Too Faced Le Grand Parais Holiday Collection Review!!

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Welcome back, beauties!!

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've last posted. I have been super busy, and super stressed. However, I was determined to get this post out for you guys and dolls because I had to share this amazing product that I am currently obsessed with.

Not only is Fall my favorite season, but it also means that another favorite season of mine is upon us...
Yes, my friends, it is holiday palette season!!!!! *Screams and dances around the room*

I am SO excited to see what my favorite brands have in store for the holiday season! We're slowly being introduced to the amazing value sets, palettes, and special editions, and I cannot wait to see what else is released in the upcoming weeks!

Due to being a VIB Rouge member at Sephora, I was able to get early access to a special holiday palette about a month ago. I held off on posting about it until I knew it was released to the public (which it now is) so I HAD to share how beautiful this palette is.

Introducing...

The Too Faced Le Grand Palais!

ARE YOU FREAKING OUT? BECAUSE I AM FREAKING OUT.

This set is stunning. The presentation of this set from Too Faced is nothing short of spectacular. 

Look. At. It.

This is one of three holiday collections from Too Faced's Christmas in Paris Collection. Currently, this is the only one I own, therefore, it is the only one I will talk about!

If you are interested in the others, there is a smaller collection exclusive to Ulta Beauty, and a medium collection available through Sephora, Ulta, and Too Faced.

Too Faced Le Grand Parais is exclusive to Sephora, and the most expensive of the three, but this also offers you the most bang for your buck!

Le Grand Parais is a $58.00 holiday set valued at $378.00. That is amazing!

Let's dive right in, shall we?

This is what the outer packaging looks like. The quality is top notch. Very sleek, very classic. Beautiful to give as a gift. You don't even have to wrap this. 

The attention to detail that was put into this packaging is epic. This is no ordinary cardboard box. Here's a close-up shot of the details:

Do we see the raised etching? ARE WE SEEING THE BEAUTY? And the ribbon is real ribbon. Ugh. Slaying me sideways.

When you remove the set from the outer box, you see this:

More perfection. 

Take off the lid of this adorbs gift box, unfold it, and be amazed...

How. Beautiful. Is. This. The detail is incredible. THE SCENERY. FOR A HOLIDAY SET. SLAY.

Here is a closeup shot of the freebies. A deluxe-size Better Than Sex Mascara, a deluxe-size Liquid Lipstick in Melted Peony, and a Shadow Insurance Eye Primer.

How cute is this? Seriously. Look at the shopping bags. I spy a Chocolate Bar palette, some Too Faced blush, and some Liquid Lipsticks. And the wrought iron staircase? The mannequin with her fancy dress and pearls? Where you goin', gurl?!

When you lift up the bottom half, you dive into the palette...

Featuring 18 eyeshadows varying between mattes, shimmers, and sheers, with adorable holiday-themed names, two blushes, a bronzer, and a highlighter... this palette gives you everything you need.

How gorgeous are these shades? 

Now, I will say... the pigmentation... not the best of Too Faced's work. 

The highlighter, Flush, is stunning. The matte shadows are very pigmented. The blushes are on the sheer side, but I think they're buildable if you play around.

The colors such as Eiffel, Midnight in Paris, Wish List, and Party Dress... a bit disappointing in the pigmentation category. They're beautiful shades, and they're buildable, but I wish you didn't have to work that hard to get good pigmentation. 

Like all Too Faced palettes, Le Grand Parais comes with a Glamour Guide to help you create beautiful looks with all of these shades. 

If you'd like, I can do a tutorial using one of the looks in the Glamour Guide! 

All in all, this palette is a fantastic gift for any makeup lover, or anyone looking for a great palette that covers lips, primer,shadow, mascara, contour, and highlight! This palette has got you covered! 

And it's an adorable piece that can be displayed on any vanity, dresser, desk, etc. 

