As I mentioned in an earlier post, Too Faced is releasing two Chocolate Chip palettes on Black Friday that they teased seven months ago. This is the all-matte Matte Chocolate Chip version that is exclusive to the Too Faced website.
And I won't be buying.
My thoughts on Too Faced's "teasing" of these palettes can be found in my post on the White Chocolate Chip palette.
The Matte Chocolate Chip is an all-matte palette:
I'll give the same disclaimer here that I gave on the White Chocolate Chip palette. The above image of the Matte Chocolate Chip palette looks like it was taken in deliberately bad lighting. Because of this, the clarity of colors could be off by a bit. I think it's safe to assume the basic color scheme, but in better lighting the colors may have more nuance to them than is shown here.
But the Matte Chocolate Chip looks really, really similar (almost identical) to Too Faced's own Natural Matte palette:
Photo: Temptalia
The differences between the Matte Chocolate Chip and the Natural Matte are so minimal that it makes me wonder why they even made the Matte Chocolate Chip. Are they eventually discontinuing the Natural Matte? Or is this all Too Faced has in their wheelhouse? I've asked this question many, many times when looking at all the new releases Too Faced is churning out, but it really seems they are incapable recently as a brand of coming out with anything other than something regurgitated from their own line.
The Matte Chocolate Chip palette is a collection on standard matte neutral shadows. Much like the Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye:
The Viseart Neutral Matte:
Photo: Temptalia
The Lorac Pro Matte:
Even theBalm's Meet Matt(e) Trimony:
There is absolutely nothing unique abut the Matte Chocolate Chip palette other than the fact that it is a gimmick off of Too Faced's most popular product—the Chocolate Bar palette. And what's the benefit there? That it will smell like chocolate?
The best thing the Matte Chocolate Bar has going for it is that it looks like it could work well (depending on pigmentation) on dark skin. But making this exclusive to Too Faced and not having the ability to swatch this in-person is really disappointing. The majority of palettes are curated without dark skin tones in mind, so limiting the access to a palette that could potentially be complementary to dark skin is bad. Especially when the light skin-friendly White Chocolate Chip palette is available at Sephora and can be swatched in-store.
Personally, I went through a matte palette phase, and I honestly couldn't really tell you why. I love matte shadows. They are usually my favorite shadows in a palette, and when I've created custom palettes, I always select more mattes than shimmers. But a shimmer or foiled finish is easily my favorite finish, and I love a shimmery lid 99% of the time. I suppose when I saw all these matte palettes, I thought they were so beautiful, but I didn't think of the practicality of me using them.
I have owned:
- Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye
- Viseart Neutral Matte (depotted into a big Viseart custom palette)
- Viseart Dark Matte
- MAC C'est Chic
- Tarte Tartelette in Bloom
- Becca Ombre Rouge
- Becca Ombre Nudes (returned)
- Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance (returned)
- Tom Ford Cocoa Mirage (decluttered)
- Tarte Tartelette (decluttered)
- Sonia Kashuk Eye On Neutral (decluttered)
- theBalm Meet Matt(e) Trimony (decluttered)
- Urban Decay Naked Basics (decluttered)
- Too Faced Natural Matte (decluttered)
The Tartelette in Bloom and Modern Renaissance palettes are not exclusively matte, but the majority of the shadows in each are matte. Becca Ombre Rouge has one satin shade, but the rest of it is also matte.
I have previously owned a staggering, embarrassing, and ridiculous number of matte eyeshadow palettes. Especially as a person who favors a look with shimmery shadows. I've realized (now that I've run the gamut on them) that matte eyeshadow palettes work best for me as a companion palette rather than a primary standalone palette. And since I've tried so many, I feel I have a pretty good grasp on what makes a good one for me.
My current matte palette collection is excessive (like the rest of my palette collection), but I really do feel that each serves a its own unique purpose. Shade and Light Eye is my go-to for most looks when I am in need of a basic color; MAC C'est Chic is great for berry looks; Dark Mattes is great for dramatic looks when I want some color; Tartelette in Bloom is a complete palette for me but is also great for light rosy looks; and Becca Ombre Rouge creates the perfect soft eye look.
If I could only have one matte palette, my choice would be the Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye. I like this even better than the Viseart Neutral Matte. I have not tried the Lorac Pro matte since I do not like the Lorac Pro shadow formula, but I know of many people who use it faithfully. For the exception of the Naked Basics palette by Urban Decay (I absolutely hated that palette), I think all the other matte palettes I've tried were fine. I decluttered most of them because I simply had things in my collection that I liked better and I just didn't need so much. Of the ones I've decluttered, I would most recommend theBalm Meet Matt(e) Trimony.
Overall, I am not excited by the Matte Chocolate Chip palette. In fact, Too Faced's lack of anything interesting or different recently has been a big turn-off for me to the entire brand. Since I don't yet know the price or weight of the Chocolate Chip palette and how it compares to the Natural Matte, the only reason I can see for getting it rather than the Natural Matte is that the pan sizes are more uniform. That's it. I don't know what the quality of the Chocolate Chip palettes will be, but if they are anything like most of what Too Faced has been releasing this year, it will be lackluster. The quality of Natural Matte was even lackluster for me, so if you're in the market for a good matte palette, I would invest in something other than Too Faced. I have a light-to-medium skin tone, and I found that several shades in the Natural Matte palette looked like absolutely nothing on my skin.
I think the gimmick is starting to wear thin with Too Faced. I read today that Estee Lauder has acquired Too Faced, so I suspect the best quality of Too Faced may be behind us. Traditionally, whenever a "smaller" company is acquired by a huge corporation, there are changes in formula to make manufacturing cheaper or to adhere to the parent company's standards. I suspect that within a year, even the quality of the Chocolate Bar palette will be different than what it is now. Either way, I don't really understand the point of the Matte Chocolate Chip palette or how it adds much to the line that differs from the Natural Matte palette. As I said in my post about the White Chocolate Chip palette, I frankly don't even understand the concept or reasoning behind the Chocolate Chip palettes other than to give the Chocolate Bar collectors more to spend their money on. I certainly have enough matte palettes in my collection that are very high quality, and I won't be buying.
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