Too Faced Chocolate Bar review and dupe

Firstly, happy 2017 to everybody! I hope you all had a lovely festive season with your nearest and dearest <3

I cannot believe that 2016 flew by so fast! My older 2 kids started Gr. 3 and Gr. R yesterday and I just feel as if I’m going to blink and this year will be over too. I’ve made it my goal to NOT wish away any time this year. To live in the moment. To enjoy my kids, my husband, my chaos, my life. I wish that 2017 will be all you want it to be and more.

Okay, so we have the formalities out of the way, let’s get to today’s post. Way back in July of 2016, I shared a blog post about the Makeup Revolution I <3 Chocolate palette. I also wrote about how I wished I owned the original Too Faced chocolate bar palette. Ladies, I sent that wish out into the universe, and it was granted by a lovely UK blogger named Jo, and she blogs over at Flourish & Blotting. I was overjoyed when I received the email from her that I had won the giveaway on her blog and I remain very grateful today still for this amazing win <3

Today I want to share my thoughts on the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette and also discuss what I think of the ‘dupe‘. I apologise that the pictures of the actual palettes together are not identical or actually next to each other, as I took the pictures seperately and have sadly, re-gifted my beloved MR palette so I cannot take pictures of it to match the Too Faced palette.

Packaging

My Too Faced palette arrived late last year and I was absolutely giddy with excitement when it arrived (minus the joke my husband made about them having lost the parcel *insert my not impressed face*. When I opened the box, the packaging is sleek, and not as bulky as I expected. It has a magnetic closing mechanism, so you know it’s closed when you close it. Once you open it, you get a whiff of the delicious chocolate scent that just makes you smile. The scent is so delicious though, that at one stage my daughter was regularly taking a swipe of eyeshadow to eat it! I KID YOU NOT! I quickly had to put an end to that, especially when she’d bring her friends around to sample it too???? Oh my soul.

There’s a mirror inside this palette, which is great for makeup on the bed, or makeup in the office, etc. There are 16 shades in the palette, a mix of mattes and shimmer shades and the colours are a mix of browns, pinks and plums.

So let’s swatch!

The Too Faced swatches are on the left and the Makeup Revolution on the right. I’ve used the names from the Too Faced palette for identifying the shades.

Swatches and formula

As you can see, many of the swatches are almost identical and I actually have 2 that I prefer in my Makeup Revolution palette…..sorry, now my sister’s MR palette.  The main differences are in the matte shades for me where the Makeup Revolution shades are just a bit chalky when compared to the Too Faced palette. Otherwise Makeup Revolution serves up a really good dupe with amazing quality for the price. The shimmer shades are really pigmented.

In the Too Faced palette, the only disappointing shade for me is the Strawberry Bon Bon shade. I just don’t find it to be very pigmented and I had to pack a lot on and still didn’t feel I got a good colour payoff. Salted caramel is my absolute favourite shade in this palette for the crease. This is just THE perfect transition shade in my opinion.

What’s the verdict?

So if you have the $49 for the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette, you cannot go wrong treating yourself to this palette. The shades are buttery, so pigmented and blend like a dream. There’s also a fantastic selection of colours, for the everyday, the ordinary and even the glam gal in this palette. However, if you don’t have $49/R660 for the palette (and you unfortunately cannot win one), you will not regret spending $10/R134 on the Makeup Revolution palette. These prices obviously excludes shipping and customs. They are available through quite a few 3rd party sellers in South Africa.  The cost will be higher though, due to customs and shipping.

Do you own any of these palettes or any other palettes from either brand that you feel is a must have?