Why You Should NOT Buy the Too Faced Sweet Peach Palette

... Or care if you haven't been able to get your hands on it.

If you have found my blog that talks about the over-saturation of the beauty market and rampant, unnecessary consumerism, you must be a person who likes makeup. Welcome.

Too Faced's Sweet Peach palette was the cherry on top of everything that I personally feel is wrong with the beauty industry right now, and it inspired me to start this blog, to encourage other people to be more sensible with their purchase choices and to step away from mindless hype.

Why was the Sweet Peach palette so coveted? It wasn't, really. And that is where Too Faced was smart with their bottom line in mind but crappy when it comes to customer service and satisfaction.

Too Faced is just one company in a long line that has released "teaser" images of upcoming products to create hype and a "need" for a palette. It's no different than a teaser movie trailer before the official trailer. It's marketing--anything to help their profit.

People loved the idea of a peach palette. They speculated for weeks on what it would look like and started drooling over these imaginary shades of complex peach. An entire palette of warm, peachy shades, people thought. So many variations of tone and depth and PEACH.

It then came as a major shock and disappointment to many when the official photos of the palette were released, and lo and behold, there were two peach shades. Two. In an eighteen-pan palette. How? people asked. How is this the peach palette we've all been drooling over? 

Many people, myself included, decided to pass on the palette. For me, the idea of an entire peach palette was absolutely appealing to me. I didn't don't need another eyeshadow palette, but the idea I created in my head of what this palette could be seemed genuinely unique. In such an oversaturated market, a unique product could be worth picking up. When I saw the official images, however, it was just like any other neutral palette. There were two peach colors. That was it. Not entirely surprising when you think of profitable palettes, but disappointing nonetheless.

Too Faced, however, made a crucial marketing decision--create hysteria by having a limited quantity of palettes.

This is purely my own personal opinion, but I don't think Too Faced had any intentions of having the Sweet Peach palette actually be limited edition. If so, it wouldn't be in the larger size that their most popular product--the Chocolate Bar--is in. I think it was always intended to be a permanent item, but they wanted to have the hottest, most sought-after product of the season. So they didn't manufacture very many of them.

When the palette launched, the bloggers went to purchase it, as well as the few people who genuinely wanted it despite its lack of peachiness. And then all hell broke loose. Because there was such limited quantities, stock ran out immediately. (This seems to be a tactic Too Faced borrowed from many popular social media brands.) The site crashed. (Another seemingly borrowed tactic.)

Now, as anyone involved in the beauty community understands far too well, once you can't get a makeup item because everyone else wanted it, you immediately HAVE TO HAVE IT. So then Ulta online got the palette, and their site crashed as hoards of people tried to get it. Then Sephora. Then stores got the palette in stock, but their quantities were laughable--fifteen to twenty per store--and the sales associates were purchasing them first.

And there you have it. A palette that disappointed most people became the hottest product of the season. Simply because people had a fear of missing out. Even when reviews started coming out, and people said, "This isn't that great," people didn't care. They wanted to get their hands on the two peach shades in a neutral palette and smell the artificial peach scent. Because obviously makeup should smell like peach candy (sarcasm).

I didn't fall into the trap. I have enough eyeshadow palettes of incredible quality that I didn't need one of mediocre quality with nothing special about it except an artificial peach scent. Nothing about the palette appealed to me except the hysteria around it. I'll admit for a moment there, I honestly wondered if there was something I was missing. How are so many people losing their minds over an uninteresting neutral palette? Should I buy it just to find out?

NO. I shouldn't. And neither should you.

I get that many people get annoyed with product releases that fail to live up to their expectations. Another neutral palette? people say. But we have SO many of these. Where is something interesting? But here's the deal: the vast majority of consumers aren't like me--or us. They don't have a hoard of makeup and just want to play with the newest thing. Most people have one eyeshadow palette--maybe two. And they are more likely to buy something neutral and versatile. They will need a matte highlight shade, transition colors, and a matte black. So while those of us who have ten or more palettes likely have ten or more matte black shadows, the person who buys only one palette will only have one matte black, and they will probably want that shade. So, yeah. A lot of these neutral palettes are "boring" and "repetitive" and everyone's favorite description: "dupable." But that's because it's what the normal consumer wants.

So I get why Too Faced made a natural palette. But if it truly was meant to be limited edition, and if they're going to call it "Sweet Peach," it shouldn't be marketed to the normal consumer. It should be marketed toward the people who have and love too much makeup and are excited by themed releases. It should be made up of peach shades! But, if the plan was for it to be permanent all along, it makes sense to make it marketable to the vast majority of people. And then, if enough hysteria surrounded it, when it returns, they can claim it is makeup's number-one selling palette.

So, why shouldn't you buy it? If you really love it and want it, of course go for it. But if you're struggling with what to do, don't. It's just another neutral palette that smells weird and has two low performing peach shades in it. If you already have any Chocolate Bar palette, you probably already have most of the shadows. Throw in one or two peach eyeshadows (or even blushes!) from your collection, and there you have the Sweet Peach palette.

It's nothing special, and it certainly isn't worth the hysteria that Too Faced created. Businesses are after one thing: your money. But as consumers, we should be smart about what we buy and where we give that money. I fully expect to see this palette turn up in people's "Products I Regret Buying" videos or declutter piles in a short time after the hype has died down.