How can an eyeshadow single snowball into a fan favorite palette? Too Faced Peanut Butter And Jelly palette was inspired by the shade Peanut Butter from the Too Faced Semi-Sweet Palette. When the little palette was launched, it became INSTA-FAMOUS and was sold out everywhere. Keeping up with the popularity, Too Faced relaunched this palette a month back.

It was a struggle to get this palette shipped to India as Too Faced emailed me saying my order was canceled, but my credit card was charged. Thankfully, by that time, the item was already shipped from the warehouse!

Vital Stats

Size: 0.39 Oz
Cost: $36
This palette is exclusive to Ulta and Too Faced website.

Ingredients

Packaging

• Comes in a cardboard covering with details imprinted on one side.
• The actual packaging that house the shadows is tin packaging with magnetic closure, much like every other Too Faced eyeshadow palettes.
• The packaging is very sturdy and travel-friendly.
• When you open the tin, on the lid you have a good-sized mirror that is very helpful for beauties on the go!
• The lid will stand erect, without any support.
• The palette comes with a lookbook, with 3 easy to achieve eye looks that would be a quick makeup manual for makeup beginners.
• And the best part, this palette smells like peanut butter 😛!

Shades

Row 1: Soft & Sweet

• Spread the Love: Peachy highlight shade with micro shimmers
• Peanut Butter: Mid-tone matte brown
• Peanut Butter Cup: Antique gold in satin finish

Row 2: Rich & Creamy

• Bananas: Champagne gold in satin finish
• Peanut Butter: Copper shade with metallic finish
• Jammin: Deep plum with gold sparkles

Row 3: PB & J

• Extra Creamy:  Matte white highlight shade
• Jelly: Bright violet in satin finish
• Nuts About U: Burnt orange brown

Performance

• The shadows stay put on my oily lids for more than 6 hours without creasing.
• The mattes are highly pigmented and blendable (not chalky).
• Expect some fallout as the shadows are soft.

Swatches

*Vega Flat Shader brush is used to create the following swatches.

Verdict

Perfect warm palette, that can double up as your perfect travel companion. You can create 4-5 varied looks with this palette. Definitely, a must buy item !

Anti-Haul: Holiday Edition

Sephora VIB Sale is less than a week away. Hold your purses tight, fill up your cart, and shop to your heart's content or until your bank balance shows "Min Balance Available". As much as I love makeup, there are times, I paste a deep frown on my face when a see a particular release. This festive season, I am not going to spend my hard earned quid on the following products:

Too Faced Grande Hotel Cafe l $49

This adorable set comes with 18 eyeshadows, two blushes, a bronzer, and a mascara. It comes as three separate mini palettes that smell like peppermint mocha, eggnog latte, and gingerbread coffee. I love the concept, the presentation is to die for; you open up the Grande Hotel Cafe door to reveal the three mini palettes stacked inside. The issue here is the colors in the individual palettes. These are colors that won't work on a tan skin girl like me. I can see white pigments and not enough depth for each of the shadows to work. The blushes, again the same issue, it may work beautifully well on fair to medium skin, but on me, even a 100 layer challenge won't do the job! If you are  a makeup collector, by all means, go ahead and purchase the product for the cute packaging, I for one, don't see a point in spending 50 dollars just on the packaging.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Ultimate Glow Kit l $45

ABH Website

The Ultimate Glow Kit contains 6 warm highlighters housed inside a cardboard packaging. Fascination with "kits" continue; As a regular makeup consumer, how fast do you go through your highlighters? and does all the shades in a "kit" work for you? My answer is a big fat NO! I already own ABH That Glow kit that I will be handing over to my grandkids. I don't think that I should invest in another "kit" that I will never go through. If you are a makeup artist, you would be able to put good use while working on clients with  different skin tones. Also, two major pain points that I have heard while obsessively watching YouTube reviews on this are:

1. The kit is very warm and suitable for medium to dark skin tone only.
2. The kit is not like the That Glow kit, which has more subtle, wet sheen-like finish, this kit here is more sparkly and glittery, not a cute highlighted look if you have textured skin.

Urban Decay Junkie Vice Lipstick Palette l $35

Sephora

This palette contains 12 lipstick shades housed in a gorgeous rose gold packaging. Lipsticks in a palette form? again the same reasoning as the "kits", I am no makeup artist, and I love my lipsticks in a tube, easy to just throw in the purse. Out of the 12 colors, I can see myself wearing just 6 colors. Crazy green, neon, sparkly lips, well, my family would disown me if I ever attempt a green lip! Adding to the woes is the packaging, cream products in a palette format is never a good idea, there are chances on intermixing and hassle of using a lip brush (comes with the palette). I believe some of the shades in here can be purchased individually in a bullet form.

