What I'm Not Buying: Too Faced White Peach Palette

Too Faced has released their newest palette and latest in the never-ending line of peach-themed products: White Peach. 

And I won't be buying. 

I'm going to take a moment here and talk about what has been happening in the beauty community in the past week. Ever since the Tarte Shape Tape Foundation shade range was revealed (you can read my anti-haul post on this product here), the beauty community has been erupting demanding better. And I find that incredibly exciting. Tarte has again botched their apology and offered multiple offensive excuses for their actions (including stating that they came out with light shades first because it is the winter and people are lighter at this time—completely excluding, again, people who have dark skin year round) and are digging themselves deeper and deeper into this hole. 

Thing is, Tarte isn't the only brand with this problem—not by a long shot. They just happened to get the brunt of all of the frustrations and anger, likely because Fenty Beauty debuted last year with an inclusive shade range and now people are fed up with all other brands not doing the same. 

Too Faced is also a problematic brand, but last year, they partnered with YouTube influencer Jackie Aina to expand their Born This Way foundation shade range. Partnering with a prominent woman of color influencer was a very smart move, and it made a lot of people (myself included) respect Too Faced for recognizing where their brand lacked inclusively and asking a woman of color to help rectify the situation. 

Unfortunately, I still find several of Too Faced's product launches to lack inclusivity, and the White Peach palette is no different. 

In the past year, Too Faced has released three eyeshadow palettes with "White" in the title.

White Chocolate Chip:

White Chocolate Bar:

And White Peach:

Each one of these palettes, unquestionably, is geared toward light skin tones. And, yes, I see that they have two big food-based branding campaigns at the moment—chocolate and peaches—and yes, I know that there is white chocolate and there are white peaches. But the naming of these products as well as the corresponding shades also indicate to me that these palettes are made for people with white skin. 

And before anyone contests this, I would like to point out that as of present day, Too Faced has not released anything called "Dark Chocolate." There's no Dark Chocolate Bar, no Dark Chocolate Chip, no Dark Chocolate Peaches or Dark Chocolate Dipped Peaches. Yet there are THREE palettes centered on the word "white."

I can see the argument that it may be a stretch to think that Too Faced named these palettes "white" because they were announcing that they are for white people. At the same time, I do believe that using "white" and not having a subsequent "dark" palette can be seen as a microaggression or othering. 

And, no, I don't believe that "Chocolate" in their branding is enough since the majority of the chocolate-themed products are still largely geared toward people with light skin. 

Let's look at swatches of White Peach:

I always mention this when I show swatches provided by a brand, but these swatches are incredibly manipulative. We have no idea how these swatches were applied, or even if they were at all. I've heard accounts of brands slathering primer onto the models' arms and then heavily applying layer after later of product. I've heard accounts of brands digitally placing swatches onto a model's arm. And I've heard accounts of brands applying swatches onto only one model's arm and then digitally replicating the swatches onto images of multiple skin tones. I don't claim to know what Too Faced's method is here, but I think it is pretty obvious when looking at this photo that the swatches applied onto the model with the darkest skin are heavier than the swatches on the other two models. 

And, frankly, for myself, as someone with a light to medium skin tone with warm olive undertones, I would be worried about how well these colors would show up on my skin tone. That tells me that this palette is geared toward people with the lightest skin tones. 

Too Faced, however, wants to look inclusive and has promoted this palette as something that works on ALL skin tones:

To be blunt, I just don't buy that. I think that Too Faced doesn't want to get a ton of backlash for creating a product solely for light skin so soon after launching the White Chocolate Bar, which was also meant for light skin. 

And the thing is, we don't need this kind of an eyeshadow palette. No one does. Because there are multiples of these available. 

There's Lorac Unzipped:

Lorac Pro 3:

Urban Decay Naked 3:

Urban Decay Naked Smoky:

And Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani:

Just to name a few. 

There is nothing innovative about the White Peach palette and nothing that we haven't seen done over and again. So it really begs the question: Why? Why release this kind of a palette? Especially knowing that it's not inclusive and that you've already released two other non-inclusive palettes. Why do this at all?

In my opinion, it's because they know that their target demographic will buy it. Too Faced has moved into a gimmick-based brand, and that largely appeals to teenagers and those in their early twenties. 

I don't know of many adult women who are thrilled to have a mascara called "Better Than Sex" or a glitter face mask (in general) called Glow Job. (NARS also has this issue.) Similarly, I don't know many adult women who want to have scented makeup. Or who go nuts for a blush because it has a picture of a smiling peach on the front. 

