Make-up Look - Glamorous Bronze Smoky Eye

I'm not usually one to slap on the make-up but when I'm off out for a night on the town, I like to make a little more of an effort. Lucky for me, Ad bought me Easy on the Eyes by the gorgeous Benebabe that is Lisa Potter-Dixon a book chock full of make-up looks that can be done in 5, 15 or 30 minutes.

For this look, I picked the Bronze Smoky Eye in 15 minutes which requires three bronze shadows, mascara, a brown eyeliner and plenty of blending brushes. As such, I decided to utilise my Too Faced Chocolate Box palette below, I used Creme Brulee, Haute Chocolate and Black Forest truffle but you can use any bronzy shades you have. 

To achieve this look, I used Creme Brulee (the gold shade) all over the lid ensuring that I didn't go any higher than the socket. Then I used Haute Chocolate (a medium bronze) and blended this right into the socket using a fluffy blending brush. To finish the lids, I used Black Forest (the darker bronze) on the outer corner of my lid and then blended this to achieve a nice even finish. Blending really is key to this look! Smoke a little of Black Forest under the lash line as well for a deeper look.

Then, I took the gold shadow and applied a touch more to the centre of the lid before adding lashings of mascara and lining my waterline with a brown kohl liner. I used my Tarte Coloured Clay Eyeliner in Chocolate for this as it's soft and super blendable. 

Then it was time to polish off the look with a vibrant red lip, my choice here was the Illamasqua Glamore Lipstick in Virgin, a classic red which oozes glamour and sophistication. Naturally a red lip does require some re-application but when it's this luscious it's totally worth it.

I kept the rest of my look paired back opting for the Estee Lauder Double Wear Light foundation, my Hourglass Dim Infusion Blush, and curled my hair using the trustee Babyliss for long-lasting and flexible waves. 

What do you think of this look? Is it something you'd try? If you're keen to get more adventurous with your eye make-up, this book might be handy to add to your collection!

Too Faced Chocolate Bar Eyeshadow Palette - A Review

Whilst it's not my birthday until May, my lovely Sister decided to gift me with a super early present. That's sisterly love for you. You can imagine my utter delight when I unwrapped the Debenhams packaging to discover this little beauty tucked away inside.

The Too Faced Chocolate Bar Eyeshadow Palette comes in the most gorgeous packaging, it really is tucked up just as you'd expect to find a chocolate bar from the local newsagents.

Inside the box is a selection of 16 matte and shimmer eyeshadows with delectable names such as Salted Caramel, Champagne Truffle and Stawberry Bon Bon all of which just serve to make me hungry for sweet treats. Whilst you may have expected purely neutral colours, there are shades such as Candied Violet which add a good pop of colour. 

The palette itself comes in a metal chocolate bar tin which features a mirror in the top half and is magnetically secured together, much like the infamous Naked Palettes.

What really makes the eyeshadow palette stand out for me is firstly, the second you open the palette, you get a real whiff of chocolate. This is because all of the shadows are formulated with cocoa powder which is obviously known for it's anti-oxidant properties. 

As this is my first Too Faced product, I've naturally done some digging around and it seems the inspiration for the Chocolate Bar Palette is their cocoa based best-selling bronzer. It works for me, the smell is seriously intoxicating.

Another aspect to this palette which I love is that there are two shades which are considerably larger than the others, these being the two shades which most make-up addicts are likely to get the most use from. I don't own any eyeshadow palettes (well I do now!) but I can only image how frustrating it is to finish the favourite shade and have to hunt down a replacement.

What palette would be complete without a handy inspiration guide to get you started? I used this guide as inspiration for two looks which I'll show you below.

The above is using that rather daunting shade of matt pink (Strawberry Bon Bon) as the base colour and Semi Sweet blended into the crease. As you can see, on the eyes Strawberry Bon Bon is actually quite flattering and isn't as daunting as it looks in the pan. Obviously as the shades are pigmented you can easily build up the colour if you're after something more dramatic.

In the above look, I've used Champagne Truffle as a highlighter along the brow bone and Cherry Cordial on the inner and outer lid to give me a slightly smokey eye. I could have easily been a little more heavy handed and really built up the colour but I'm not quite brave enough just yet.

I love that this palette has lots of neutrals which could easily be used to create a variety of everyday looks, however, the pinks, plums and deeper almost greyish browns mean you can create a really different smokey look which will make the eyes pop. The Chocolate Bar Palette gives Naked a run for its money.

The Too Faced Chocolate Bar Eyeshadow Palette is currently available exclusively at Debenhams so I'd recommend getting yourself down there soon!

Have you tried the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette? What did you think?