How To Glamour Guide: 3 Looks From The Too Faced Pretty Rebel Palette

This summer, I spent rather a lot of time in various Sephora stores in Singapore, being the culture vulture that I am. As well as the unnecessary purchase of many a make up goody (see my recent haul post if you're at all interested) I thought I'd treat myself to an Urban Decay Naked palette, as I have never had the pleasure of owning one! Alas, it clearly wasn't meant to be as they seemed to be sold out absolutely everywhere. I went to a total of four Sephoras whilst I was there, and not one of them had either the Naked or Naked 2 palette in stock. Disappointed, I resigned myself to a palette-less journey home, but on my last day there, this cheeky little number caught my eye. It's the Too Faced palette, Pretty Rebel, and it is filled with a really eye catching spectrum of shades, ranging from matte brown to shimmery silver, with the questionable addition of a bright pink. There's always one colour which makes you question the brand's sanity, isn't there? Now, I love a good smoky eye, but I'm not very adventurous with the colours I use, always opting for browns, golds and bronzes, as I know that they will complement my baby blues. But, as this Too Faced palette came with a look book, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and have a play around with all of the shades on offer. I even braved the pink! Here are the results:

Look #1 - 'Rebel 9 to 5'

This eye consists of Dainty, the matte bone colour, washed on from lash line to brow bone, followed by Girly, a mesmerising iridescent green/brown shade, smoked onto the lid and through the crease. Add a touch of Charming, a matte chocolate brown to the upper and lower lash line and there you have the finished look. 

The colour, Girly, was actually the reason I was drawn to the palette in the first place. The shimmery mix of olive green and dark brown offers a helping of duo-chrome deliciousness which I've never seen anything like before. As I was 99% sure it would be, this is my favourite of the three looks, as it is the most flattering for my eye colour and skin tone, as well as being the least adventurous. What a surprise! I love this make up and it's become my go to evening eye as of late.

Look #2 - 'Pretty Rebel' 

You can't really see the shimmer on the brow bone here as I didn't use a flash. But trust me, it's there, in all it's 80s glory.

The instructions here tell you to sweep Ringleader, a pretty rose gold shimmer, all the way up to the brow, and follow by packing plenty of the bright pink, Totally Fetch, onto the lid. Next, blend Gangsta, a dark antique gold, not dissimilar to MACs Woodwinked, through the crease and proceed to line the upper and lower lash lines with Badass, the dark blue shadow. 

This is the look I was most sceptical about, as I was worried it would look like I was recovering from a nasty bout of conjunctivitis. But actually, it wasn't hideous at all. Quite pretty, in fact. I don't think I'd feel comfortable wearing it in public, I'm not that daring, and the combination of colours was one I found a bit odd (pink, brown and blue?!), but as I was expecting to look diseased, I'm rather impressed! Surprisingly, the pink was the thing I liked most about this look, and it was two of the other colours that held the issues. Firstly, I think Ringleader is one of the most beautiful colours in the palette, but applying the shimmery peach all the way up to the brow bone was way too 80s for me. I also wasn't keen on Badass. The navy shade was just a bit too glittery for my taste, and dropped down on to my face very easily - considering I used next to none, it's not ideal. Also, I'm so glad someone's finally made 'fetch' happen. I was worried it was never going to happen. I will reserve this look for Wednesdays.

Look #3 - 'Rebel Rocker'

For this look, apply Dainty all over once again, then push Jailbird, the metallic silver, over the lid. Afterwards, blend Charming into the crease, and finish off the look by lining the upper and lower lashes with Miss Sparkles, the glittery black shadow.

This eye has a really futuristic, space age feel to it, and I was really impressed with how pigmented and metallic the silver looked on my lids. I really like the silver when combined with the glitter in the black liner, but I'm not sure about combining it with a brown. I think it makes it all look a bit grubby, and it's a bit of a strange combination of warm and cool shades. I think I would have been better off blending some grey through the crease, but as there isn't one in the palette, I guess their hands were tied and they had to make do. Either that, or they think it looks good, I'm not too sure.

My first foray into Too Faced shadows has proved to be a successful one. Sure, my favourite of the looks is the safest one, and the one I would have most probably gone for on my own to begin with, but at least I gave the others a try! All of the colours are so densely pigmented and a dream to blend, so I would not hesitate for a second before recommending this. It's around the same price as an Urban Decay palette, and, actually, the products are very similar. So if you're looking for something a little more adventurous than the Naked offerings, but at the same quality and price range, definitely give this one a try. I had a lot of fun experimenting with some rather rebellious looks. Get it online at Beauty Bay for £40.

Have you tried any Too Faced products? How do you think they compare to Urban Decay? Have you got this palette? Would you buy it? Let me know!

S.

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Singapore Spree: Sephora Haul

Due to some kind of colossal oversight, there are no Sephora's in England. Tragic but true. So, whenever I go on holiday, I make a point of seeking out the mothership and going a little crazy with my credit card. Some might call it unnecessary, but hey, if you can't splurge on holiday, when can you, eh? Naively, I thought that the store was more a western thing, but on my recent trip to Singapore, I saw them dotted around all over the place! Needless to say, I returned to England with a severely depleted bank balance, and beauty products coming out my ears. As excited as a kid at Christmas to have a play around with all my new purchases, I couldn't wait to share them with you either. So, here is a summary of all the cosmetic treats I picked up.