Based on their prices and the shades offered, it seems pretty clear that Too Faced is targeting white teenagers and young women. And when I look at the White Peach palette, I think it would most suit a white high school student or a white woman just starting out with makeup. It's a beginner palette for white people. And if there is one thing that the makeup industry doesn't need, it's that.   

I have wondered for years why there are not two of everything released. Because there are people who will love the shades offered in White Peach, and they will work well for them. But those people also already have endless options. So if you're going to release a product like this, then you should absolutely simultaneously release the same kind of palette for people with deeper skin tones. 

Overall, while I am thrilled to see so many people in the beauty community stand up right now and demand inclusivity, I am perpetually disappointed by the brands who just blatantly disregard the need for it. I'm also disappointed by consumers who have the privilege of choice who are ignorant of the need for inclusivity.

I decided a while ago that I wasn't going to buy any more products from Too Faced. The one product of theirs that truly tempted me was the White Peach's predecessor, Just Peachy Mattes. And if you've read my blog at all in the past few months, you'll know that I'm crazy about the duped version I made of it from colors in my own collection:

And guess what? White Peach will be even easier to dupe. In fact, I'm betting that most people already have the colors in that palette, or they have similar shades with more depth that will perform better on multiple skin tones. 

Or you could just look into palettes with more inclusive color schemes altogether (that I personally think are prettier than White Peach), like Coloured Raine Queen of Hearts:

Or Juvia's Place Festival:

It's not lost on me that the brands that have some of the most inclusive products and shade ranges are created and owned by people of color. And it is absolutely time that every other brand catches up. 

It's ironic that I say this in a post about Too Faced, but I think that brands need to also take Too Faced's lead and hire, collaborate, or consult with people of color to expand current products and shade ranges and create new ones. Too Faced should frankly follow their own example with foundation and implement it across the board. 

On a final note, I would like to add that the main reason I started this blog originally was because I personally had a shopping/makeup addiction that I wanted to curb. Talking about new releases within the context of what I already owned really helped me to see that I was perpetually buying the same things because I was so sucked into hype and wanting to buy the "it" product of the moment. But the world is different now than when I first started this blog, and makeup is just one of many industries that needs to be reformed. When looking at products that we are or are not going to buy, we are sending a message about what is acceptable and what is not. And I don't find releases like the White Peach palette acceptable. Consumers can bury their heads in the sand, relish in their privilege of choice, and be selfish about that privilege. Or they can demand better. 

I think the White Peach palette is basic and boring and something I have seen so many times that it's laughable. More than that, I don't feel it is inclusive. And I won't be buying. 

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Palettes I Am MOST Glad I Didn't Buy in 2017

As 2017 is drawing to a close (thank goodness, by the way—this has been one hell of a hard year), I wanted to reflect on the palettes that I am most glad I didn't buy this year. These are the palettes that I really, really wanted, more than the others, but still made the decision not to buy. And now that we are a few or several months removed from when these palettes first came out—and the hype has died down quite a bit—I thought it was a good time to check back in and talk about why I'm glad I didn't buy these products.

(I've also linked my original anti-haul posts).

Kat Von D Shade and Light Glimmer

Believe it or not, but Kat Von D ended up being the brand of the year for me. Over Christmas, I received a very thoughtful gift, which was the original Kat Von D Metal Matte palette from holiday 2016. I laughed when I received it because I had just written about how it was my "palette that got away," and now it's the third Kat Von D palette I have owned after first writing an anti-haul post. (The other two are Pastel Goth and Saint and Sinner—Saint and Sinner was a gift, and my reasons for purchasing Pastel Goth are here.) I also purchased a preowned Mi Vida Loca Remix palette this year, and now I have more palettes from Kat Von D than any other brand. 

2017 was also the year that I decluttered my Shade and Light Eye palette. I was honest with myself and realized that I was only really using the warm quad in the palette, and when I purchased the Melt Rust Stack, I knew that it would easily become my favorite warm matte palette, and it did. I didn't need to have an entire palette that wasn't getting used, so I decluttered it. 

But then Kat Von K came out with a shimmer/glitter version of the Shade and Light Eye palette, and man, did I want this. Had this palette come out a few years ago when I had less neutrals/was somehow justifying adding even more neutrals into my collection, I would have snapped it up in a heartbeat. And even when I saw it swatched for the first time, I felt pangs of lust. But I resisted, and I'm so happy that I did. 

