Beauty Must Have: Too Faced Shadow Insurance Anti-Crease Eyeshadow Primer

I've been meaning to blog about this product for ages and finally I've got around to it. I mentioned it in my 2012 Favourites post, but I thought it deserves its own review because it's a fantastic product. I used it every day and it never lets me down.

Too Faced Shadow Insurance (TFSI) is an eyeshadows primer that helps keep your eye make up looking vibrant and stay creaseless. It is a light skin coloured cream product that once blended out is practically invisible. I use it under every eyeshadow and it works really well for me. It is very similar to Urban Decay Primer Potion (UDPP), but I prefer this Too Faced version mainly due to the packaging. Unlike the UDPP genie lamp style hard tube TFSI comes in a soft plastic squeezy tube. I always find that when I think my UDPP has run out, there's actually still tonss of it left in the tube, and once I cut it open and scoop out the contents, it dries out very quickly. I know the UDPP tube has now been redesigned and it also comes in a squeezy tube now, but I still have several genie bottles left from palettes that I now can't be bothered to use.

I have been using my current tube of TFSI for years now (on and off) and the texture of the primer has not changed at all, it hasn't dried out one little bit and amazingly there's still lots left in it. You really only neeed a little bit at a time, so an 11 g tube goes a very long way. I also have it in the Candlelight version which is a slightly shimmery, frosty version that is recommended to use under shimmery eyeshadows, but I usually forget about it and just use the normal version more often than not.

This is an absolutely must have product if you wear eyeshadows and I can wholeheartedly recommend it. An 11 g tube costs £16.50.

See more pictures after the jump!

Too Faced Shadow Bon Bons Review and Swatches

I have another pretty palette from Too Faced to show you, this time it's the Shadow Bon Bons palette. This one is also a very good value offering. Of course it's not just abut value, it's also the quality that counts. Luckily this is also a great quality palette. Well done Too Faced!

Shadow Bon Bons contains 12 eyeshadows, a trial size Candlelight Shadow Insurance primer and a full size LashGASM mascara. I have to admit, I actually bought this palette for just one of the eyeshadows (and the fact that I got £17 worth of points on my Advantage Card in Boots when I spent £50). I'm happy to say that all the eyeshadows in the palette are actually very nice, with the exception of Nude Beach which has quite bad fallout, although it's a pretty shade. This palette isn't as colourful as the Sweet Indulgences palette, so better for those who prefer neutral looks, but there's still plenty of variety in there. Not just colourwise, but also regarding the finishes, there are matte, metallic and shimmery shades.

Some of the shades in this palette can also be found in the Sweet Indulgences palette (Peach Fuzz and Lovey Dovey) and I'm pretty sure I've come across some of the others before too, but this is such a nice, comprehensive set, and not too bulky to travel with either.

The Candlelight Shadow Insurance primer has a nice golden sheen, so it's great under shimmery shadows. It grabs onto eyeshadows and makes them stay vibrant and creaseless all day long. The LashGASM mascara gives me nice lenght, although not much volume. It has those plastic bristles/spikes I like and the brush is a nice size, not too big at all. The formula is pretty nice too.

All in all, a great set and well worth the £33 price tag. According to Beauty Bay the value of this set is £130. It contains 10.8 g eyeshadows which is £95 value, plus the full size (12 ml) LashGASM mascara £16.50, and the 5 g Candlelight Shadow Insurance primer is an extra £7.50 value, which makes it £119 in my books, but either way, it's great value.

Have you bought anything from Too Faced's holiday collection yet? Or are you waiting for Santa to bring you something nice? Let me know in the comments! Also see if you can guess which one is my favourite shade in this palette? And which one is yours?

See lots more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Too Faced Sweet Indulgences Set Review and Swatches

I have always liked Too Faced, especially the special edition pretty palettes, but this year they've really stepped up their game. This is the second palette I've bought from Too Faced recently and this is yet another excellent value, fantastic quality palette.

In this set you get 16 eyeshadows, a full size Shadow Insurance eyeshadow primer, 2 bronzers, 2 blushes, a highlighter and a double ended eyeshadow brush/applicator. Too Faced have also thrown in 3 looks cards. The whole lot comes in a double layer tin. The top layer includes the 16 eyeshadows, the bottom layer has everyting else. The top layer is easily removable, can just be lifted out of the tin. It's not portable on its own, but at least you can hold it while applying the eyeshadows, rather than having to hold the whole tin. The bottom layer is also removable, but less easily.

