Smashbox Full Exposure Palette Review

 Smashbox Full Exposure Palette Review



From the Brand:   
What it is:
A set of universally awesome neutrals that’s essential, effortless, and enhanced for your eye shape.

What it does:
This totally versatile palette is organized with crease-resistant, long-wearing shimmers in the top row and velvety smooth mattes along the bottom. Fourteen essential neutral shades include a range of nudes, blacks, shimmers, and mattes. Use the brilliant eye shape chart, dual-ended brush, and Full Exposure Mascara to complete any look.

This set contains:
- 0.035 oz x 7 eye shadow in shimmer shades (top row): Chocolate Brown with Golden Pearl, Deep Golden Brown with Gold Pearl, Soft Gold with Gold and Silver Pearl, Light Tan with Gold and Silver Pearl, Golden Wheat with Gold Pearl, Midtone Slate with Silver Pearl, Rich Grey with Multicolor and Silver Pearl
- 0.035 oz x 7 eye shadow in matte shades (bottom row): Matte Warm Chocolate Brown, Matte Midtone Brown, Soft Matte Midtone Tan, Creamy Matte Beige, Soft Light Taupe, Ashy Dark Brown, Suede Black
- 0.14 oz Full Exposure Mascara deluxe sample
- Get-the-look eye shape chart

What else you need to know:
Smashbox has taken the guesswork out of application with a cool, new dual-ended brush. There’s a fluffy end perfect for blending matte shades and a flat end to easily lay down the shimmer shades without sparkle overload. Plus, it’s double-sided with black bristles on one side and white on the other, so you’ll never accidentally dip a light shade into a dark shade.


Retails for:  $49.00


Where to Buy:  Sephora stores and Sephora.com, Ulta stores and Ulta.com


My Thoughts:  If you’ve read my review of the Lorac PRO Palette, you’ll know I’m a huge fan of palettes that have coordinating matte and shimmer shadows.  For each shade from soft nude to deep smokey, you get a matte version and a shimmer version in their amazingly pigmented eyeshadow formula.  I love this palette so much it’s joining my Lorac one in my professional kit.  (I’ll be popping off the heavy mirror though to cut down on weight.)  Not only do you get both matte and shimmer of each shade, the left half of the palette is more warm yellow based browns, and the right half is more cool grey based browns and a black, so no matter how you like to do your nude makeup, there’s a perfect shade for your style.

The formula of these shadows is super soft with very little fallout.  However, on first application with it I did find that the mattes are a bit dry looking on the skin and can get a little muddy when blended together.  I’d recommend using at least one of the shimmery shades with the mattes so that you aren’t looking very dated in your look.  In my video review, I’ll show you the shades I used to create the look I’m wearing.

The staying power is fantastic.  Over a primer, you’ll easily get 15 hours or more.  It also comes with a travel size Full Exposure mascara to complete the look.  I love to use the deep matte black shadow pressed over a black pencil liner to give it ultimate staying power and to soften it up a bit for a sexy look.

The highlight of this set is that it comes with a great dual ended shadow brush to give you a variety of looks.  This little baby is staying with me though!  I’ll have to slip a brush guard over one end to store it in my brush cup on the bathroom counter, but it’ll be a huge travel friendly space-saver come Christmas time when we go home to Florida for the holidays.


Final Verdict:  Great palette at a great price.  Very versatile, and cuts down on products when you travel!

**Disclaimer: As with all my product reviews, I was not paid by the cosmetic company to provide feedback or review/promote their products. All the opinions expressed in this article are my own. These items were purchased with my own money. For more information on my policies, please view my Let's Chat page.

Holidays 2013- Too Faced A Few of My Favorite Things Gift Set

Too Faced A Few Of My Favorite Things Gift Set


From the Brand:  What it is: A 28-piece set handpicked by Too Faced Co-founder and Creative Director Jerrod Blandino. What it does: This Sephora exclusive features Jerrod's iconic favorites for the eyes, face, cheeks, and lips and will make your holidays gorgeous. This collection is infused with classic colors that have a playful edge-shades that fit right in for a super swanky blowout or an intimate Christmas day brunch with the family. After hours, zip-up your essentials in Too Faced's signature chevron-print clutch, designed by celebrity decorator and TV personality Mary McDonald.

This set contains: - 1.2 oz x 20 Eye Shadow in Snowflakes, Whiskers on Kittens, Chocolate Milk, Moon on their Wings, Dark Chocolate, Cream Colored Ponies, Honey Honey, Busch de Noel, Evergreen, Blue Satin Sashes, Coquet, Taffy, Crisp Apple Strudel, Woolen Mittens, Soirée, Tinsel, Bluff, Ooh La Orchid, Party Time, Pure Glam - 0.28 oz x 2 Blush in Raindrops on Roses, Melt into Spring - 0.28 oz x 2 Bronzer in Sun Bunny, Chocolalte Soleil - 0.1 oz Lip Injection Color Bomb! in Bee Sting - 0.17 oz Better Than Sex Mascara in Carbon Black - Chevron clutch - How-To Glamour Guide What it is formulated WITHOUT: - Parabens - Sulfates - Phthalates


Retails for:  $59 (original price)


Where to Buy:  I know I got this from Sephora.com, but now that I'm ready to publish my review I can't find this collection anywhere other than Amazon.com where it's going for $95.00.  If you can get your hands on one of these, grab it!


My Thoughts:  I am so incredibly thankful that I found this and bought it when I did rather than hoping I'd get a gift card to Sephora in my stocking and trying to find it later!  I can't believe that it's sold out everywhere!  I can see why though, as this is one of the absolute best palettes I've purchased from  Too Faced.  I buy at least one mega palette like this every year, and I love the versatility of the sets.  They almost always come with the decadent matte bronzer Chocolate Soleil along with the Sunny Bunny bronzers with a shimmer and a pink and peach blush.

The eyeshadows in this are super pigmented, creamy, and are the perfect mix of mattes and shimmers plus neutrals and brights.  There's literally a little something for everyone in this set.  It also comes with Better Than Sex Mascara and a lip plumping Lip Injection Color Bomb in the perfect nude color.

For more on this amazing gift set, check out my YouTube review!




Final Verdict:  If you can find one, snatch that up before it's gone for good!  When they said Limited Edition, the emphasis was on LIMITED!

**Disclaimer: As with all my product reviews, I was not paid by the cosmetic company to provide feedback or review/promote their products. This article contains some affiliate links provided through Viglink.com. All the opinions expressed in this article are my own. These items were purchased with my own money. For more information on my policies, please view my Let's Chat page.