Now, more than six months later, I never hear anyone talk about this palette. The "glimmer" formula some of the shades have don't seem to be winners as they are more eyeshadow toppers, which, let's be honest, most people don't want (myself included). This absolutely would have been a palette that I would have played with for a couple days, got bored with how neutral my eyeshadow came out, and then reached for something else, putting this in the back of my collection. I'm glad I don't have it. 

Urban Decay Naked Heat

There were so many makeup life lessons that I had to learn in order to resist buying this palette. Without question, this is my favorite Naked palette, and I know that without having to own it. I love the color scheme and love how warm it is. But I also know (from owning three Naked palettes in the past and decluttering all of them) that I really, really don't like the Urban Decay palette shadow formula. So even though this is my favorite Naked palette in terms of how it looks, I likely would have disliked how it performed as much as I did the other three. 

I also had to learn that these colors were all too similar. That's what makes the palette look so fantastic in pictures and in person, because it is cohesive and has a lovely gradient. But that doesn't translate to versatile eyeshadow looks. Seeing this palette turn up in so many declutter videos and end of the year "worst makeup" videos made me feel vindicated. So many people have discussed that they love the color scheme but that they can only make one look with this palette, which is what I had suspected. As much as I wanted this palette, I'm glad that I resisted. I know it would have made me angry thinking about spending over $50 on essentially one eyeshadow look with a formula I don't even like, so it's good I passed on this. 

Pat McGrath Labs Mothership palettes

These palettes presented some real temptations from me, especially when people wrote to me and said that these shadows were truly something excellent. When I first saw the palettes in person and saw/felt the packaging, I have to admit that I felt as though I had possibly made a mistake. But then I swatched the shadows and worked with them a bit. And the truth is they just aren't that great. They certainly were nothing extraordinary in terms of performance, and I have other shadows from brands like Makeup Geek and Coloured Raine that performed better and packed a lot more pigment. 

I continue to be interested in all Pat McGrath's releases because she is a legend, but apart from the magnificent packaging, these shadows didn't have anything about them that made me think their price tag was justified. I also tend to think that shadows within luxury price ranges tend to get the brunt of hyperbole, which is natural. People want to justify the money they spent, so they tend to exaggerate how amazing something is that's expensive. These palettes, at least in my experience, just don't have fantastic shadow quality. And I'm glad that I didn't spend a ton of money to have some pretty gorgeous makeup cases with average makeup inside. 

Viseart Grand Pro Matte

Something I didn't expect to happen in 2017 is that I finally broke free from the Viseart spell. I reduced my Viseart palette collection from six to two, and I have gradually grown to feel like Viseart is generally overhyped. The two palettes that I still own are Neutral Matte and Dark Matte, and of the two I would recommend Dark Matte. Viseart used to be my favorite matte formula, but if I am going to be entirely honest, I don't know how much of that was real feeling and how much of that was hype clouding my judgement. My Viseart shadows perform well—I don't have any complaints about that. But if you haven't used Viseart yet and are expecting it to be noticeably different than using shadows from Makeup Geek, Coloured Raine, or Colourpop, you might be disappointed. 

I wanted this palette for rows three and four, and while I'm sure those rows have lovely shadows, there is just nothing in this palette that I don't already own. And like I just said, I don't think that Viseart shadows are so special as to justify spending the high price on them to rebuy shadows that I already have. 

Seeing how much I have used my duped Peachy Mattes palette (I'll talk about that one in a bit), I just can't justify the cost of this palette, and I'm so happy that I chose not to buy it. Sometimes all it takes is looking at your single shadow collection to really show you that you don't need to spend nearly $200 to get the colors you want. Sometimes (most times) you already have them. 

Natasha Denona Sunset

I don't even want to tell you how many times I've thought about buying this palette. If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you know that I am not big on Natasha Denona. Like Viseart, I think this brand is grossly overhyped. It makes me a little sad to watch people who haven't tried Natasha Denona shadows talk about how much they would love to have one of her palettes. And I get it—I had that mindset at one point too, and I've mentioned before that I think a lot of people need to buy Natasha Denona to learn that Natasha Denona is overhyped and overpriced. 

