Review: Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette

I’ve had this palette for 6 months now and my review is long overdue.  I received this as a birthday gift and I was super excited to receive it – I mean, it smells like chocolate!  In addition, this is right up my palette alley – a wide range of neutral shades with pops of colour and varying finishes.  This is not a new palette by any means, in fact it was released back in 2013, and followed by the Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar Palette and the Chocolate Bon Bon’s palette.  I’ve seen teasers on Instagram that this years’ palette may be a White Chocolate version but I guess only time will tell!  On to my review!

PRICE

The Chocolate Bar palette retails for $59.00 CAD on both Too Faced’s and Sephora’s website.  You receive 14 shadows with a net weight of 0.03 oz and 2 eye shadows at 0.07 oz.  When comparing to other popular eye palettes, the Urban Decay Naked Palettes contain 12 shadows at 0.05 oz. for $66 CAD; both of Tarte’s Tartelette Palettes include 12 shadows at 0.053 oz for $54 CAD; and the Anastasia Modern Renaissance Palette includes 14 shadows at 0.02 oz for $55 CAD.

PACKAGING

I really like the packaging of this palette – it’s made of metal and it feels well-constructed and sturdy, yet it’s not too heavy for travel.  I also appreciate that its easy to wipe down when it gets dirty.  The top of the palette resembles a large chocolate bar – as it should!  I totally appreciate the effort that goes into Too Faced’s packaging – it’s always unique and girly and cute.  The top and bottom “plates” of the palette have magnets in them which ensures a secure closure (also important for travel).

Inside a rectangular mirror is included; I rarely use mirrors in eyeshadow palettes to apply my makeup but they are nice to have just in case.  Note that it’s not perfectly rectangular given the lettering that overlaps it.

SCENT

How often can you actually comment on an eyeshadow palette’s scent, nonetheless in a positive sense?  As I mentioned above, the entire thing smells like chocolate and it’s amazing!   Using this in the morning just makes me happy (and a little hungry!). I can be sensitive to scents/fragrance, but thankfully this doesn’t bother me at all.  The chocolate scent is not overpowering, and once it’s applied, it disappears.

SWATCHES

Row 1 (from bottom to top):

• Gilded Ganache: A satin dark chocolate brown with a fine gold glitter.
• White Chocolate: A basic off-white matte.
• Milk Chocolate: A matte, medium-toned brown with a touch of warmth.
• Black Forest Truffle: Burgundy brown shade with multi-tonal glitter.
• Triple Fudge: Deep brown matte.

Row 2:

• Salted Caramel: Matte peachy beige.
• Marzipan: Rose gold frost.
• Semi-Sweet: Matte mid-toned brown.
• Strawberry Bon-Bon: Matte pale pink.
• Candied Violet: Sheer purple with silver glitter.
• Amaretto: Frosty bronze with a slight burgundy shift.

Third Row:

• Hazelnut: Bronze frost.
• Creme Brulee: Dark gold frost.
• Haute Chocolate: Frosty warm mid-tone brown.
• Cherry Cordial: Matte burgundy brown with a subtle silver glitter.
• Champagne Truffle: Frosty pink champagne.

FORMULAS

The formula breakdown is as follows: 6 matte, 7 shimmers/frosts/satins and 3 glittery shades.

Frosts/Shimmers: The frosty shadows are by far the standouts in this palette – they are super soft, dare I use the term “buttery”, ridiculously easy to blend and are highly pigmented. The only drawbacks are 1) I experience quite a bit of fall-out when using these so they need to be applied carefully and 2) If I pack them on too thick, they irritate my eyes.  My eyes burn and my eyelids get itchy; it’s not the first time I’ve experienced this kind of reaction to shimmery/glittery shadows – my eyes (like basically everything else on my body) are uber-sensitive.  It doesn’t deter me from wearing them, I just need to use a light hand.  My favourites in this group include Creme Brulee, Marzipan and Champagne Truffle.

Mattes: The mattes are right behind the frosts/shimmers in terms of performance.  They too are super soft and buttery, easy to blend and are not lacking in the pigmentation department.  The two I’m not a fan of are Triple Fudge and Strawberry Bon Bon.  Triple Fudge is hard to blend and can look muddy as a result; Strawberry Bon Bon lacks pigment, as demonstrated in the swatch above, although it can be built up if you have the patience.  On the other hand, I’ve dug into White Chocolate as a base colour so much that I’ve stopped using it unless I’m using other shadows from the palette.  I love using Milk Chocolate as a transition shade in the crease as well.

Glitters: The glitter shades are my least favourite of the bunch – I find the formulas patchy, dry and lacking in colour payoff.  The one exception would be Cherry Cordial – it has decent pigmentation and the glitter kind of disappears once it’s blended; I love using it with my Buxom palette as a darker crease colour.  Candied Violet and Black Forest Truffle are the biggest duds out the palette, in my opinion.

PERFORMANCE

I find these last about 7-8 hours with an eyeshadow primer applied before they start to crease.  So that’s decent performance, although I do have shadows that last longer (i.e. my Buxom shadows).  I never wear eyeshadows without a primer base because my eyelids are extremely oily so I can’t speak to how they’d perform without one.

VERDICT

Personally, I love this palette.  Yes, there are some issues with dry formulas, fallout and some irritation for me with the shimmery shades.  But the pros far outweigh the cons – there are more great shadows that not, it smells like chocolate and the neutrality of it guarantees a wide variety of looks that will look fantastic on any skin tone.  If you’re looking for a neutral palette, I’d highly recommend you take a look at this one.

Do you own any Too-Faced palettes?  Let me know below!