One Week, One Palette: Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons

For the fourth week of my one week, one palette project, I decided to go with a palette that has an interesting history with me. 

The Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons palette absolutely did not appeal to me when I first saw promo pictures. In fact, it not only didn't appeal to me, but I actually thought it was a fake, joke item. The packaging was just too sickeningly sweet for me to think would be an actual makeup item targeted to grown women. 

When I saw the colors inside and noticed that they were primarily cool-toned, I was even less interested. But after seeing review after review and getting caught up in the hype, I bought it. I used it once, maybe twice, and sold it. And something happened that had never happened to me before once I had decluttered: I actually missed it. 

I started wearing pinks a lot and really loved how it flattered my skin and eye color. I kept thinking about Bon Bons, and on a particularly bad day when I was able to justify emotionally shopping (something I no longer do), I purchased this palette again. 

I used every color in the palette this week and think I actually have a really good grasp on my feelings about it. I didn't have to bring in other shadows this week, except for Make Up For Ever Pearl (my absolute favorite inner corner highlight) on a few days. 

Below are six looks I did last week:

Look 1:

Cafe Au Lait on the lid, Almond Truffle blended in the crease, Dark Truffle padded onto the outer corner, Satin Sheet on the inner corner, and Divinity on the brow bone. 

Look 2:

Sprinkles on the lid, Almond Truffle blended in the crease, Totally  Fetch padded onto the outer corner and blended into the crease, Satin Sheets on the inner corner, and Divinity on the brow bone.

Look 3:

Molasses Chip on the lid, Mocha blended into the crease, Bordeaux padded onto the outer corner and blended into the crease, Make Up For Ever Pearl on the inner corner, and Divinity on the brow bone.

Look 4:

Earl Gray on the inner and outer lid, Satin Sheets on the center of the lid, Pecan Praline and Mocha blended into the crease, Bordeaux blended to deepen the crease, Make Up For Ever Pearl on the inner corner, Divinity on the brow bone, and Black Currant on the lower lash line. 

Look 5:

Satin Sheets on the lid, Almond Truffle blended in the crease, and Cashew Chew on the brow bone.

Look 6:

Cotton Candy on the lid, Almond Truffle blended into the crease, Black Currant padded onto the outer corner, Satin Sheets on the inner corner, and Divinity on the brow bone. 

I really enjoyed using this palette last week, and that actually surprised me. Having used the Nubain 2 palette by Juvia's Place last week and getting really rich, bold looks, I thought I was going to feel really disappointed by the subtlety of the looks this palette would create. And while I did wish I had some bolder looks, I also thought the looks this palette created were really pretty. 

There was only one real dud shade for me, and I was surprised that it wasn't Black Currant. It was Cashew Chew. I've heard many people say they really like this shadow, but it was absolutely nothing on me. It gave no pigmentation on my lid or even when repeatedly swatched on my hand. I've never been one to set my primer with an eyeshadow before layering other shadows, but that's the only purpose I can see for this shade, at least on my skin tone. 

Satin Sheets and Almond Truffle are my favorite shadows in the palette. Satin Sheets has been a longtime favorite of mine, and if Too Faced would release single shadows, I probably would have just bought that one shadow and not this entire palette. I used to own Too Faced's Boudoir Eyes palette and only used Satin Sheets. I decluttered the palette because I thought it was wasteful to keep it for only one shadow, so when it was released in Bon Bons, I had missed it enough to buy the palette. 

Almond Truffle took me by surprise. I typically like warm browns or peaches to blend out the crease, but since I thought Mocha was a little darker than what I wanted, I tried Almond Truffle one day (before I sold the original palette) and fell in love with it. This is also a shadow I would have purchased if it was released as a single, and I really missed it when I didn't have the palette. 

Colors that took me by surprise were Mocha and Bordeaux. I absolutely loved these colors in the crease, but I feel like they would only work well with Molasses Chip. I was most shocked by Black Currant. I actually like this shade! Too Faced is known for doing purples really poorly, so I figured this would be an absolute dud. It wasn't great—don't get me wrong—but it wasn't as awful as I was expecting. It worked fine on the lid and I think worked well with Cotton Candy, but I really loved it on the lower lash line. It gave off a gorgeous purple color with gold highlights, and it looked lovely as a little "pop" on the lash line. 

My favorite looks this week were probably look 2 and look 6, but I also really liked look 3. Actually, I liked all the looks I did this week, but those were my standout favorites. I feel like you have to embrace the pinks in order to really like Bon Bons, because otherwise, the palette is pretty boring, uninspiring, and doesn't really make sense. 

I've heard a lot of complaints that this palette has poor pigmentation. I don't have the same experience with them. From Too Faced, I have owned and decluttered the Chocolate Bar, Boudoir Eyes, and Natural Matte palettes, and have kept Chocolate Bon Bons and Peanut Butter and Jelly. From my experience, Bon Bons and PB&J have the best pigmentation from the brand. 

With that said, however, I think there are several shades (too many) that would probably only work (or at least work best) on lighter skin tones. I really love the shade Sprinkles because it gives a subtle pink gold sheen, but I can see this color potentially not working for darker skin tones. I can see the same happening with Cotton Candy, Cafe Au Lait, and Almond Truffle. 

Had I not challenged myself to use this palette all week and to use every shadow in the palette, I think I might have eventually decluttered this palette (again). It took me a while to try wearing pink on my eyes and to have the creativity to figure out what to pair with pink to make the looks more flattering. Had I not embraced the pinks, I probably would have been keeping this palette solely for Almond Truffle, Satin Sheets, and Molasses Chip. And that absolutely would not been worth it to me. But now I really love most shades in the palette and like all colors for the exception of Cashew Chew. 

I know I mention this every week, but I am going to again. Using this palette all week and using color combinations that I have never tried really helped curb any desire to buy new stuff. What I used to do before engaging in this project was to pull out a palette and do the one look I knew how to do and knew would look good. And then the next day I would pull out another palette and do the same thing. I thought I was doing something good because I was getting use out of all of my palettes, but I didn't really know any of my palettes. And that's the freaking point of a palette in general! You're supposed to be able to create several looks and have fun with it! Using a palette just for one or two looks is crazy. And discovering the versatility of my palettes has really been enlightening for me. And it makes me really not want to buy any more.