But I really just could not get enough of this color scheme. Even though I knew I had some of these colors already, I just loved the configuration of this palette and thought about caving so many times. And I'm so glad I didn't because Colorpop came out with Yes, Please!:

This was certainly a favorite palette of mine this year, but what I find really interesting is that I haven't used it in a few months. My interests can change quickly with eyeshadow, and I have just been so into my peaches, corals, and pinks that I haven't reached for this palette much lately. And I'm totally fine with that. Because it cost $16. I'm sure I'll swing back into wanting to use these exceptionally warm colors again soon (maybe toward the end of winter), and I'm glad that I don't have to think that I have let a $129 palette sit unused, like I would had I purchased Natasha Denona Sunset.

Too Faced Just Peachy Mattes

If you've read my blog much in the past few months, you know that I probably don't need to write much about why I'm glad I didn't buy this palette. This palette, in my opinion, was the best thing Too Faced released this year. Not only that, but I feel like it was the only good thing Too Faced released this year. And it was the one product that gave me pause and made me consider purchasing something from this brand I have grown to dislike so much. 

But then I realized I could try to duplicate it with shadows in my collection. And beyond that, I realized that I could customize it to make it the perfect palette for me. And from there, I got my duped palette:

This has been such a favorite of mine, and I have to give some credit to Too Faced for creating such an inspiring color scheme and layout. But I'm really glad that I didn't add another palette to my collection, especially since I like my custom palette more than the one from Too Faced. 

Huda Beauty Desert Dusk

In my opinion, Desert Dusk feels a bit like the palette of the year. I'm not sure if that's a fair assessment, however, because it only came out in the last quarter of the year. This palette was everywhere, and I absolutely agree that the color scheme is incredibly inspiring. I've mentioned this before, but I am from the Southwest originally, and I grew up in the desert. I recently went home for the holidays, and I was in awe of how truly beautiful our sunsets are. And I'm excited that the colors of the desert sky were such a huge source of inspiration in so many palettes this year. 

But Huda Beauty does not have a formula that I like. And the majority of the shades in this palette, I feel, are pretty average, nothing special shades. It's the pops of color and the duochrome shades that draw you in, and despite how pretty it looks in the pan, I was happy that I resisted and was able to instead create what started as a duped palette and morphed into my own personal desert sunset palette:

Without question, I love my palette more than Desert Dusk. I think the color scheme is prettier and more versatile and contains a lot more interesting shades. Like the Just Peachy Mattes palette, I credit Huda Beauty with creating a gorgeous color scheme that I wanted to replicate. But in my opinion, my palette takes the cake here. And it should! For the most part this palette is made up of single shadows that I hand-selected, and the other shadows are from palettes that I've depotted. These are very obviously shadows that I love, so it makes sense that I would love my own version of a palette with a color scheme I enjoy. 

Because of how much joy and use I have gotten out of this collection of shadows, I am so happy that I did not buy Desert Dusk. I think I likely would have gravitated toward what I consider the most interesting shades in the palette (Twilight, Amethyst, Royal, and Retrograde) and not used much else since the looks I would have created would have been very neutral. Instead, I have a palette with some of the most unique singles in my collection, and I always have fun figuring out new looks with it. 

And finally, Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture 

I don't think this kind of a post would be complete this year without mentioning Subculture. When I originally wrote my anti-haul post on this palette, the reviews had not yet come in and the drama/controversy had not yet happened. This palette ended up being a really great lesson in hype for me, which apparently I still need to learn. Despite the fact that I really disliked the formula of Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance, I knew that it was going to be difficult to resist the hype (should we just call hype "hyperbole" at this point?) of the latest ABH palette. And I really liked the color scheme of this palette and that it was something different from we had seen over and again. 

But I had to have a serious moment with myself as a recovering makeup addict and tell myself that I don't like the formula of ABH shadows in palettes. I braced myself for the hype train to pass over and to have ridiculous feelings of fear of missing out, but instead, the opposite happened. I saw backlash and outrage that I had never seen before over a makeup item and more drama than I knew what to do with. (I have an entire post on this here.) 

And while, yes, I'm glad that I didn't buy Subculture because it was a bit of a disaster and very clearly a product that should not have been released in the condition it was in, I am also happy that I didn't buy it because I knew I wasn't going to like the formula. Granted, I had no way of knowing how much the formula was going to be an issue, but the problems people reported were a heightened version of all the problems I had with Modern Renaissance. I know that had I bought this palette and experienced those same issues, I would have been disappointed with myself because I knew better. 