I praise this palette. Definitely very impressive. I'm curious as to how Too Faced will top it next holiday season! Do you plan on picking this up? Gifting it or keeping it for yourself? 

Have you tried the other Too Faced Christmas in Paris sets? How are they? 

I'm going to have a fun Fall tutorial up next! Stay on the lookout for that!

Until then, stay beautiful 

Christina Bracco

xoxoxoxo

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Order to Apply Makeup- Feat. Product Suggestions!

Happy Friday, beauties!!

I hope you're all having a spectacular week! Happy October :)

Today's post is all about the right way to apply makeup! 

Did you know that there is an order in which you're supposed to apply your makeup products? Mhmm, that's right! 

There is a specific order to ensure that you are getting proper use, coverage, and pigmentation out of your products! I'm sharing with you all, that order, and some product recommendations along the way. Let's jump in, shall we?!

First, of course, apply whatever moisturizer you use. Depending on the consistency of your specific moisturizer, give it some time to soak into your skin before starting your makeup application. I use Argan Oil as a moisturizer, so I wait about 5 minutes after I apply it, to sit down and start applying my makeup! 

Now, if we're in a rush, or we're not doing a full face, we may jump around in the order in which we apply, but especially if you're doing a full face, try to stick to this order!

_________________________________________________________________________________

Some people like to apply the beginnings of their face makeup (i.e. foundation/concealer) before working on their eyes. However, this is not the best move, and I do not recommend doing that.

When we apply eyeshadow, there is always fallout. If you're patting a shadow on your lid, some of the shadow is falling onto your under eyes/cheeks. Even just moving the shadow brush towards your eye, fallout is happening, ladies! So, if you have your foundation, and even your concealer, applied, you're getting little pink, gold, black, whatever color shadow your applying, dustings on your face! Then, you're going to have to touch up the mess.That's why, it's best to first work on your eyes, and then move on to your face.

• Start off priming your eyes. I've shared that I like to prime my eyes with a concealer and powder, but if you'd prefer a shadow primer on the market, go for it! However you chose to prime, just make sure that you prime! It seriously gives your shadow long wear, crease free.

          Eye Primer suggestions: Too Faced Shadow Insurance/ Urban Decay Primer Potion.

• Next, apply your shadows as you normally would. I always apply my shadows by applying a base color. Usually a light shadow just to give a little extra evening out and brightening of the eye area. Then, I go in with my lid shadow, patting it gently all over the lid. Next, in windshield wiper motions, I apply my transition shade in the crease, and then finally, I apply my darker shadow to my outer corner. Easy enough! 

          I won't give any shadow suggestions, because that's just impossible. There are way too        

         many shadows out there, haha. But if you'd like a universal palette recommendation, the    

         Too Faced Chocolate Bar is a go-to!

• Once you're done applying your shadow, then it's on to curl your lashes! 

          Eyelash Curler suggestion: Sephora Collection Eyelash Curler.

• Next, it's time to apply your mascara. Note: After curling my lashes, I only apply one coat of mascara to my top lashes. Do not apply your second coat to your top (if you're one who applies a second coat) and do not apply to your bottom lashes yet. We will get to that in a while, and I will explain why we're not finishing that step yet.

         Mascara suggestions: Please see my post on my Top 5 Favorite Mascaras for suggestions!   

         Here is a link: http://beautybybracco.blogspot.com/2015/09/top-5-must-have-mascaras.html

Now it's time to move on to the face!

• Prime your face! I'm a firm believer in priming your face before applying foundation/concealer/bronzer/etc. - It truly helps to keep your makeup in place, lasting long, and bulletproof. The only time I do not prime my face is if I'm wearing a tinted gel or tined moisturizer. Otherwise, prime, prime, PRIME!

          Face Primer suggestions: Mally Beauty Perfect Prep Poreless Primer/ Tarte BB Tinted  

         Treatment 12-Hour Primer/ Benefit Porefessional.

