Fireball, Hunk, Licorice

I'm back "for the first time in forever," to borrow a line from Disney's Frozen. I'm terrible about blogging because I...

I'm back "for the first time in forever," to borrow a line from Disney's Frozen. I'm terrible about blogging because I was too lazy to take and upload photos with my old digicam, but now that I have my iPhone 5S, taking pictures has become much easier. For more regular beauty updates, follow me on Instagram @cuencojoanna.

After seeing quite a few positive reviews from American beauty vloggers, I became curious to try out NYX Butter lipsticks. I decided to get mine in Fireball (BLS06), Hunk (BLS05) and Licorice (BLS11) to veer away from my usual pink and red selections. Photos below were taken in natural light.


NYX Butter Lipsticks (L-R) Fireball, Hunk, Licorice

I would call the packaging more fun than chic. I do like that the tubes match the color of the lipstick inside so that it's easy to see what I'm reaching for.

Swatches (L-R): Fireball, Hunk, Licorice

These are swatches on the inside of my wrist, one swipe per lipstick. You'll notice that the opacity isn't the same. Hunk is quite a bit more sheer compared to Fireball and Licorice. It also had a little bit more streakiness than the other two shades.


Lip swatch: NYX Butter Lipstick in Fireball (BLS06)

Fireball looks quite orange in the tube but goes on coral on me. It's a very pretty shade for spring and summer, but it has the tendency to settle into lip lines. Make sure lips are super smooth before putting this one on.

Lip swatch: NYX Butter Lipstick in Hunk (BLS05)

I was the most skeptical about Hunk because it looks like a pretty scary shade of electric violet from the tube. But because it goes on sheer, it's actually super pretty. This did not settle into my lip lines the way Fireball did.

Lip swatch: NYX Butter Lipstick in Licorice(BLS11)

Licorice is not the kind of shade I usually pick up, but as I was trying to get out of my red/pink lipstick comfort zone, I decided to try this one out. Among the three, this was the truest to its shade on the packaging and from the bullet. It's quite a vampy burgundy color that I think looks great at night (or day, as you please). Because of the slippery formula, though, be careful when applying this one. This probably needs a lip liner more than the other two shades.

All of these lipsticks are a little slippery and have a rather thin formula, so they glide on easily when being applied. Their somewhat glossy finish after initial application doesn't last long. But I like that the lipsticks leave a stain, Hunk and Licorice more so than Fireball. Fireball began to fade after two hours, while Hunk and Licorice left stains for over four hours. I wouldn't call these lipsticks particularly moisturizing even though they are slippery, but they aren't drying at all.

Overall, these lipsticks are all quite comfortable to wear and have a great range of colors, but some settling does occur, and pigmentation and staying power vary between shades.

I bought these lipsticks from Instagram seller @beautylabbyjoan, who has a lot of drugstore products on pre-order basis, and whom I've purchased from several times hassle-free. There is already a NYX store in SM City Cebu, but I must confess I haven't been there yet. I haven't really done a lot of shopping at the mall in quite some time. 

I hope you found this review helpful, and I hope I can find the discipline to blog more regularly!

Review: Naturactor Cover Face Concealer

I was seeing a number of posts on Naturactor products around Instagram. These are face products like powder, foundation and concealer that a...

I was seeing a number of posts on Naturactor products around Instagram. These are face products like powder, foundation and concealer that are made in Japan. Most people were raving about the concealer in particular, so I decided to get one for myself.

Naturactor Cover Face Concealer in Shade 141

How it looks inside

I had no idea what shade to get, so I had to ask the seller to make a recommendation for my NC25 complexion; she said 141 would suit me, and it does. Here's how the concealer looks next to Studio Fix powder so that you can compare the shades.

Naturactor Cover Face Concealer 141 next to MAC Studio Fix Powder in NC25


My problem area has always been the dark shadows under my eyes. I have them no matter how much sleep I get. So this is pretty much the only area I use concealer.


Eye area without concealer


 Eye area with Naturactor Cover Face Concealer


I love how it covered up my undereye shadows pretty much better than any other concealer I have tried. The redness on the outside corners of my eyes were completely concealed, too. I only use a little bit of product with each use and it's very easy to blend. Just to test it a bit more and see how it performs on other areas of the face, I used the concealer on the bridge of my nose and also on the sides, and on my upper lip. When I set it with Ben Nye banana powder or any loose powder, the concealer does not fade, cake or crease anywhere it is applied, even in humid weather.

I would definitely recommend this concealer to everyone looking for medium to full coverage. I purchased it for P700 from the Cebu-based Instagram seller @vanillafab.

MAC Temperature Rising: Bare My Soul and Soft Sand

I just picked up a couple of items from the MAC Temperature Rising collection that is currently at my counter. So far, most of the lipsticks...

I just picked up a couple of items from the MAC Temperature Rising collection that is currently at my counter. So far, most of the lipsticks have already sold out, but I wasn't too drawn to them anyway because of their highly metallic finish. I decided to get a bronzer and an eyeshadow quad instead. The collection has two eyeshadow quads, one with a purple-y palette and the second with a warmer palette. Temperature Rising also has four bronzers, two in the normal formula and two in the long-wearing formula.