***

In reality, I'm glad that I didn't buy any of the products this year that I anti-hauled, but these were the palettes that stuck out the most to me as products that I really considered purchasing or really wanted. And the harsh reality is that had I purchased all of these palettes, I would have added a whopping eight palettes to my collection this year alone. And that's not including the palettes that I actually did purchase as well as those I received as gifts. I could have easily tripled my palette collection just in 2017. I can also say with confidence that had I purchased any of these palettes, they probably would have gone largely unused in favor of some of my other products. 

As always, I'm eager to see what kind of products the new year will bring, and I'm excited to continue anti-hauling them. 

On a personal note, as I mentioned at the top of this post, 2017 was an incredibly difficult year for me. This blog and the community around it have consistently been positive forces in my life, and I sincerely appreciate everyone who read, commented, and supported Anti-Haul Blog this year. 

Thanks for reading. 

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What I'm Not Buying: Too Faced Chocolate Gold Palette

Another month has passed, and you know what that means—Too Faced has released yet another palette. This is the Chocolate Gold palette, a limited edition palette that looks a lot like their Chocolate Bar palettes but will not (as of now) be a part of the permanent range. 

And I won't be buying. 

I'm going to start this post off a little different today, and that is by talking about a positive aspect of this product. Too Faced has released so many new palettes and collections over the past couple years, and when I see whatever the new product looks like, the vast majority of the time I find it so boring. When I look at the Chocolate Gold palette, I don't like it enough to potentially want to buy it, but it doesn't look as bad as so many of their other palettes—at least at first glance, but we will get into that in a bit. 

Upon first look, there are some shades in this palette that I would really like if I didn't have a large eyeshadow collection. I'm immediately drawn to Classy & Sassy, because I've been really loving gold pinks, and I'm also really drawn to New Money (hot pink), Old Money (copper), and Chocolate Gold. 

If this palette was good quality and if I didn't already have a large collection, I could see myself using almost all of these colors. In fact, the only colors I don't think I would use a ton are Decadent (matte black) and Dippin' Diamonds (silver). That is something that I feel has been lacking from a lot of Too Faced releases lately, which is a (somewhat) exciting(ish) color scheme. 

But, here's the thing. While this color scheme seems a little "exciting" for Too Faced, it is not at all exciting when compared to what is currently on the market. And, as far as I can tell from reviews and swatches, this palette is just okay. Some shimmers have decent pigment, some don't. Some mattes look sheer, others look patchy. This isn't all that surprising to me or probably most people at this point, but for $49, you have got to be dreaming to think I will pay that for so-so quality. 

Again, it seems like Too Faced's priority with this palette was the packaging: 

Now, I will say that I actually really like this packaging. I love how shiny the gold is, and if I was a sucker for packaging, this one would be hard for me to resist. I think it's beautiful, and I think Too Faced did a good job with it, which makes it even more disappointing that the actual product is just okay. 

The packaging also serves another purpose, which is making a statement against the brand Makeup Revolution that has built an entire brand off of ripping off successful brands and products. Here is the packaging for their copied version of the Too Faced Chocolate Bar:

Makeup Revolution seems to be a divisive brand. Some people like it because they offer popular color schemes at fractions of the cost and they are sold in countries where the original brand is not. So for people who live outside the US and who don't have access to the same products, Makeup Revolution is a brand they like. 

Personally, I really hate brands like Makeup Revolution for ripping off someone else's creative work. There's a difference between having palettes with similar colors (like Natasha Denona Sunset, Colourpop Yes, Please!, and NYX Fire) and flat-out ripping someone off, copying their exact color scheme and layout, replicating the packaging, or even ripping off the name. 

The worst offender, I believe, is the Makeup Revolution "Light and Shade" palette:

Which is such an egregious ripoff, down the the name and shadow layout, of the Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye palette:

I could never support a brand that makes money off of stealing from another brand in such a blatant, unapologetic, and obvious way, so I personally find it fun that Too Faced ripped off Makeup Revolution's packaging of a product they ripped off from Too Faced. 

But I am not someone who purchases an expensive product just for the packaging, and I am disappointed, as always, that Too Faced put more care and attention into that than into giving consumers a fantastic product. 

Let's look at swatches:

These swatches are so disappointing, especially when you consider that the swatches provided by the brand are going to look the best (and also unrealistic). There is no question that brands apply a hefty layer of primer on models' skin and then layer the product on top. It is also very likely that a lot of photo editing takes place afterward. That seems exceptionally obvious in this case because there is hardly any variation of the swatches between the different skin tones. 

