Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette

I got a great deal on this makeup set. As with most other things I've come to own, I ordered this from HSN. Not only did I receive the palette itself, it also came with a 'Better Than Sex' mascara, a nude, semi-sheer lipcolor and an eyeshadow primer. How much was all this? It was $49. It was a special discounted price for a limited time and there was no shipping charge for beauty items that day! If that wasn't enough to entice me (which it totally was if you were wondering), this was on 3 Flex payments of $16.33. So for those of you who don't know, I pay $16.33 for 3 months (no interest). Sad news though, as of 1-29-15 it has sold out. But hopefully this comes back in stock.

 Pretty packaging!

'Better Than Sex' mascara, lipstick and 

Too Faced EyeShadow Insurance

From watching Cora review this palette (her channel is vintageortacky) she's complained that the eye shadows are not labeled. But maybe mine may be a second edition of sorts, because mine are all labeled. Or maybe this feature is an HSN exclusive, but that's pure speculation on my part. She has a great review if you'd rather watch than read. Plus, she has a tutorial with her review. Don't have anything like that here.

Check out her review and tutorial! Don't forget to subscribe!

First row: Gilded Ganache, White Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Black Forest Truffle, Triple Fudge

Second Row: Salted Caramel, Marzipan, Semi-Sweet, Strawberry Bon Bon, Candied Violet, Amaretto

Third Row: Hazelnut, Creme Brulee, Haute Chocolate, Cherry Cordial, Champagne Truffle

I'd heard that this palette smells like chocolate and lemme tell ya... It does. After I smelled it, I found that it reminded me of a Kit-Kat bar. It also makes my teeth feel weird every time I smell it. Crazy, I know.

A good thing to note as well, my skin is naturally tan. Some colors could possibly look different on someone who is lighter or darker than my skin tone. Just bear that in mind when the colors are swatched.

I noticed that when I went to swatch 'Gilded Ganache,' it was very powdery and I had a hard time getting the color and the shiny bits to 'stick' to my arm because of fallout. 'White Chocolate,' seems to be very powdery as well.  However, 'Milk Chocolate,' 'Black Forest Truffle,' and 'Triple Fudge,' went on with very little effort and fallout.

 Gilded Ganache, White Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Black Forest Truffle, Triple Fudge

The second row went on with very smoothly. 'Strawberry Bon Bon,' was the only one that really didn't show up. Although, I think it might be my skin color that's to blame.

Salted Caramel, Marzipan, Semi-Sweet, Strawberry Bon Bon, Candied Violet, Amaretto

The last row has my favorite colors. I LOVE the way they look on my skin and all felt creamy as they went on. It also had the best pigmentation of them all.

Hazelnut, Creme Brulee, Haute Chocolate, Cherry Cordial, Champagne Truffle

There really isn't much to say about the mascara, except that it is one of my most loved mascaras! It reminds me of Tarte's 'Lights, Camera, Lashes' mascara (another one of my favorites), except I feel this mascara gives length as well as volume.

My eye area looks so gross up close... Anyway, plain eyeball.
No mascara. That flash was SUPER bright.

First coat of mascara. Sorry, I chopped off the tips.

Second coat. 

Third coat of mascara.

The lip color is called 'Nude Beach.' Now... it might be because of my skin tone, but I'm not all that crazy about this lippy. But I feel this way about almost all shades of nude lipsticks on me. I've yet to find one I like. I'm more fond of this swatched on the back of my hand than I do on my lips.  But if you're a nude lip junkie, you'll love this. Personally, this lip color is not for me...

(INSERT SWATCH OF LIPSTICK)

Over all, I do like the palette. It has mostly warm eyeshadows and I like the smell of the palette when I open it (although it still makes my teeth feel weird when I sniff it. Odd, I know). I don't like how powdery a couple of the shadows are. But the eyeshadow primer, also included in this set, should help the shadows adhere a little better. 

Too Faced Eyeshadow Insurance is an okay eyeshadow primer, but I find that over the course of a few hours my eyeshadows seem to fade. So then I have sheer smokey eyes. But then, I do have oily lids. Jealous of all those who need no primer. The eye shadow primer from Nars is the only primer that really seems to work for me.

Sporto® Waterproof Suede Tall Boot with Pom Poms Review

So... I haven't bought boots in... quite a few years. Which is surprising, because I live in Michigan. We always have snow in the winter. Always. I can remember only one year that was just cold and had no snow. But getting back to the topic: I wanted cute fashionable boots. Something that I could wear all bundled up or just with jeans. Something I could wear even when it's wet and slushy out. Something I could wear-- Well, you get the idea. A fashionable, durable winter boot is what I needed.

*To avoid my long boot story scroll down to the bold heading titled 'To Sum Everything Up'*

I first went to Sears.com and thought I found what I was looking for. They were called Women's Freesia Black Winter boots. Obviously they were black, had no zipper, and looked like it had faux fur on the inside. Along with some other things for my daughter and a couple of other pairs of boots, I ended up buying them. I couldn't wait for my boots to get here! I didn't wait very long, I think maybe 2 or 3 days.

I thought this boot was so cute!

I opened up the box, so excited to put them on! However... when I did, something was wrong. One boot fit very tight across my foot, while the other fit me just fine. I bought 3 pairs of different boots in all and every single pair had problems. I was very upset that I spent all this money and nothing came out right! I usually don't complain about things I buy (usually I just take the darn things back), but this time I did. I politely complained on Sears's Facebook page. Sears actually sent me a $50 gift card to apologize for the inconvenience. They didn't have any more boots in stock and didn't know when and if they would ever get those boots back in stock. I was only able to exchange one pair of boots at the actual Sears store. The rest I had to return. In my defense, I did chat with a customer representative on Sears.com, who assured me the store closet to me had winter boots in stock. The store did, although not in my size.