HudaBeauty Eyeshadow Palette in Rose Gold l $65

When the palette was first revealed on Instagram, I wanted it so badly. The "Textured" eyeshadow shades were calling out to me. The launch coincided with ABH Mario Platte and on a second thought, I purchased the later owing to the colors and the quality of ABH shadows. Stephanie Nicoles's review solidified my decision, she didn't have many great things to talk about the palette. The cost, 65 dollars for a palette was also a major turn off.

Kat Von D Metal Matte  Palette l $60

Sephora

The Matte-Metal palette houses 13 rich mattes and 9 metal crush shadows and is taking the beauty community by storm. The only reason why this palette made a cut here is that the colors are not my domain. I remember buying beautiful jewel toned colored shadows from Inglot back when my makeup obsession started. In a year, I realized that purples and greens are not my daily colors. It's easier to pull off a crazy neutral eye look than a simple colored look. The basic fun colors that I would require (if needed), I have as part of my existing neutral palettes and makeup geek eyeshadows. Also, I will never go through 75 gm of product in a lifetime.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Surreal Light l $80

This "limited edition" holiday palette houses 2 blushes, 2 bronzers, and a highlighter in a limited edition all marble packaging. The major con is the quids man, 80 dollars??? I would rather buy a travel size product of my favorite ambient powder $22 dollars that I would get good use of. The packaging looks bulky and not so travel-friendly. 

Bath Favorites

I am a shower person through and through. It's that ME-TIME where I can float around in the warmth of the water splashing on my face and soft music filling the air. For me, it's a way to relax and unwind before and after office, so I try to make my shower an experience!

These are some of my bath favorites:

Bath and Body Works Candle l $22

I don't have a specific scent in mind. The more creamy, warm and rich, the better. The aroma fills up my entire bedroom and relaxes my senses. Candles are an indispensable part of my daily bath ritual! BBW candles are bomb diggity and are a total value for money. Candle performance consistency is an issue and I do spend some time on research before purchasing.

Gia Bath and Body Chocolate Scrub l INR 650

I exfoliate only twice a week to keep my dry patches away. Gia Bath and Body, body scrub is a must-have. The product smells like Cocoa. The ingredient list is all-natural, formulated without parabens and sulfates. Contains chocolate and sugar granules as the primary ingredients. Also, it doesn't leave the bathroom floor messy.

Bath and Body Works Shower Gel in Cup Of Warmth l $13

I made a humungous BBW order last year, and I have been loving the fall/winter body washes. I switch up my shower gels every week. The huge 295 mL bottle is a steal if you can take advantage of $3 sales! The shower gel lathers nicely and leaves a trail of scent that lasts for 2 hours. The scent Cup of Warmth is a 2015 fall exclusive and the scent description reads "Vanilla Chai and Biscotti". As far as my nose's reaction goes, this scent reminds me of caramel sauce and vanilla. Contains Sulphates.

Victoria Secrets Dream of Glamour Fragrance Mist l INR 990

Once I am done with the shower, I spritz a light dose of fragrance mist. I am very sensitive to deodorants, and this is the only way to keep me smelling like a bowl of delicious candy. Reminds me of the Prada Candy perfume. The scent is sickly sweet and stays on for 4 hours.

TheBody Shop Body Butter in Honeymania l INR 1095

I apply my moisturizer right after I am out of the shower, the water droplets makes it easy to spread the moisture. I have extremely dry skin, prone to itchiness if not moisturized. The body cream is thick and creamy. The scent I have is Honey, but it doesn't linger for more than 30 minutes. The product
comes in a 200 mL tub, and the product lasts for a year. The ingredient list boasts of Cocoa butter, Shea butter, a mix of oils, Salicylate, and Citric Acid.

Just Herbs Silksplash Facewash l INR 325 l Link

I like to wash my face while in the shower. This is a trusty face wash that comes in a 100 mL bottle with a pump. Formulated without any harmful ingredients, the main components are Neem extract, Bitter orange peel (smells like orange), Honey, and Sandalwood. I take two pumps, it makes my skin slightly dry but clean, nothing a good moisturizer can't fix.

So these are some of my bath essentials. What are yours?