And personally, I don't think these swatches look that great. In fact, I'm surprised that this is even the same palette as pictured above. The gold pink color that I was so drawn to in images of the palette does not exist in these swatches. The hot pink looks identical to the "Jelly" shadow in the Too Faced Peanut Butter and Jelly palette, and the rest of the swatches just look incredibly neutral and boring. 

If you take away the green shadow, the palette looks very neutral, and if you also take away the pink/violet shade, you've basically got the first Chocolate Bar:

So if you already have this palette, there is really no need to consider the Chocolate Gold palette. All you are missing is a green and pink/violet. 

On Too Faced's website, they showcase a few looks that can be achieved with the Chocolate Gold palette, and this is one of the looks:

I really couldn't believe when I saw photo. First, this does absolutely nothing in terms of advertising any quality of the product, and second, it barely looks like the model is wearing any eyeshadow. Obviously people have a wide array of preferences, and I know there are plenty of people who love a "no makeup" makeup look. I also know that many people just want to lightly define their crease or only wear neutral matte shadows. Those are not my personal preferences, but I know so many people who love a "natural" look. But when you look at images of the Chocolate Gold palette, it isn't one that jumps out at me to be for the person who loves a natural/minimal look. This photo just makes me think that the shadows in the palette don't perform very well. Furthermore, the "pigment" shown in the above swatches seems to be totally absent here.

When I first saw this palette, I immediately thought of the Too Faced Pretty Rebel palette:

This palette has been discontinued for many years, but I know it was beloved by those who owned it. 

The thing with Too Faced is that they built a fan base of consumers who loved the quality of their products. Then they started moving into the gimmicks (smelling like chocolate) and focusing on the packaging (looking like a bar of chocolate), and people went with them because gimmicks and packaging can be fun if the product is still good, which it was for a while. 

And then Too Faced started churning out products in preparation of selling to Estée Lauder, and since the sale of the company, the quality has only declined further. Even this palette, which looks to be quite a step up from the White Chocolate Bar palette, still can't hold up to a $16 palette from Colourpop. 

If you are drawn to this palette and have the original Chocolate Bar, there really is no reason to buy the Chocolate Gold. Not only do you have all of the tones already, but the Chocolate Bar (at least those sold a few years ago before the sale of the company) is of better quality. Buying the Chocolate Gold palette would give you duplicates of what you already have (but only worse), plus two shadows and different packaging. 

And, frankly, the color scheme of this palette is not unique enough even with the green and pink to justify adding it to an already full makeup collection. 

Other palettes that have similar tones include the Urban Decay Vice 3:

As well as the Urban Decay Vice LTD:

I recently saw a post from someone who had purchased the Chocolate Gold palette with the caption: "Please don't suck." For $49, I certainly expect more from a palette than the hope that it won't suck. When I purchased the BH Cosmetics Zodiac palette for $19, I had that same thought. "Please don't suck." I really wanted to love that palette, but I bought it before reviews had come out, and I knew I was taking a risk. And for $19, I was okay with that risk. But I shouldn't have to hope that a product from a more expensive brand won't suck. (Frankly, I shouldn't have to hope that with any brand, because companies should not be releasing mediocre or bad products.) 

But that is what I feel Too Faced has come to. "Please don't suck." This was once a brand that was on top of the beauty pyramid. I used to get so excited to see every new release, but that faded around the time of Chocolate Bon Bons. Now, with the flood of new products, I just roll my eyes. I mentioned this in my last post about Too Faced, but it feels like they are creating disposable makeup because of how frequently they release new products. And yet, prices have not gone down; pan/product sizes have not gone down. 

If you haven't seen Amber F's channel on YouTube, I recommend it. Each year she uses up an entire palette, and this year she is tackling the Chocolate Bar. She uses much more eyeshadow in her looks than I do, and she also multi-tasks several shadows as eyeliner, eyebrow powder, contour, bronzer, blush, and face highlighter. (I will link her playlist for the Chocolate Bar series here.) She has remarked several times throughout the year on how much product there is in the Chocolate Bar and how densely packed the shadows are, meaning that she doesn't go through the shadows as quickly as she does with other brands. Watching her use up this palette has really hit home for me how much product is in these palettes and how long it would actually take to use them up. If it takes her a year or more to use up the Chocolate Bar, while using the shadows for almost all aspects of her makeup look on a daily basis, I can't imagine how long it would take me. 