My picks from the MAC Temperature Rising collection. The bronze packaging feels so good to touch!

The eyeshadow quad I decided on was Bare My Soul, which I found attractive because of the two brown shades that I can use for an everyday look, and the gold and green shades that I could use for more color. I thought it was a good balance of neutrals and colors that could transition well from day to night. I also read some reviews that the other purple-y quad didn't have very good color payoff, and I found that to be true as well while swatching in the store.

Here's what the Bare My Soul packaging looks like at the back:



And the product itself, with the lid up:



These were my swatches at home, by natural daylight:

Left to right: Friendly, Romantico, Bare My Soul, When in Rio
I LOVE these colors! They're all so wearable yet not boring. When in Rio is a really pretty teal shade that I think would look great for a smokey eye, day or night. I love that all the shades in the quad are pigmented, because not all of MAC's eyeshadow duos or quads are.

Next is the Soft Sand bronzer from the back:



Swatch at rightmost:

Bare My Soul eyeshadows plus Soft Sand to the very right

I used both products today. I love that the eyeshadow stayed on pretty much the whole day from application at 2:00 PM until I washed my face at 11:00 PM, even without primer. I used Soft Sand as a contour, and the product had to be layered on quite a bit before the color showed. I used Cover Girl Cheekers blush with it, and the blush lasted longer than Soft Sand. Still, I'm satisfied with Soft Sand because I can use it as a contour if I layer it on, or as an allover face bronzer with a fluffier brush. I guess I could have gone for the Pro Longwear bronzer formula but didn't feel like spending an extra 200 pesos for it, and it was also more shimmery than this one. I figured I can just reapply Soft Sand if I need a touch-up - great excuse for touching that luxe packaging!

Most of the items in the MAC Temperature Rising collection are still available at Rustan's in Ayala Center Cebu. I'm very excited for the next collection coming - Tropical Taboo. From the reviews and swatches I've been seeing online, we can expect some beautiful MSF's and blushes in that one!

Summer beauty using Bobbi Brown products

This is a re-post of my original article that was published in SunStar Cebu, with a few extra thoughts added in. Many thanks to Bobbi Brown ...

This is a re-post of my original article that was published in SunStar Cebu, with a few extra thoughts added in. Many thanks to Bobbi Brown Philippines for inviting me to their press event earlier this month!
Rising temperatures shouldn’t equate to melting makeup. With the summer heat upon us, our beauty arsenal requires all things long-wearing and smudge-proof, while making the most of that rosy, bronzy glow from languid days at the beach. Get the look with products from natural beauty guru Bobbi Brown.

Face: Thick makeup combined with oilier skin from the heat and humidity may result in pimples and clogged pores. For light coverage, use Oil-Free Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 15, followed by Illuminating Finish Powder with SPF 12 to even out skin tone and remove excess shine. To play up skin with just a hint of color, dust on Brightening Finishing Powder. The Shimmer Brick is also a popular choice. Nectar is pretty on fair to medium skin; try Bronze for deeper complexions.

Shimmer Brick. I have one in Rose.

Summer is the best time to use bronzer to make the most of your tan. Pick one with a warm, slightly orange undertone instead of a cool brown one to avoid looking muddy. Dust on the temples, cheekbones, jaw line and a little on the nose and chin using a fluffy blush or powder brush for the most natural look.

Cheeks: A tanned face is perfect for experimenting with brighter blush. Tap on and blend Pot Rouge, which can be used for both cheeks and lips, for a shot of color. Powder Blush provides buildable color for the intensity you’re comfortable with.

Pot Rouge

Eyes: The new Long Wear Cream Shadow sticks deliver smooth color that lasts up to eight hours without creasing or fading, common challenges with eye makeup in sweltering weather. Try Metallic Eye Shadow if you prefer a powder formula. If you can’t be bothered with shadow at all, define eyes with liner and mascara. Bobbi Brown is famous for its Long Wear Gel Eyeliner, which glides on without tugging, and stays on for hours. Black Ink is an all-time classic, but for something a little softer, try Espresso Ink or Denim Ink. Intensifying Long Wearing mascara gives lush and natural-looking eyelashes. I love this mascara! It won’t smear or flake even on the most humid evenings, but is still easy to remove with a regular facial wash before bedtime. Don’t forget to curl lashes before brushing on mascara.

Metallic Eyeshadow

Lips: Vampy lip colors won’t look quite right sipping piña coladas, and the wrong nude can wash you out. Corals and pinks look pretty with a tan. Try Bright Pink Lip Gloss or, to avoid getting windblown hair stuck on lips, Creamy Lip Color in Hibiscus or Bellini Pink.

Bobbi Brown believes that beauty is enhancing a woman’s features, not covering them up. This practical philosophy works for any season, especially the easy-going feel of summer. Visit the Bobbi Brown counter at Rustan’s in Ayala Center Cebu not for a makeover to transform you into someone else, but for beauty lessons to help you look like your best self.

 Photos courtesy of Bobbi Brown Philippines.
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