You open a portal onto the Plane of Shadow, allowing yourself and creatures you touch to pass into that area.
Unlike the shadow walk spell, this does not grant you the ability to open another such portal automatically, so the spell is often used as a temporary hiding place or a method of gaining access to the Plane of Shadow.
The portal remains for the duration of the spell, and other creatures may pass through it in either direction if they make a Will save.
The portal is invisible from the Material Plane and looks like a white hole on the Plane of Shadow.
As with the shadow walk spell, you must be in a region of heavy shadows to cast shadowfade.
The spell may only be cast on a plane coexistent with the Plane of Shadow, and it cannot be cast on the Plane of Shadow itself.