tutorial: easy chocolate smokey eye

Hey guys!

After yesterday's first impression on the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette (click here to read a overview of the palette and all the shades), I really wanted to do a tutorial to show you the versatility of the shades! At first, I was planning to do a rusty brown smokey eye focusing on the colour Amaretto, but unfortunately the colour didn't quite show up like I expected. So I changed it up, and decided to do a brown smokey eye instead!

The best thing about this look is that you don't really need the exact shades in this palette to get the same look! You can easily grab different warm toned browns and champagnes from other palettes and easily recreate this. Obviously, I did want to try to do something a little different, but sometimes its good to go with what you know and give you guys something that doesn't require too much technique or pricey palettes.

So if you want to know how to get this look, keep on reading ;)

First of all, I look the colour Salted Caramel, which is a lovely, very warm toned brown, and blended this into and above my crease. I love to put transition colours above my crease, as I do have smaller eyes than I would like, and this gives the impression that they are more round and large.

After blending Salted Caramel out, I took the shade Marzipan which is a yellow toned shimmery champagne colour, and put this all over my lid, focusing most of the colour on the inner third. This didn't quite show up as much as I wanted, so later on I did wet my brush with setting spray and went back over the colour to make it more pigmented and intense.

After I did that, I dipped into the colour Amaretto and pressed this into my outer V and up to my crease. Unfortunately, even after going over it a couple of times, the colour really wasn't showing up as I had hoped. To intensify it, I took the colour Semi-Sweet which is a matte deep brown, and pressed it over where I put Amaretto, and also into my crease.

I then took Salted Caramel again on my blending brush and went along the edges so that it softened the look.

And then of course I took my MAC Pro Longwear Concealer and crisped up the egdes. I really get messy with my eyeshadow, so I usually need this step to clean it up so that it looks more put together.

After finishing the rest of my makeup, I touched up the eyes. I wet my brush, and went back in with Marzipan to intensify the colour. I also put this on my inner corners. I also touched up the outer V with Semi-Sweet, and then light pressed Amaretto over the top so it did show some of that rusty brown, and blended it out with Salted Caramel once again. I then put White Chocolate (the matte white highlight colour) and placed this on my browbone.

After those steps, I blended both Salted Caramel and Semi-Sweet under my lash line and tightlined with black eyeliner, lined my waterline with a nude eyeliner and added mascara. I was going to add liquid liner to line my lid and create a little cat eye, but I preferred the soft feel this had to it.

And the look is complete!

As you can see, this really gives the eye definition and opens them up to look big and rounded. You can really wear this look anywhere, as I don't think it's too harsh or dark to be considered a night time look. I would wear it out to coffee, or out on a date with my partner - it is just so super easy and takes no time to create! I teamed it with glowing skin, a soft contour and nude lips, which is my personal preference for an eyeshadow look! But you could easily pair this with a bolder lip and more dramatic contour as the eyes are really smoked out with no harsh colours or edges.

Although I wish I had a different look from this palette for you guys, I know this is something that would suit most skin tones and eye colours. But it does show you how well the colours all work together from this palette, and how seamlessly it all fits together.

If you would like to see a bolder look with this palette, please let me know! I am more than happy to create more looks with this for you, and do something more dramatic!

Products used:
Bourjois Happy Light Primer
Bourjois CC Cream in #32
Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Foundation in #53 Light Beige
MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NW20
MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Light
Maybelline Fit Me Shine Free Foundation Stick in 330
Nars Laguna Bronzer
TheBalm's Cindy-Lou Manizer (as blush)
TheBalm's Mary-Lou Manizer (as highlight)
Revlon Colorstay Eyebrown Pencil in Blonde
Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara
Rimmel Kajal Kohl Eyeliner in Black
Rimmel Scandaleyes Eyeliner in Nude
Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette - White Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Marzipan, Semi-Sweet & Amaretto
OCC Lip Tar in Hush

Until next time...

xxxx

first impression: too faced chocolate bar palette

Hey guys!

I am so excited to finally bring you today's post. I have literally kept my hands off the shadows in this palette since I received it, as I wanted this to be a true first impression of the shades and their quality. I have only opened and closed it, and let me tell you.. this looks and smells good enough to eat. Without further ado, let me introduce to you today's blogpost and highly anticipated first impression...

The Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette!

Oh gee.. I literally love all things Too Faced. There is not a product from them that I have disliked, and I always remember them for their packaging. Check out how cute the box is that the palette comes in! It reminds me of a Willy Wonka chocolate bar, and I feel it is so perfect and girly. I can't even bring myself to throw away this box, because its too pretty!