• Foundation time! If you are using a liquid foundation, apply one pump to the back of your hand, then take your CLEAN ring finger, and dot the foundation all over your face. Then take your brush and buff it into your skin, or take your damp BeautyBlender and pat it out gently! If you're using a powder foundation, simply swirl your brush into the product, tap out the excess, and then swirl the brush onto your skin, buffing out the product evenly! 

          Foundation suggestions: Make Up Forever HD Foundation/ bareMinerals Original   

          Foundation/ Mally Beauty Poreless Perfection Foundation. 

• Concealer! Now is the time to apply concealer under your eyes, and to any blemishes that you'd like to give a little extra coverage! I apply my under eye concealer in a triangle shape, and then I take a damp BeautyBlender and pay it out very gently. The same technique goes for blending out concealer on a blemishes, pat it out with a BeautyBlender. Tapping out provides better coverage and keeps the concealer in place. Wiping just removes the product. Don't forget to set your concealer with a powder if you do that step! I do not. With the concealers I named below, there is no need for me to set them. They don't move :)

          Concealer suggestions: Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage 

          Concealer/ It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye.

• Now it's time for bronzer! Now is the time to warm up your face by swirling bronzer on the sides of your forehead and your cheeks. If you're contouring, chisel out those cheekbones and your temples! 

         Bronzer suggestions: Mally Beauty Believable Bronzer/ Benefit Hoola Bronzer.

• Time to highlight! After you've put a shadow effect on the parts of you're face you're trying to pull backwards with your bronzer, it's time to brighten and apply light to the parts of your face you'd like to pull forward. Apply highlighter to the tops of your cheekbones, your cupids bow, down the bridge of your nose, the center of your chin, and the center of your forehead. If you'd like a more detailed explanation on how to highlight, HERE is a complete post dedicated to just that! 

         Highlighter suggestion: Josie Maran Argan Elightenment Illuminizing Wand.

• Blush! It's time to give those cheeks a glowing color! Tap your brush into your blush, tap out the excess, and then smile and swirl your blush onto the apples of your cheeks, working backwards.

         Blush suggestions: Benefit Rockateur Blush/ Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush.

Remember when we paused on our eyes? We're back to finish them up!

• Now it's time to apply your second coat of mascara to your top lashes. This helps to lift your lashes an blacken them up after all that powder from our foundation, blush, bronzer was applied and dusting around! Also, apply one coat of mascara to your bottom lashes. We didn't do this step earlier, because if we had, we would have just went on to apply our foundation and our concealer. When blending and tapping those products out, we would have hit our lashes and gotten product on them giving your lashes a lighter effect. Now, they're safe, long, and black! 

• Eyebrows! Highlight your brow bone with your favorite eyeshadow or highlighter! Similar to the mascara scenario, we wait to do our eyebrows so that we do not get product all over our fresh brows. Foundation, concealer, brow highlight, bronzer, all get stuck in our brows while we're applying, either by fallout or by swiping over them with a brush. This moves our brow hairs around, and lightens them. By applying our brow product now, we are getting the most out of our application. Brush out your brows with a spooly, apply your favorite brow product, and then git them with a brow gel to keep them bulletproof all day! 

         Brow Product suggestions: It Cosmetics Universal Brow Power (here is a post all about 

         this holy grail product of mine: BROWS / Brow Gel: Anastasia Beverly Hills Clear Brow 

         Gel. 

• Finally, apply your fav lip color, whether it's a lipstick or a gloss, and hit your face with some setting spray! 

         Setting Spray suggestion: NYX Dewey Finish Setting Spray. 

There you have it, ladies! Now, your makeup is bulletproof, pigmented, and ready to take on the day with perfection! 

Go off and enjoy your makeup!

I'll be back next week with some fun, Fall, vampy, makeup tutorials, and other goodies! 

Until then, stay beautiful,

Christina Bracco

xoxoxoxo

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