I was back at square one.

I didn't see any other boots online or in the store that I liked. That's when it hit me. HSN! I love that channel. I swear I'm always buying something from them. I went to their website and immediately found a boot that I liked. The Sporto Waterproof Suede Tall boot. They were cute. The suede is chemically treated to be waterproof. All the edges are double sealed to make [double] sure no liquid will enter the boot. They came in colors that are hard to find in shoes, let alone boots (but if you look now, there are only 3 colors available. The rest are sold out as of 2-22-14). 

I placed an order for the winter white and waited. I couldn't wait for my boots to arrive. Especially since we were in this polar vortex winter (snow was EVERYWHERE). The big box arrived a little late for my taste, but to be fair the boots were so popular that they were on backorder. I took them out of the box and loved them. At the time I didn't think I'd be writing a review, so I didn't take a picture of them. Not even for Instagram. Trust me though... They were adorbs.

I'm babbling so much about how cute they are, I forgot to tell you the price. They were $99.95. But I was able to get them on Flex Pay (I love Flex Pay) for 3 payments. The first payment is always a little more because of tax and shipping.

The winter white boots I ordered were lovely and immediately put them on. I noticed that the faux fur did not run all the way into the foot of the boot, but I really didn't pay much attention to that. I loved the pom-pom detail at the end of the laces. Made them look so cute to me.

Modeling them in the mirror made me cherish them even more. I took them outside for a test run to see how waterproof they really were and how warm they were going to keep my toes. Everything was snowy and frozen, no winter slush to test how waterproof they really were.

I stuck my feet into the first snow embankment I saw. In no time flat, I felt a cold creeping into my toes. Confused, I pulled my feet out of the snow and wiggled my toes inside the boot to feel if I could feel any wetness inside. I didn't feel anything and stuck my feet in the snow again. Once again, I could feel the tips of my toes cold like before. I went back inside after that to take off my boots.

I pulled them off and that's when I noticed the inside bottom sole stuck to my sock and slipped right out of the boot. However, I didn't feel any wetness inside the boot. It did feel cold though. Didn't like that. Aren't boots supposed to keep your toes warm...?

Very confused, I took the other boot off and the same thing happened. I figured they must have forgotten to glue the inside soles of the boot to the actual boot. With the added sensation of cold sneaking its way inside, I sent them back in exchange for another pair.

I received a navy blue pair with brown fur trim and had the same things happen with those as well. I sent those back. I thought I must have gotten the only two defective boots in the whole lot. Figures. I wanted SO MUCH to love these boots, I actually sent these back and ordered my final pair in a chestnut color. Now this pair... had half the same issues. I didn't feel the cold coming into the toe area of my boot. But the inside sole still slipped out.

 As you can see, I've used these boots a lot since I've

gotten in the winter of 2014.

I couldn't believe it. 3 pairs of boots later, I came to the final realization... SPORTO DIDN'T GLUE DOWN THE SOLE IN ANY OF THEIR BOOTS. These boots cost $100, so they weren't cheap and didn't feel that way, so why not glue down the inside of the boot? I know some of you out there might think that I'm a little crazy to obsess over a small detail like that, but for that much money, I expect EVERYTHING to be glued or sewn down.

The smashed look is from me being too lazy to rearrange them 

EVERY SINGLE TIME I took off my boot. Seriously Sporto?

I did get a chance to test how waterproof they supposedly were. I occasionally will step in a few puddles when getting kids in and/or out of the SUV. Don't feel any dampness coming through with this last pair. But don't step into a puddle that's deeper than where the fur trim on the boot is. That long faux fur trimmed tongue isn't attached the boot. It's just there... Waiting for snow to stick to it and melt into your boot.

 See that 'U' shape at the top of the foot area of the boot?

Yeah, there's no extra protection from a deep puddle there...

I feel that the tongue of the boot should extend to each side of the boot.

I've had snow soak into the fur and my legs because of this. I mean the fur

of the boot, not my furry legs... You know what I mean.

To sum everything up...

Now, almost a year later, the fur trim in coming apart at the seam. I wish I could go back and tell myself not to exchange the boots and just buy some other kind of boot. Also, I would love it if the fur lining went ALL THE WAY into the foot of the boot for some extra warmth and coziness. It would be great too if the tongue were attached to the rest of the boot. Just for that extra protection from winter wetness. These boots aren't completely falling apart... Yet. I feel these chic snow shoes weren't worth the trouble or the money I went through. 

Once the fur trim comes off a little more, I'll be on the hunt for a different kind of the boot. One that is worth the money I pay for. Does anyone know of that certain stylish boot that looks great with outfits, but yet durable enough to go sledding all day with your kids? I highly doubt one exists... Or it does, but I can't find it... I forgot to mention that I had to double knot the laces because the momentum of the pom-poms on the laces was heavy enough to actually loosen the knot. Hence, I was constantly tying my boots. I was never running anywhere either...

   This is what the inside looked like sole-less. What bothers me is that,

it doesn't even look like Sporto tried to tack them down.

 

 I literally hot glued the soles down into my boots. Wasn't as easy

as one might think. I hot glued my finger and it STINKIN' HURT.

If you've bought these boots, let me know in the comments below what you think about them.

Also forgot to mention that these can be cleaned with a damp cloth.

At least that's what the presenter said on HSN. 

As you can clearly see, I have yet to do so.

By they way, LOVE my leggings! Random, I know.