So for Too Faced to treat these products as disposable is truly baffling to me. Releasing a new palette every month doesn't allow anyone to actually use and enjoy their current products (and Too Faced's target audience are the people who buy everything new that the brand releases). And I really don't appreciate that this brands thinks that my income is this disposable. 

This same behavior is what drove me away from MAC, which was my all-time favorite brand for years. They kept coming out with a new special collection seemingly every few weeks, and as a result, all of them were of terrible quality. I was never big on getting the special collections, but I found it annoying that the sales associates were always trying to push these crappy products on me when I went into the store. And now, I barely have any MAC products in my collection. 

Colourpop is also coming out with new products and palettes at an alarming rate, but I find it less obnoxious since their entire business model is to provide trendy makeup with less product and at low prices. I'm not a person who cares about price per gram since I hardly ever even hit the pan on eyeshadows, so I am happy to pay an overall less price than to pay a crazy high price because it is lower in price per gram. 

I am not a fan of Anastasia Beverly Hill's palette formula, but I appreciate that they only come out with one or two palettes a year. And although Subculture was a bit of a disaster, you could tell that the brand had attempted to create shadows that had intense pigmentation. As a result, the shadows couldn't be pressed very hard in the manufacturing process, which led to all the of problems. I think ABH didn't handle that situation well, but it still seemed to me like the intention was to create a quality palette that consumers would love. Whereas it seems Too Faced just creates things to make money and doesn't put a ton of attention and care into giving consumers a quality product. 

This is also something I mentioned in my last post about Too Faced, but I really feel like the brand won't be able to sustain this kind of model for much longer in the changing beauty landscape. Colourpop is really changing the game, and although I wasn't a fan of the brand in its early days, now that they are more established, I'm really supportive of what they are doing. If I can get a great quality palette for $16 that also has a cool, interesting color scheme, why in the hell would I pay $49 for a crappy palette from Too Faced? Just so I can get some gold plastic covering some brown plastic on the packaging? No thanks. 

While I think the Chocolate Gold palette is better than other recent offerings from Too Faced, it is still more of the same from the brand and absolutely nothing to get too excited over. I don't need another expensive palette with basic colors and mediocre quality, so I won't be buying. 

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What I'm Not Buying: Too Faced White Chocolate Bar Palette

For the holiday season, Too Faced has released the latest in their Chocolate Bar gimmick series, the White Chocolate Bar. 

And I won't be buying. 

I'll just be honest, this isn't so much an "anti-haul" at this point, but rather a roast of Too Faced because I sincerely doubt too many people are conflicted over buying this overpriced, uninspired, poor quality palette.

You may have noticed my absence over the past few weeks (or maybe you didn't) and that is because I was enjoying life so much and felt completely burnt out by the makeup and beauty communities. To clarify, my blog was not the thing that made me feel burnt out—I really enjoy writing this blog as well as the interaction I get from readers. It was the communities in general as well as discussions surrounding the Sephora VIB sale and upcoming Black Friday sales that left me feeling like I wanted a break.

I wish I could have made an anti-haul post about the Sephora VIB sale, because I personally felt inundated by all of the videos and posts I saw that were "guides" to the sale or recommendations for what people should purchase. And 20 percent is just not a substantial enough discount for me to think it really "justifies" how much people buy during the sale. Because sales like that are not designed with you in mind. Sephora makes bank during the sale because it prompts people to buy stuff they normally wouldn't. Hardly anyone can resist the notion of "getting a good deal," even when it's not a good deal.

As for me, I bought two things during the sale: A replacement cleanser and a replacement Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light (I used up an entire full-size container of it). That was it. And I would have purchased both of these items regardless of a sale.

I just became a little overwhelmed with it all and wanted a break. I was also traveling for the past month and really enjoying myself, and I just wanted to be present instead of thinking about new makeup and getting absorbed into the less enjoyable sides to these communities.

But this White Chocolate Bar palette has been on my mind for several months. Not in an "I'm considering purchasing this" kind of way, but rather a "What is Too Faced doing?" kind of way. And now that people are starting to get their hands on it and have confirmed what I've suspected for a while (that it's bad), I wanted to make this post.

So, this is the White Chocolate Bar palette:

And this is the Too Faced White Chocolate Chip palette:

If you think these two palettes look similar, it's because they do. If fact, they share a whopping TEN shades in common. Yep, 10. And, yes, the White Chocolate Chip palette has a total of 11 shadows. Meaning, every single shadow in the White Chocolate Chip palette (except Ambrosia, which is the top shade on the third column) is also in the White Chocolate Bar palette. 