When you first open the box, you get the palette and also these index cards, which basically have three looks using shadows from the palette and how to recreate them. This is pretty typical from Too Faced, with every eye shadow palette they come out with, they usually include some inserts with looks. They are helpful if you're not sure what to create on your own.

And then of course, the palette..

If any of you are waiting on this palette, I'm going to give you a tip. When you first open it, inhale deeply. Smell that? Oh yea, thats chocolate. If you know the smell of the Too Faced Chocolate Soliel Bronzer, basically imagine that times 10. The smell is just incredible, that it makes me want to eat the palette. It makes sense, seeing as it is made with cocoa!

Also, check out that packaging. Again, Too Faced hits the nail on the head. The palette is shaped just like a chocolate bar! The shadows are housed in tin packing, which opens and closes pretty easily. I think its magnetized, rather than the Urban Decay Naked 2 & 3 for example, where the tin actually locks when its closed. Because of that, I'm not sure how great this would be to travel with, but the packaging itself is sturdy.

Once open, you can see the palette has quite a sizeable mirror! It's definitely big enough to be able to do your whole eye look with. You know how some mirrors are just so tiny, and you just cannot use it to do your eyes? Well, there will be no problems with this one! The palette itself comes with 16 shadows, ranging from pinks, reds, violets, browns, neutrals and whites that are all different textures; some are matte, some have shimmer and others are glittery. Overall, it really sticks to the chocolate theme, and focuses on the neutral shades, with a couple of colourful shades to mix things up.

The shadows themselves are great - they have pretty decent colour pay off, and all go on like butter. Really, they are very seamless; they all work really well together and compliment the other shades in the palette. I can see how easy it would be to create looks with only this palette, you can see that it has been designed so that no other shadows outside of the palette need to be used.

First row (l-r) - Gilded Ganache, White Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Black Forest Truffle, Triple Fudge

Gilded Ganche - A deep brown shade with gold shimmer throughout

White Chocolate - A matte highlight shade

Milk Chocolate - A mid tone cool brown shade

Black Forest Truffle - A dark brown with what looks like pink shimmer throughout. Similar to Blackheart from the Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette

Triple Fudge - A matte dark brown shade

Second row (l-r) - Salted Caramel, Marzipan, Semi-Sweet, Strawberry Bon Bon, Candied Violet, Amaretto

Salted Caramel - An very wam toned brown. Very natural and neutral for the crease

Marzipan - A champagne shade

Semi-Sweet - A deep red, warm toned brown

Strawberry Bon Bon - A matte baby pink

Candied Violet - A purple shade with pink glitter

Amaretto - A rusty red, shimmery shade. This was the shade I was most excited about, especially when I swatched it and saw the sheen after it was applied. Beautiful shade!

Third row (l-r) - Hazelnut, Creme Brulee, Haute Chocolate, Cherry Cordial, Champagne Truffle

Hazelnut - A neutral, warm toned shimmery brown shade

Creme Brulee - A shimmery gold shade

Haute Chocolate - Similar to Hazelnut, except cool toned

Cherry Cordial - A red shade with a hint of shimmer. The shimmer didn't really translate when I swatched it on my arm

Champagne Truffle - The other highlight colour in the palette, and is a shimmery white shade

Overall, do I think you need this palette? Um yes! Especially if you are a fan of neutral shades, I would definitely recommend giving this a try. It is pricey, but its Too Faced - they're a highly reputable brand and you know that you're getting both quality and quantity for the price you pay. I have heard that people are comparing this to Urban Decay Naked 1, and saying that they are quite similar. I really don't think they are. They are both neutral palettes, and particular shades are similar, but I don't think that they are so similar that you can only pick one or the other.

I got this from www.beautybay.com , and I believe I paid $69.80AU for it. However, for Australians, this is available on www.kitcosmetics.com.au (which I wish I knew before) for $68.95AU, and if you spend over $75 you get free shipping. I would recommend going through them rather than BeautyBay, only because the palette comes from Australia itself, and they are a little more helpful if you have an issue. In the US, this retails for $49USD in both Ulta and Sephora.

I could harp on about this palette forever! I am such a neutral eye girl, and this palette really fulfills that need, plus it throws in a couple of colourful shades to really amp up any look. So glad that I brought it and that I finally own it :)

Stay tuned for tomorrows post - it will be involving this palette ;)

Until next time...

xxxx