Firstly, I'll tell you about what is arguably my favourite buy: Fishwife by Butter London. I've been lusting after this beauty for rather a while now, so you can imagine my squeal of delight when I saw it perched atop the Butter London display. Unavailable in the UK for reasons I can't quite fathom, this is possibly the most beautiful polish I've ever owned. A stunning holographic sea foam green with flecks of gold and all sorts in it, I have worn this solidly for about 3 weeks now. It also seems to be immune to chipping and is so easy to apply - the Wonder Woman of the nail varnish world! I'll do a full review on this at a later date, but it's definitely replaced my previous favourite, Fiver, at the top of the nail art hierarchy.

The other contender for favourite purchase is a Too Faced palette, aptly named Pretty Rebel. It is packed with some magnificent metallic shades, perfect for either dolled up or grunged down looks, as well as a couple of matte neutral shades, one of which has become a staple part of my everyday make up, and a questionable pink shade. Not sure why they thought that was a good idea, but hey, I'll try anything once. I've never bought anything from Too Faced, so I wasn't really sure what to expect, but the palette is very similar in quality, design and pigmentation to it's Urban Decay counterparts. I actually only got it because of one magnificent shade, Girly, which is an iridescent brown with shots of green in it. I spent a long while umming and ahhing about whether it was a good idea to spend a considerable amount of money for 10 shadows when I only really wanted one of them. I'm so glad I took the plunge though, because I absolutely love it! Again, I will do a more detailed post on this wonderful palette another day. It's just so much fun to play around with!

Sorry about the photo quality! I have yet to find anywhere in my house where the lighting is decent enough to get a good photo!

Next on my list are the Fresh Sugar Advanced Therapy Lip Treatment, and the standard Tinted Lip Treatment in the shade, Coral. I love these products, and have been wanting to replenish my dwindling collection for a while now, so of course I had to pick up a couple! I had never tried the Advanced Therapy product before, but I have to say, it has worked wonders on my dry, flaky lips as an overnight treatment. As for the Coral Lip Treatment, the colour pay off is fantastic for a tinted balm, and, as always, I love that it contains SPF 15.

I then got the Bliss FatGirlSlim Skin Firming Cream. A while ago, my friend recommended this to me, along with it's partner product, FatGirlSleep, as one of the best anti-cellulite products she had ever tried. Cellulite is one of my biggest insecurities, so I was really keen to give it a go! Now, I know that it is no substitute for a balanced diet and good old fashioned exercise, but sometimes it's nice to have that extra kick of confidence that a caffeine based product like this one can give, be it on a night out, or a special occasion, when you're desperate to wear that new skirt, but are worried about the dreaded orange peel. I didn't get both products, as it is quite a lot of money to part with for a product that I had never tried before, plus, I had a weight allowance to worry about. So far, I'm really getting on with it though. Although not drastic, I can see a difference when I've put it on, and, weird as it sounds, it's one of those products that you can feel working, which I really like. I think I'll give FatGirlSleep a try at some point soon. Maybe when my bank balance has had a little more time to recuperate.

The next was a bit of an impulse buy. I hate it when they put stuff near the tills. Disaster waiting to happen! It's a Philosophy Lip Shine in the flavour, Melon Daiquiri, and as well as providing a beautiful peachy shimmer for the lips, it's delicious!! I can see myself reapplying this rather too often on the days I miss lunch. Yum!

I also bought a NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in the shade, Cashmere. If I'm being perfectly honest, I only bought this because I have never owned an NYX product, as they aren't readily available in the UK, and I wasn't going to leave having not bought something from the brand. But actually, I'm loving this pencil! It's been getting most of its use as an inner corner highlighter, but I really like it as an eyeshadow base or on its own, scribbled across my lids. It's a really beautiful pale gold colour, and it only cost S$9! (£4.50) Such a steal! I'm really glad I picked this up.

Finally, I got myself a travel brush set. I'm a firm believer that you can never have too many brushes. I really like the Sephora brush collection, but can't get past how long the handles are. Honestly, they're like chopsticks for giants. Can't be working with those. But the travel sets are a much better size, easy to travel with (clearly), as well as being quite a lot cheaper. I got the Face and Eye Travel Tool Kit, and I've gotten quite a lot of use out of them already.

I also got a couple of things in duty free on the way there, the first being Benefit's Porefessional. Now, I'll be honest, I heard rave reviews about this product, and although it does happen on occasion (cough cough, Philosophy Lip Gloss), I rarely buy something unless I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it. But I used this primer for the two weeks that I was away, and it didn't really do it for me. I don't know whether it's aimed at more oily skin, but it didn't really minimise my pores at all, although it did make my skin look a bit smoother. As for staying power, it was OK, but nothing amazing. Granted, it might have has something to do with the humidity and heat of Singapore, so I'm going to give it a second chance now that I'm home, but honestly, I'm not holding out much hope for this one. It's such a shame, because I was really excited about this product. I'll just stick to my trusty bareMinerals Prime Time from now on I think.

Last, but not least, I bought the essential duty free purchase, a new perfume! It's Daisy Sunshine by Marc Jacobs. A deliciously fruity scent, I knew I had to have it the moment my nose caught a whiff. I'm not too enamoured with the somewhat garish bottle, much preferring the more subtle original version, but with a smell this delectable, who really cares. I only wish that I could have found a 100ml size.

So there you have it, my Sephora haul. It's quite a long post, but then again, I bought quite a lot of stuff! And, let's be serious, when do I ever manage to write short blog posts? Condensed is not my thing, and for that, I can only apologise.

Do you have any of the products I have recently purchased? What do you think of them? Like me, do you suffer from a distinct lack of Sephora's near you? Let me know!

S.

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