The White Chocolate Bar palette has 16 shadows, so there are only six "new" shades in this palette. 

Personally, I don't really have any positive thoughts on the White Chocolate Chip palette. I think the quality is horrendous and insulting for the amount of money charged, and I feel like the color selection is ignorant at best and utterly laughable. This is not an inclusive palette whatsoever as these colors would only show up and look potentially distinguishable on the lightest of light skin tones. I have a light to medium skin tone with warm olive undertones, and these shadows did not show up on me when swatched. 

This is also one the worst reviewed palettes sold at Sephora and released by Too Faced. So it is utterly baffling why Too Faced would choose to include nearly every single one of these shades in another palette. 

Except, of course, if they just don't care. Which, in all honesty, is what this feels like. 

For months I have watched people's anti-haul videos on YouTube and heard nearly everyone mention this palette. But the main reasoning I heard for why people were not going to buy it was that the color selection was "odd." And what I think that means is that it has a green in it. Because when you take that color away, you're left with the most neutral of neutral palettes: the White Chocolate Chip. 

Adding insult to injury, the quality of this palette seems to be pretty atrocious. I highly recommend reading Temptalia's full review of this palette. I specifically applaud her for how she ended the review:

"The palette shares the bulk of its shades with last year’s palette, and there was little to no room for improvement from palette to palette, so this seemed like it was just a waste of time and money for all involved. It’s actually more frustrating to see a brand completely disregard customer feedback. It makes me feel like the brand doesn’t care, takes no pride in their products, and has no desire to improve their products."

Too Faced, in my opinion, has been in decline for the better part of two years, specially leading up to and after selling their company to Estée Lauder. Every single one of my Too Faced anti-haul posts has had a similar sentiment, which is that this brand so obviously cares more about the gimmick of the product, theme, and packaging than they do about actual quality. 

I have not purchased anything from Too Faced in a long time, and the only products I have left are five eyeshadows that I depotted from the Chocolate Bon Bons palette. I momentarily flirted with the idea of purchasing the Peachy Mattes palette, but I was able to easily dupe that palette with shadows in my own collection (and make what I consider improvements to the color scheme), and that duped palette remains the most used palette in my collection.

Something that's worth mentioning is that the White Chocolate Bar, unlike the existing Chocolate Bar palettes, is limited edition. And it's in these limited edition products that I feel Too Faced really just doesn't care. The White Chocolate Bar costs $49, and I think it is pretty terrible for a brand to charge that kind of money on poor quality. That is blatantly a ripoff. This isn't a case of some people will like it and others won't—this is objectively a bad product from shade range to quality. And when you think about other palettes within the $50 range, it is laughable to think that Too Faced put out a crap product and expect people to buy it simply because it is serialized within the Chocolate Bar range, smells like cocoa, and comes from Too Faced. 

With that money you could buy almost any other quality eyeshadow palette, so it's a wonder why Too Faced thinks that people would spend that kind of money on a bad product. 

Palettes with this color scheme (but done better) include Too Faced Chocolate Bar:

Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons:

Lorac Unzipped:

Urban Decay Naked 3:

Tarte Tartelette in Bloom:

And several others. 

Finally, and this is something that I touched upon earlier, but the White Chocolate Bar is not very inclusive. Even under the best of conditions, if the palette performed well, it still has a color scheme is that is suited for the lightest of skin tones. And at this point, that is just ignorant and irresponsible. 

Something I always like to consider when thinking about my anti-haul posts is what, if anything, a particular product is contributing to the makeup community. And this palette contributes nothing. I don't know any person who feels like their makeup collection is lacking very light neutrals, especially in a palette of poor quality shadows. 

This was a lazy release by Too Faced, and it honestly makes me think poorly of the brand. It feels like they expect me to just hand over substantial amounts of money just to have the "pleasure" of having a product with their name on it that is chocolate scented and themed. It feels disrespectful to consumers because the product is in no way worth the price they are charging. And I think they know that, which makes it that much worse.

I'm disappointed to see Too Faced have such little regard for their customers. With the rise of brands like Colourpop, that offers good products at reasonable prices, and Fenty, that offers beautiful packaging and inclusivity, there may not be a place for Too Faced in coming years unless they step up their game in a major way. This palette is garbage, and I won't be buying.

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