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.