Mac Extra Dimension Skinfinish - Double Gleam

Hey! Thankyou for tuning in! This review will be all about MAC 's Extra Dimension Skinfinish In Double Gleam. I did pick up one more shade " Beaming Blush" which I will review later on as I wanted to focus this one on just one product to be able to go in-depth. The highlighter we're talking about is a part of MAC's extra dimension skinfinish collections that is launched specifically for the highlight trend of 2016- strobing! It definitely is different from the brand's previous shimmery powder formulas. This line is designed for a blinding obvious glow in various different shades and forms : liquids and powders. Starting off with the review of extra dimension skinfinish highlighters , they come in various shade selections to choose from , catering to almost all skin types across the board. There is a stark white silvery toned shade that reflects blue and is perfect for paler skintones that are unable to pull off gold toned highlighters. This one is a light golden tone with champagne shift , yellow warm undertones and a very bold metallic sheen. MAC claims these last upto 10 hours to which I can testify saying I wore this one for about a 7 hours you could say! and to my surprise , it held up while my blush was gone. I'll start off with packaging , progressing towards the formula , the wearibility , the application and cost breakdown!

It comes housed in the standard black MAC packaging which is the same for all MAC compacts but this one has a slight change to it. Instead of being totally black , the middle of it is see-through so you get to see the colour even if you decide to keep it in the box if you're like me!

The inside of the compact looks like this

All of the extra dimensions share this layout : a beautiful lined pattern with MAC engraved on it. The packaging has a clip shut closure so it will be secure if you want to take it travelling with you!
Coming to the formula of the powder , it's honestly something I haven't seen before. I remember swatching it in store and thinking it might be like a regular MAC highlighter but they've changed this entirely from their previous ones : this is more on the gritty side , more finely milled and very thin of a consistency where it layers beautifully on top of other products , liquids or powders. It has a very very unique formula which almost seems like every powder particle is reflecting light on it's own , which is the possibility as this is very intense of a highlighter. It shows up pretty well and loud on my warm golden skintone and will be gorgeous on almost any skintone I can think of , even deep ones as it does not reflect very very silver, it is a muted gold with champagne undertones. If you can make Champagne Pop show up on your skin and reflect beautifully , this is a tone lighter than that and will suit almost every undertone. I would recommend going in store and swatching a few shades as they do carry gold tones darker than this.

This is what it looks like with one finger swatch , lightly pressed without any pressure. It is indeed beautiful! Having tried all 4 shades of this line , I can say this one has shimmers and pressed pearls that pull more on the shiny metallic side compared to the rest and formula wise , even though they might share the same ingredient , this probably due to it's shade is the most flattering one.
On the skin , if worn heavy handedly with a denser brush , it does slightly emphasize texture if you have any on your cheeks but if worn with a fan brush or lightly dusted with sheer application , it is smooth and doesnt tend to show any texture or bumps that your skin may have. Even worn with my go-to highlight brush which is a dense one , it did not bring up any textured skin or bumps on my cheeks , but I would still recommend going in with a fan brush for a more diffused softer finish depending on your preference. The closest dupe that I can find of this shade and somewhat of texture is BECCA Moonstone which is pretty close.

Comparing it to another of my most used highlighters from MAC , Soft and Gentle , I would say they fall in the same warm gold highlight shade families but are very different formula wise ,which justifies having 2 of them. Soft and Gentle is a more muted , more smooth and softer , diffused almost glow-from-within highlight with little bit of fine micro shimmers that make it pop in light. It is darker in tone and reflection and is more on the subtle side as compared to this one.

This is what Soft and gentle looks like on my skintone , if you have not read my review on this , I will have it linked down below but I do prefer my soft and gentle over double gleam for an everyday highlighter but I would definitely choose double gleam over soft and gentle if we compare them on the basis of intensity and how blinding they are! Not to mention , S&G is slightly more on the peachy gold side whereas double gleam is a lighter gold toned highlighter.

You can get MAC Double Gleam here online : ( or at any MAC counter or store near you)

http://www.maccosmetics.com.au/product/13849/21865/products/makeup/face/powder/extra-dimension-skinfinish#/shade/Double-Gleam_

It retails for $48 Australian and has 9 grams of product.

Post on Soft and Gentle :

http://peaceloveshimmermusings.blogspot.com.au/2017/07/mac-mineralise-skinfinish-soft-and.html

Thankyou for reading! hope it helped xo

Prab :) 

Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette

Helllooo! Thankyou for tuning in :)
This week's review is on the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette. I got this a couple weeks ago from Mecca Maxima here in Melbourne and since then it has been my go-to palette for neutral matte eye looks. It is quite frankly your basic everyday neutral eye palette with a range of light beige mattes and shimmers to some dark bronzy gold , chocolate brown mattes and shimmers with pops of pastel pinks and purples thrown in. I'll start off this review with packaging going on towards the layout , colour selection , formula and consistency.
The brand describe it as :

The eye shadows are pigmented with pure, antioxidant-rich cocoa powder and include 16 matte and shimmer shades of natural browns, delicate pinks and luscious plums. Even sweeter, enjoy applying the shadows from the chocolate bar tin they are encased in!