First of all, the eyeshadows are great. Most of them are shimmery or metallic, but there are a few matte/satiny ones. Some of these shades have been included in pretty much every holiday palette Too Faced have done, I recognise a few of the names, but some of them seem new. I can't find this palette on the Too Faced website (I think this might be a Sephora exclusive in the US) and the Beauty Bay website doesn't have much info. Anyway, the eyeshadows included are: 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. You get 1.6 g of each colour, so that's a total of a whopping 25.6 g of eyeshadow.

I haven't worn them all yet (in fact I've only worn 4), but I have swatched them all (see below) and they all swatched really nicely. The shimmery ones didn't have much fallout (if any) and the matte ones weren't at all powdery. The shades I've worn (Peach Fuzz, Gum Drop, Satin Sheets and Cherry Cola) stayed on my lids all day (with Shadow Insurance underneath, of course) and didn't crease at all. I hade some glitter fallout, I think from Peach Fuzz, but it wasn't too bad and I only noticed it several hours later.

The bronzers are both pretty nice, the exclusive shade is darker, more matte and less pigmented than the Sun Bunny Light Bronzer which is just gorgeous, smooth and pigmented. Another favourite of Too Faced's is La Vie En Rose blush, I'm sure I have it in almost every palette that's come out in the past 2-3 years, but it's a pretty pink slightly shimmery blush, so i don't mind. Papa Don't Peach blush is really nice, more pigmented than La Vie En Rose and has a lovely glow. You also get a small Candlelight Glow highlighter (another palette essential).

The brush/applicator is alright, I have only tried the brush, I'm not usually a fan of applicators. It's okay, but it doesn't add any value to the palette for me. The full size Shadow Insurance primer is great and I'm happy to own another one. The tube I'm currently using is several years old, yet it's still not empty and hasn't changed consistency one bit. I have now fully converted from Urban Decay Primer Potion.

The tin is a nice idea and could be used for storing other things when you used up all the products, but quite frankly, that's never going to happen, is it? There's no mirror in the lid, and the lid itself is a bit flimsical, mine has changed shape a bit, although still closes fine.

The palette costs £42 which might sound a bit much for some, but according to Beauty Bay it has an actual value of £133. Sephora says $381 value (approx. £236). Either way, it's a great deal. The primer costs £16.50 and a single 1.7 g eyeshadow costs £15, so that adds up to a £241.50 value alone. I think even Sephora has underestimated the value!

That's enough of the maths, let's see some swatches I hear you say! Coming up right after the jump together with lots of product pictures!

Too Faced Return Of Sexy Palette Review and Swatches

I've been meaning to show you this palette for a while, but never got around to it, which is a shame because this is possibly the nicest palette I've bought this year. When I first saw it and swatched it in Boots, I fell in love with it. You will see in a minute why.

The palette contains 15 eyeshadows divided into 3 sections to create looks suitable for day and night. You have neutrals, purples, greys and blacks for smoky eyes, so you can create work friendly looks as well as looks for a night out. It's like Urban Decay's Naked Palette, just better. Seriously. I like the Naked Palette, but this has so much more to offer. I could use this every day for two weeks and still be creating different looks with it and not get bored because it's not just neutrals.

The eyeshadows are buttery soft and smooth, and even those with glitter don't have fallout. Most of the eyeshadows are shimmery or metallic, but you can still create a subtle look with them, and of course you can go crazy. All of them are very nicely pigmented, don't fade or crease for hours on end (I wore them for 12+ hours). They can be used wet or dry.

You get 3 looks cards with the palette with look ideas for day and night that can be created using each section of the palette: The Ingénue (chic neutrals), The Icon (girly pinks and plums) and The Bombshell (classic smokey greys). Of course you don't have to follow them, but for someone who is a bit inexperienced in applying make up they can be very helpful.

You also get a trial size (5 g) Shadow Insurance Eyeshadow Primer and a full size Perfect Eyes Waterproof Eyeliner in Perfect Black, as well as 15 g of eyeshadows, so it's a great value palette. It costs £38.50. It's a little hard to work out its actual value because Too Faced doesn't do many single eye shadows, and these shades are not available separately, but based on the value of their Exotic Color Intense Eyeshadows that cost £15.00 per 1.7 g, that would make just the eyeshadows worth over £132. The eyeliner costs £14.50 and the primer is £7.50 for that size.

So as you can see, this is a great value palette, with great eyeshadows, a brilliant eyeliner and my favourite eyeshadow primer of all time. The eyeliner pencil is a great product, very pigmented and longlasting. My only complaint about the palette that it feels a little too bulky and heavy for my liking, but aestethically it's actually very nicely done.

See lots more pictures including swatches and a look I created with this palette after the jump!