First Look| Too Faced Chocolate Bar Eye Palette for Spring 2014

I'm not one to keep wrappers, boxes, or even receipts after making impulse purchases, so the cute factor of the cardbox wrapper for Too Faced's Chocolate Bar Eye Palette may be lost in translation here. Then again, you don't really care for the wrapper when eating chocolate, do ya?

Ever since its failed early release on the Sephora website back in December (it's supposed to be the main piece for TF's Spring 2014) , I've always been curious about the palette. Even though I have enough neutral eyeshadows to make up five VS fashion shows, I'm always lemming for another. Neutrals make every day makeup a breeze, and I'm a sucker for anything shimmery, gold, or bronze.

The packaging is not very heavy nor clumsy-proof, but it's great at taking up space. I particularly dislike the fact that it has a magnetic closure rather than something that resolutely snaps shut.

There is a great mix of browns, plums, and golds, with some accent colors like the light pink, blue, and purple. There is also a great matte highlighter and shimmery highlighter with bigger pan sizes. 

The back probably says something about how these shadows were formulated with "real cocoa powder" and has magical anti-aging properties for your eyelids. They smell very subtle and nice, not at all overpowering like TF's Chocolate Soleil bronzers. 

The palette comes with a thin plastic film that covers the eyeshadows and names them with such frivolous names as "Haute Chocolate" and "Black Forest Truffle." I tossed the film immediately. Also, I had gotten mine from HSN with a hefty discount and the shipping process broke off a good chunk of my "Hazelnut" in the bottom left corner. Sigh. For $49 dollars retail, you expect the shadows to really taste like chocolate, too.

I've included copious swatches under indirect outdoor lighting and direct sunlight for your reference. The colors from the bottom row of the palette is on the bottom of my arm. All other shades from right to left correspond to the bottom of the palette going right and upwards. These swatches were made with either one or two passes on bare skin with no primer.

As you can probably tell, some swatch much better than others (meaning they were less powdery, had more glide on bare skin, and a lot of pigment for one swipe.) Others, notably the darker matte shades, seemed much less buttery to the touch, and you can literally feel the glitter particles in some shades. However, none were technically "chalky" except for the light pink shade and the matte browbone highlighter. 

On the eyes these shadows are very pigmented but subdued, meaning that you will never look tacky slappin' on "Creme Brulee" as opposed to UD's Half Baked. This means that there is still color variation and depth without too much glitter overpowering your face makeup. There is still a buttery quality to the shadows and there was no fall-out for any of the shades I've used when applied with a shader brush. TF has definitely reformulated their shadows, as I like this palette much more than the pans in their cardboard boxed palettes.  

If you are a newbie to neutrals and want a complete palette to start you off, you really can't go wrong with 16 shades in one palette. There are a few brighter shades to vary up a look, and I personally think that it's perfect for work appropriate and barely there makeup. 

XO, Be