Let's take a look!
This year's theme is Christmas in New York (last year was Paris, I think) and I may be biased as a native New Yorker, but for me, there's no better place to be around the holidays than New York City. If you've never been, it's definitely something you'll want to experience if you get the chance.
Anyway, back to the product! After you open the outer box, the set comes in another box that's made out of really sturdy thick cardboard. It has a lid and when you open it...
The packaging of the set is pretty large and bulky and would be difficult to store, so thankfully everything is removeable if you don't want to save the whole thing. The palette itself is very thin and flat with a magnetic closure, so it'll be easy to slip into a drawer. However, it is wider than a typical eyeshadow palette (it's about 7.5" x 6.5").
When I first opened the palette, I was hit with that delicious chocolate scent! To me it actually smells like hot cocoa mix...it's chocolate but there's also that powdery element to it. This set is made in the USA and seems to be the regular Too Faced formula, which is awesome! Sometimes holiday sets can be hit or miss so I was happy to see that this one didn't skimp on quality.
To be honest, there are some dud shades but everything else had great pigmentation.. The metallic shades have a lot of fallout though...I'm talking lots of chunky flakes coming up, but I guess that's often the case with really glittery shadows so it didn't bother me.
The first two rows are more cool-toned eyeshadows and neutral with a mix of matte, shimmer, and glittery shades. At the end of the row is a pretty peachy gold highlighter called Inner Light. The only shade I had issues with was Cookie Dough...it seemed a little bit drier than the others and I had to really build it to get it to show up. I'm not sure if that's because it's so close to my skin color or if it's just not that pigmented. Otherwise, these are gorgeous!
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| Left to Right: Dessert's On Me, Indulge, Cookie Dough, Raspberry Rose, Sugared Raisin, Guilt-Free, Tootsie, & Inner Light (highlighter). |
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| Left to Right: Glaze, Gingerdoodle, Chocoholic, Cake Batter, Butterscotch, Toffee Crunch, Lava Cake, Chocolate Soleil (bronzer). |
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| Left: Banana Date, Honey Dip, Pound Cake, Sugar Bells, Mint Chip, Jingle Berry, Huckleberry, Chocolate Covered Strawberry (blush). |
Overall, I really like the Too Faced Chocolate Shop! The packaging is adorable and the quality is better than holiday sets I've tried in the past (although it's not quite as good as their permanent eyeshadow palettes). You are getting a lot here though, so it's a great value. A Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette is $49 for sixteen shades and here you're getting 21 eyeshadows, a blush, a bronzer, and a highlighter, plus deluxe-sized mascara, eyeshadow primer and lipstick for only $9 more.
If you're going to grab one of the new Holiday sets, I recommend this one!
Available now at Sephora.com
OK you've convinced me! I've stayed away from the holiday palettes thus far because many of the brands cheap out and produce these items in China. But it's Made in the USA and you've given it a great review...plus, I am a NYC native! SOLD! - Christina D.
ReplyDeleteHaha, yes!! Another NY'er! :) Yeah I was surprised to see that it was made in the USA and after feeling the disappointment with the Tarte set I was so happy that this one was good. As I said in the review there are a couple of duds but I always expect that when there are this many eyeshadows. :)
DeleteI do have one concern: is the scent really strong? I tend to be sensitive to perfumes. BTW I have all the chocolate bar palettes and they don't bother me too much because the scent quickly fades. -- Christina D.
ReplyDeleteI actually found the scent of this to be a little weaker than the Chocolate Bar palettes. I'm not sure if it's just mine or if it varies by batch but the one I have definitely isn't that strong. :)
ReplyDeleteOh wow I'm in love with the Too Faced packaging I know their packaging is always really cute but this palette!..
ReplyDeleteBeauty Candy Loves
Hmmm...as beautiful as your swatches are -- and kudos to you for beautifully grouping what looks at first glance like randomly thrown together colors -- I think I will err on the side of caution and pass. There are too many other things coming soon that I want without a second thought! -- Christina D.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Christina, great job grouping these swatches. I also thought the colors were sort of random but now I can see how they're grouped into cool, warm, and bolder shades. Genius!
ReplyDeleteSorry -- I love your blog but cannot resist saying I find this, and most of Too Faced releases, trashy & a waste of money. The recent Nikki Tutorials was another example. All this gaudy packaging is so hard on our strained planet, and will not make an iota of difference in one's makeup. I wish Too Faced would wake up and do minimal packaging and fewer releases.
ReplyDelete