- Includes Too Faced's signature how-to Glamour Guide with three looks to get you started. 

Too faced originally came out with this palette in a bulkier packaging broader in width , and then with the re-release , they revamped the packaging into a less bulky , sturdy packaging.

Back of the box

It comes encased in a brown chocolate looking tin case with chocolate bar written on it. Although its brown , the packaging is just too adorable for words and this is what too faced does best : their packaging is on point. So  with the palette you get a how-to guide called the glamour guide and it has a couple different looks and stepwise details on how to create them.

It does come handy when you're a beginner. The inside comes with 16 eyeshadows , 2 large pans and 14 regular pan sizes. The palette smells like sweet cocoa and chocolate and vanilla and everything delicious and it gives me LIFEE everytime I use it. The back of the palette lists all the shade names and the ingredients of each individual shade. If you are sensitive to smells , it does go away once it's on your eyes but it's such an experience to open and use it. Again , when you are getting a high end palette , you're also paying for the experience. The layout of the palette is a nice gradient from light to dark shades with mixed mattes and shimmers but it has 2 or 3 pops of random non-neutral pastel or dark shades thrown in there for a bit more variety. I honestly got it just for the neutrals and for that reason I'm not disappointed. I use the hell out of it and have done so since I got it. But if you are looking at those pops of colour , they hardly give any payoff and I'll come to that in a moment. Overall the palette is good quality : the mattes blend out great , the darker shades don't go on patchy and the shimmers and honestly good quality. Some of the shimmers need a lot of packing to show up considerably on the lid and one or two darker shades go on patchy or don't show up at all. My only complaint is that if you are paying that much for a palette , you would expect all 16 of the shades to show up beautifully but there are however a few hits and misses (in total 2 or 3) which is fine given you get 16 shades in total , but people who are buying it enticed by those particular shades can end up disappointed. So I'll start off with description of each shadow :

Gilded Ganache is a dark chocolate brown with warm, caramel undertones and a yellowed bronze shimmer which reflects green. It has decent colour payoff, and the texture is soft and not so much powdery. I did notice some fine microglitter in it and it needed 3 to 4 layers to show up on my lid.
White Chocolate is a warm-toned, pale beige almost white with a matte finish. It has pretty good pigmentation, and the texture is soft, blendable, and not powdery. Its a good brow bone highlight and setting shade for eye primer. It's in one of their bigger 2 pan shadows and it's good to have a white matte shade in such a good quantity.
Milk Chocolate is a medium-dark, warm brown with orangey undertones and a matte finish. It has nice pigmentation, applied smoothly, and was easy to blend.
Black Forest Truffle is a burgundy toned brown shade with burgundy and bronze sparkle and shimmer. It was more on the drier, slightly gritty, side but the colour payoff is decent with little packing.
Triple Fudge is a deep, dark brown with neutral-to-warm undertones and a matte finish. It has good color payoff and is more buildable than some of the other mattes. The mattes in the palette perform pretty darn good and this is a good one.
Salted Caramel is a warm , subtle medium orange with hints of brown and a matte finish. It has amazing color payoff and is great as a transition shade.
Marzipan is a warm, peachy-orange with a slightly metallic finish. It is soft and buildable and has decent payoff as an all over the lid colour.
Semi-Sweet is a medium brown with warm, reddish undertones and a matte finish. It is a good opaque matte and does not need much blending.
Strawberry Bon Bon is a cool-toned, light pastel pink with a matte finish. The colour payoff is slightly off but after a few layers it showed up as a pink tint. The blendability was decent.
Candied Violet is a smoky violet with cool undertones and micro-glitter particles. It is very dry and stiff to work with, and the color payoff is sheer. It is not buildable sooo this was a dud.
Amaretto is a warm , medium brown with red undertones and a frosted finish. It has good pigmentation and works well packed on the lid.
Hazelnut is a medium-dark, golden bronze in shiny metallic finish . The texture is dry and slightly on the stiffer side but it has decent payoff.
Creme Brulee is a dark gold with warm undertones and a metallic finish. This shade has really rich pigmentation, and is soft and buttery. Too faced does bronzy shimmers best!
Haute Chocolate is a muted, dark chocolate brown with warm undertones and a shimmery finish. It has great payoff and is soft and buildable on the lid.
Champagne Truffle is a pink-tinged white with a golden shine and metallic finish. It is one of the bigger pans and is just a gorgeous all over the lid shade. I really like this one although it is cool toned.

Here are the swatches : 

Coming to the price, it retails for AUD 70 here in Australia and around 50 USD. You get 0.62 oz in total. The smaller eyeshadows are 0.03 oz. each, while the two larger ones are 0.10 oz. each. You can get this through TooFaced's website or through your local Mecca Maxima online and in-store! I will have links down below. Through and through , I do like this palette and reach for it everyday for my lighter neutrals and some fun party looks too! It does cater to a few different tastes and it is good quality!

Where you can get it:

Mecca Maxima : http://www.mecca.com.au/too-faced/chocolate-bar-eye-shadow-palette/I-017659.html