Review and Swatches: A Few of My Favorite Things - this Too Faced Palette for Holiday 2013 is one of them

The holiday offerings from Too Faced always draw me in with their gorgeous packaging, shade selection, and the simple fact that they are always palettes, and I love palettes.  They are a total weakness of mine, and I should know by now that I will always be suckered in, despite how many palettes I already have.

This time I absolutely could not resist.  With the perfect balance of neutrals (because a girl can never have too many neutrals) and some color to spice up my look.  What I like most about the shade selection is that the colors aren’t too bright.  While they will most certainly add something to my look, all of these shades are still in my comfort zone.  That, none of these are BAM out there shades, but are subtle attempts to be “fun” for people like me.

This has already been pretty extensively reviewed, so I’ll try to keep it short.

Look after the jump to see a detailed review and lots of swatches!

First off, this palette is a great value.  For $56, it includes 20 eyeshadows, 2 blushes, 2 bronzers, a mascara sample, and a lipstick.  It comes in a cute coral and gold chevron clutch that I will definitely be using for travel this holiday.  The palette itself has a nice weight to it, even with the cardboard packaging.

The 20 eyeshadows included are a great mix of matte, shimmer, and straight-up sparkle eyeshadows.  It has a range of shades from a matte highlight to all-over lid colors, transition shades, crease shades, and even deep, rich, liner shades.  There are also a lot of neutral shades to create a daytime look (or daytime smokey eye), but enough colorful and dark shades to amp it up for going out…or everyday if that’s how you roll.  It’s rare for me, but you know, there are those days that I like to actually be adventurous.  

Can we also take a look and admire the shade names?  Rarely do I get drawn into a product just from shade names alone, but this one has me sold.  The names go perfectly along with the theme of this palette – A Few of My Favorite Things, and while some of them match perfectly to The Sound of Music, others are just favorites everyone should have anyway.  ( Crisp Apple Strudel, anyone?)

Enough blabbering about the packaging, here are some swatches:

L-R: Snowflakes, Whiskers on Kittens, Chocolate Milk,  Moon on their Wings, Dark Chocolate, Cream Colored Ponies, Honey Honey, Buche de Noel, Evergreen, Blue Satin Sashes

 Snowflake is a shimmery white-gold shade.

Whiskers on Kittens is a light peachy shade with gold sparkle running through it.

Chocolate Milk is a matte mid-tone brown (perfect for blending!)

Moon on their Wings is a sparkly, glittery beige shade.  I anticipate fallout with this, but it would be great for some added drama.

Dark Chocolate is a dark, cool toned matte brown.

Cream Colored Ponies is a matte cream shade.

Honey Honey is a warm gold shade.

Buche de Noel is a medium shimmery brown, leaning slightly cool.

Evergreen is a shimmery medium green.

Blue Satin Sashes is a matte, dark blue-green shade with gold glitter. 

L-R: Coquet, Taffy, Crisp Apple Strudel, Woolen Mittens, Soiree, Tinsel, Bluff, Ooh la Orchid, Party Time, Pure Glam

Coquet is a light duochrome pink with gold shimmer.

Taffy is a light shimmery pale pink.

Crisp Apple Strudel is a medium tone shimmery tan shade.

Woolen Mittens is a midtone cool brown shade.

Soiree is a matte eggplant color with gold glitter.

Tinsel is a shimmery light antique gold shade.

Bluff is a silvery purple.  This is definitely one of the more unique shades.

Ooh la Orchid is a matte, cool toned purple.

Party Time is a teal with blue shimmer.

Pure Glam is a matte black with multi-color glitter running through it.

The standout shades for me are Buche de Noel, Blue Satin Sashes, Crisp Apple Strudel, Tinsel, and Party Time.  For me, they had the most unique and wearable colors.  Party Time is a gorgeous shade that's impossible to photograph correctly but its complexity make it one of a kind.

I can’t think of a single dud in this palette except maybe Oh la Orchid is maybe slightly drier and streaky, but I still find it incredibly pigmented.  

The blushes in this palette are also unique and absolutely phenomenal.

L-R: Raindrops on Roses, Chocolate Soleil, Melt into Spring, Sun Bunny, Bee Sting

Raindrops on Roses is a bright, cool-toned pink with gold shimmer.

Chocolate Soleil is a matte bronzer.

Melt into Spring is a matte pinky-coral (totally up my alley and insanely pigmented!)

Sun Bunny is a shimmery bronzer with a lighter gold shade and a darker copperish shade.

Bee Sting is a pinkish nude lipstick.

I’ve never seen this lip product in Too Faced’s permanent offerings, but I have to say, I’m impressed.  It’s a flattering neutral, but not too dead, nude that is moisturizing, smooth, and weightless.  However, I did not read the packaging when I first put it on and did not know that it was a plumping product….aka holy mother burning sensation when I first put this on.  For some reason, it only happened the first time I put it on, and every other time I used it it was only a slight tingling.  Still, if any you guys have sensitive lips, I would definitely approach this product with caution.

Bottom line?  This palette is perfect for me, and I don’t say that lightly.  Only the Urban Decay Naked palette has reached that status out of the mountains of palettes I’m currently hoarding.  It is perfect for my neutral-loving-with-some-color preferences, and I know I will get use out of every shade, which is rare for such a large palette like this.  I will be using this to travel this winter, as it includes everything I need for a full face.  All I’ll need is a foundation, powder, brow powder, eyeliner, and mascara.  Light packing, I promise. 

If you have this palette, let me know what you think of it!  Or let me know if you need any more convincing that you need this….

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