My family is partially Irish. I love green. I’m obsessed with clovers. So when St. Patrick’s Day rolls around… you know I’ve got a makeup look planned!
Too Faced Candlelight Warm Glow (Review, Swatches + Giveaway)
I get all kinds of stupid excited for new highlighters – even moreso when a brand expands on a highlighter that they already had in their lineup and creates more colours!
Before I get into it… I mean… hello… just LOOK at that packaging! /sigh
Too Faced has had some version of a “Candelight” powder for as long as I can remember. (To see an older version of it, click here for a favourites post from 2014!) They changed up their Candlelight powder relatively recently and made it a duo that had a light beige shade and a pink shade that could be swirled together for a lovely glow. The intent, of course, is to capture how damn stunning everyone looks by candlelight – “Advanced PHOTOLITE technology refracts light to soften and diffuse the appearance of imperfections for skin that looks more youthful, lifted, and radiant.”
With their Spring 2016 launch, Too Faced came out with a warm toned shade they appropriately named “Warm Glow“. (The other powder is called Rosy Glow – I don’t own it.)
Warm Glow has a pale cream side, and a nice warm pale peach side. And of course, to sucker us even more into loving the product – it has a beautifully embossed chandelier smack dab in the center.
Swatched out, the shades are as you would expect from a highlighter: soft, gentle and luminescent. There are no chunky particles or glitter in this powder – it’s smooth, blendable and creates a beautiful sheen.
On my face… well… it’s stunning. I’ve applied it to the tops of my cheekbones and it *really* illuminates the area!
Even closer up. You can see my pores, but that’s not something that’s ever bothered me. (Sidenote, why do people CARE so much about hiding their pores? Everyone has them!) I love the sheen of Warm Glow and how ethereal I feel when wearing it.
Final Thoughts
Too Faced‘s Candlelight Warm Glow is a freaking must have in my collection of highlighters now as I’ve been reaching for it every other day! While the shade is not especially unique (let’s be real, all highlighters are really quite similar), what is unique is that you get two shades in the single compact, giving you three separate colour options! Personally? I’ll be swirling my brush through both shades so I can get as much impact out of this beautiful product as I can! If you’re looking for a stunning highlighter, you really cannot go wrong with Warm Glow!
Too Faced Candlelight Warm Glow can be purchased on sephora.ca for $38 CAD or on sephora.com for $30 USD.
Giveaway!
I received two of the Too Faced Warm Glow powders and the brand consented to let me give away one of them to you guys!
Giveaway Rules
- This giveaway is open internationally!
- This giveaway starts on March 10, 2016 and runs for one week.
- Please be aware that all entries will be double checked to ensure fairness.
- One winner will win the Too Faced Candlelight Warm Glow Highlighting Powder Duo.
- The winner will have 48 hours to respond to my e-mail. If they fail to respond within that time frame, I will pick another prize winner. (And so on.)
- “Giveaway accounts” will not be considered for this prize. (If you want to know what I mean by that, please click here.)
The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration.
Annabelle Big Show Lacquers – Entire Collection (Review & Swatches)
Available since January 2016, the Annabelle Big Show Lacquers bring a sense of vibrancy to the winter months!
The Big Show Lacquers have:
- High-impact staining pigments
- Mirror-like shine and lightweight colour
- Non-sticky
- Comfortable and non-drying, stay-put finish
- Fruity scent
The doefoot applicator is standard fare for products like this. It deposits colour evenly all over the lip, but you will need to dip in a few times to completely cover your lips.
Although there are six shades in the range, they do veer quite bright. The colour payoff in each one is quite opaque, so you’re definitely getting a mouthful of colour!
Here’s the full range as a lip swatch followed by a full face shot:
Adore Simply is a peachy-nude.
Caress Tenderly is a strong coral (this is my FAVOURITE shade of coral. )
Kiss Sweetly is a bright neon pink.
Enchant Romantically is a dark, vibrant pink.
Hypnotize Deeply is a fuchsia-berry. (My application skills were starting to get pretty dodgy by this point!)
Love Fiercely is the red of the collection (I see a little bit of pink in it too!).
Final Thoughts
The Annabelle Big Show Lacquers are smooth, comfortable to wear formula. I found the pigmentation was stellar across the board (none of these colours were patchy at all!) and the vibrancy of the shades is pretty dang fantastic. Since they’re a lacquer, they will stay fairly emollient on your lips. I found I had to reapply every 90 minutes or so to keep the glossiness at full peak. You could wear them for longer without reapplication, but I just liked to keep my lips looks as great as they did when I first applied it.
I didn’t use a primer or lip liner with these, so I did experience minimal lip line bleed out. (That’s not make it or break it for me in this formula though, I have that problem with any lip product without some kind of primer.) If you’re going for a glossy, comfortable to wear lip product, you absolutely cannot go wrong with these!
The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration.
VIDEO: Makeup and Skincare Empties Q1 2016
Garbage time!
Too Faced Love Flush Blush Wardrobe (Review, Swatches & Comparison)
Choosing between what shade of blush to buy can be hard… so I have to love the fact that Too Faced released a six-pan of ALL of their Love Flush blushes!
And really, I can’t get over the ridiculously cute packaging. (But let’s be honest, Too Faced always slays their packaging!) As warning though, this palette is LONG – it’s way longer than the average makeup palette so you may be a little surprised when you first see it in person!
I love that the palette is compact and sleek and even comes with a slice of mirror in the lid. It closes with a magnet that seems fairly solid.
Each section of the palette is colour coded to match the shade of the blush, although you may notice some slight discrepancies between the printed shade and the colour of the pan. Doesn’t matter though – it gives you a darn good idea what shade you’re going to be reaching for! The Love Flush blushes claim to have blendable, budgeproof, high-impact colour that will last 16 hours – I didn’t wear them that long, but the shades looked just as strong as when I put them on as they did after a 10 hour work day!
Let’s get into the swatches:
Too Faced Love Flush Blush Palette Swatches
Love Hangover is the shade I think most people will adore. It’s a medium pink with minute gold sparkle in it.
Baby Love is a tawny, nude shade.
I Will Always Love You is a really fun orange-coral with a golden sheen.
My personal favourite of the lot: How Deep Is Your Love? is a solid pink-coral.
Justify My Love is a soft baby pink with silver shimmer.
Your Love Is King is a deep berry shade.
All swatches above are done on bare skin and because this was photographed under artificial light, I built up the colours a bit. You will notice, however, that at no point do the shades look totally overboard. I really appreciate the fact that while the Too Faced blushes are pigmented, they’re not SO pigmented that you have to be overly careful about how you apply them to your cheeks.
Final Thoughts
If you’re like me, and hadn’t gotten around to buying any (or all) of the Too Faced Love Flush blushes, I think you’ll love this limited edition palette. The price point is excellent considering you get to try all six of their new blushes (each blushes contains 2 grams/0.07 ounces, which is more than your average eyeshadow). Pigmentation was smooth and relatively even across the board (Your Love Is King looks a bit patchy in the swatch, but it didn’t wear like that or look patchy on my face). I love having every single shade in a convenient palette, so this is seriously absolutely ideal for a heavyweight makeup collector or even a makeup novice that wants to try a few shades out without dumping all kinds of money on full sized products.
The Too Faced Love Flush Blush Wardrobe is a limited edition product (get it while you can!!) and can be purchased on sephora.ca for $45 CAD or on sephora.com for $36 USD.
The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration.