The holidays are upon us and make up companies are tripping all over themselves trying to get our money because let’s face it–we ALL want to look better than the next chick at the Christmas or New Year’s Eve party. I scratched my itchy spending finger last week and purchased from a company that I’d never tried before–Too Faced. I loved the packaging of their holiday palette, “Joy to the Girls,” and rubbed a few of the colors from the display on my finger tips to test the pigments, and they looked pretty rich. I’m a sucker for shimmers and they had a few colors I was intrigued to see how they might look on my skin.

If you’re looking to look ridiculously girlie…

I’m a big fan of the guides some palettes include, because you don’t always have to follow the suggested shades, but can play around with the techniques to make it work for you.

I have mixed feelings about this one, honestly. There’s five colors on here that a dark girl shouldn’t go anywhere near–Cookie Dough, Mulberry, Snow Angel, Powdered Sugar, and Spike the Punch. I tried all of them and they all look like the same, whitish, ashen color. BUT! There’s some standouts that I’m loving–two of which I’m wearing for this post–Sugar Plum and Cheers. I put Sugar Plum along my inner corner and outer corner, slowly blending that two sides all over my lid with a blending brush while leaving the center of my lid where my eyeball protrudes bare. Then I filled the center with Cheers, which gives an amazing luminosity and depth.

My other favorites are Yule Log (deep shimmery brown), Chestnut (light shimmery brown), Chimney (a shimmery slate blue) and Prance and Twinkle, both golds. But the real thumb’s up for this set is the full size Lashgasm Mascara, which I LOVE!! The want is tight and tiny, so it hugs each lash, so much so that I can even do my microscopic lower lashes!

At $46 dollars, I’m not sure I’m sold on this palette if you’re watching your dollars. I’m glad I purchased it because it has some pretty cool colors, but not quite a value for us dark girls if you can’t use 1/3 of it. But if you have a few dollars to splurge on the other amazing colors I mentioned, plus the AMAZEBALLS mascara, then go for it!