Product Review: Too Faced Shadow Insurance

What it claim it does: This is your full-coverage insurance policy against all fading, creasing, melting, blurring, oil slicked, and hard-to-blend eyeshadow accidents. Our silicone based eyeshadow primer transforms any eyeshadow into a perfectly blendable, color-drenched, intensified version of itself, then locks it down perfectly until you take it off. This soothing formula evens out the skintone on your lids and smoothes lines while securing a barrier between the oils of your skin and your makeup, so no shadow catastrophes will ever happen again.

Ingredients: Isododecane, Talc, Cyclopentasiloxane, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Glyceryl Triethylhexanoate, Polyethylene, Trihydroxystearin, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, Isopropyl Lanolate, VP/Eicosene Copolymer, Propylene Carbonate, Dimethicone, PEG-40 Stearate, Phenoxyethanol, Tocopherol. May Contain (+/-): Mica, Bismuth Oxychloride (CI 77163), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499). (Source: Sephora)

Price: $17


Too Faced Shadow Insurance Report Card:
Quality: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥/5
Price: ♥ ♥ ♥.5 /5
Packaging: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥/5

Overall: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥/5


What I liked about it: It actually works! It really keeps your eyelids from being an oilslick at the end of the day. I've tried L'Oreal De-Crease as a base at one point in my life only to have it end up as an epic fail! I normally opt for my MAC paint pots as a base for my eyeshadow or just a base to help my eyeliner stay put and prevent it from creasing (meaning preventing your black eyeliner to some how find its way to travel up to your crease). However, due to the sweltering heat we're experiencing in California, my usual MAC paint pots by itself are currently no good. So I opted to try for another base which can save my eye makeup from fading or creasing and has led me to try this awesome product. What's also good about the Too Faced Shadow Insurance is it dries up transparent in your eyelids and instantly. There's really no drying-time unlike the L'Oreal De-crease which took forever to sink into my skin. Another good thing about it is it lasts for a really long time (and I will prove it to you in just a moment). The product packaging is also better than UDPP and L'Oreal De-Crease since it doesn't use a wand to get the product out. It comes in a squeeze tube so nothing really goes in the product, just out keeping bacteria away. And there's also no need for you to break into the tube and then storing it in another container just to get all your money's worth.

Here are a couple of images to prove my point...

I applied my eyeliner around 7 am to get ready for work. Although I'm always in my office most of the time, I do go out and have lunch in our patio and walk to my car (which is a long walk!) in the sweltering heat. Yes, I do have lunch outside no matter how hot it is since I like to "enjoy" the sun and see the sky since I'm couped up in my office most of the time. When I did this experiment, our weather was forcasted at 100 degrees and up. My day also ended at 10:30 pm after I ran a few errands to different stores (again in the sweltering heat) and RUNNING/jogging/walking for about two hours after that! So that's a 15 hour day for me with Too Face Shadow Insurance on my lids with some activities going on.

Freshly Applied at 7 in the morning:

Around 10:30 pm: After some errands and running around the block. Notice how there is only minor creasing after I've sweat and been out and about the whole day. Usually by this time, without the Shadow Insurance, I'll have black goop on my lids from my eyeliner.

What I don't like about it: When I directly put eyeshadow on top of the Shadow Insurance, I actually had a bit of a hard time blending my eyeshadows. But that can be fixed by layering your Too Faced Shadow Insurance with your MAC paint pot (or other cream-based product you have available) for better blending. It is also more expensive than UDPP by a couple of bucks which can turn-off some people into buying it. Although the packaging seemed to be more sanitary compared to other eyeprimers, the tube can go through possible, unexpected mishaps such as squeezing the tube too hard causing too much product than you orignally intent or worse, accidently puncturing the tube with something sharp in your makeup bag. Other than that, I can't think of anything else bad about it.

Will I buy it again?: Most definitely! Although I haven't really tried UDPP, I just don't believe in using a wand to apply my eyeprimer or breaking through the packaging so I just feel that I'm not getting ripped off. Although Too Faced Shadow Insurance is a few bucks more, it is still more sanitary than other eyeprimers and it has a great staying power that keeps my lids oil-free.

MAC Neo Sci-Fi and Cool Heat Collection (Haul and Swatches)

Sorry for the lack of updates once again. I've been insanely busy at work that I'm usually there early and yet still the last one to leave our "cave". I'm just trying to learn and get a better understanding of my job. So needless to say, I've been coming home really tired at the end of the day, and sleeping late is hardly an option since I have difficulties waking up bright and early.

Anyway, the Cool Heat collection from MAC released today, June 12. I decided to check it out and take advantage of the 15 percent coupon that MAC has miraculously sent out to their customers yesterday. I guess with the recent downturn of our economy, so did their sales hence why they offered this discount. But being a recent business graduate, I still wanted to hold on to my weak dollar by spending it wisely on something I will actually use while satisfying my inner MAC addiction without going overboard. I also checked out Sephora and finally got the Too Faced Shadow Insurance and got a sample of the Cosmedicine Medi Matte Oil Control Lotion.

HAULS:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance ($17) and Cosmedicine Medi Matte (Sample)


MAC Blush palette, MAC Gulf Stream e/s (Cool Heat Collection), and MAC Expensive Pink (Neo-Sci Fi Collection)

Upclose: Expensive Pink and Gulf Stream

SWATCHES:

MAC Cool Heat Collection Swatches (*missing Warm Chill)

The Cool Heat collection has some hit or miss for me. The rest of the eyeshadows can be substituted with a permanent color. Solar White can be duped with Femme Fi (Neo Sci Fi) or with Naked Lunch (permanent). Gulf Stream is almost similar to Parrot in my opinion. But, I did get it since I don't have Parrot. Blue Flame can be subsituted with Deep Truth (permanent) as Vanessa had observed and mention while we were swatching these babies today. However, Deep Truth has a better color payoff than Blue Flame which looks a little flat or too matte for its color. Warm Chill (not pictured) was a miss for me since it seemed too sheer for my taste. And lastly, Warming Trend just reminds me of my Milani Sheer Sand. Other misses are Cool Heat and Climate Blue. The texture of these eyeshadows seemed to be chunky.

MAC Neo Sci-Fi Collection Swatches

As for the Neo Sci-Fi Collection, these colors are more up in my alley (yes, I'm aware that I'm a bit late for this information). However, like the Cool Heat collection, it can be easily be duped with a permanent color. As mentioned earlier, Femme Fi can be duped with Naked Lunch; Time & Space is similar to Woodwinked; and Expensive Pink with NYX Salmon (trio). The only slight difference I noticed with Expensive Pink vs. NYX Salmon e/s was Expensive Pink is a little bit more on the peachy side than the NYX Salmon.

I passed up on getting the Magnetic Fields since I thought it looked like my Milani Java Bean, but it wasn't. The closest color with Magnetic Fields that I have is Brun, except Brun is a matte color while Magnetic Fields is more on the frosty side. So, I might have to go back in getting Magnetic Fields after all.

I hope this helps with anyone thinking about getting something in this collection. For the past weeks, I've been analyzing every single eyeshadow I own to justify why they should stay in my stash. As much as I am a beauty addict/junkie, I still have to weigh in some benefit or purpose for my purchase especially with gas prices going up, the dollar getting weaker, rice shortages, and the economy slump. We only have two sets of eyes and one lips. How much makeup do we really need? Creativity doesn't come from the amount of eyeshadow you own, but how you can utilize on what you have. But sometimes it's easier said than done to stop an addiction.