What I'm Not Buying: Too Faced Funfetti Collection

Later this month, Too Faced will release the Funfetti "It's fun to be a girl" collection on HSN. The collection includes an eyeshadow palette with 12 shades, a blush, brush, lipgloss, and mascara. 

And I won't be buying. 

And I would like to take a moment to talk about Too Faced. 

This "holiday" season, Too Faced has released or will be releasing:

The Chocolate Shop:

Grand Hotel Cafe:

Merry Macaroons:

Better Together with Kat Von D:

Repromote of the Sweet Peach:

With blushes and a highlight palette:

Two Chocolate Chip palettes:

And Funfetti:

And this is just within the holiday season. (I'm excluding the Peanut Butter and Honey palette set to release in the spring). 

This is insane. And honestly, I think Too Faced is preying on its customers releasing this many limited edition items during a season where people are in a shopping frenzy. They have absolutely flooded the market, and I personally find it manipulative and exploitative of their customer base. 

The release of the Sweet Peach palette is what inspired me to start this blog. I personally feel as though Too Faced manufactured the hysteria around that product by intentionally manufacturing a laughably small amount of palettes that would in no way meet demand. And because of that hysteria, people will buy the latest from Too Faced as early as they can—without reviews—just so they don't miss out again. Too Faced also knows that they have a fan base of people who will buy just for the gimmick and packaging. And they know they have a fan base of collectors who will buy everything the brand offers, especially if it is limited edition. 

And of all these limited edition palettes that have been releasing lately (including the Power of Makeup collaboration with NikkieTutorials), none have received positive reviews. All of them have had complaints about poor quality. And it feels like Too Faced is growing more concerned about pumping out gimmicky items with gimmicky packaging than creating a good quality item. And it's because they know people will buy the items for the gimmick alone. 

I can't tell you how many comments I've read that sound something like, "The colors are so overdone and the quality doesn't look that great, but look at the peach on the tin! And it smells like peaches! I have to buy!"

Or, when a new item is released, "My poor wallet! I was already going to buy the Funfetti palette but now I have to get the two Chocolate Chip palettes too! I guess I won't be buying groceries..."

And it just baffles me. It baffles me that people think this way and also baffles me because I know entirely where they are coming from! Because everyone is going to be talking about the new Too Faced palettes, and if you don't get them, you will somehow feel lacking. 

And I personally think that Too Faced knows this and exploits it. And as a consumer, I don't appreciate it. 

But let's talk about the Funfetti collection as this is something that actually quite tempted me. And can you guess the number one thing that tempted me? The name! Before pictures were released of the actual product, Too Faced announced the name and photos of the packaging, and I was immediately interested. 

I played right into Too Faced's game. The packaging is cute. I love Funfetti, and imaging the colors inspired by funfetti was really exciting. Because funfetti is beautiful:

And then they released pictures of the blush included in the palette, and I was hooked:

But then they released pictures of the palette:

And to say that I am disappointed is an understatement. But I am also not surprised. Not even a little bit. Because Too Faced obviously cared more about the packaging and the gimmick than anything else. I even read a news article about the release of this palette that lamented that it wasn't funfetti-scented. Really? Is that what it has come to with Too Faced?

This palette is not interesting or unique. It looks like every other limited edition palette that they have released, including all the ones listed above. The shades also don't remind me of funfetti, which is incredibly colorful and full of green, blue, yellow, orange, pink, and purple colors. I certainly don't remember there being taupe, copper, and black colors in funfetti. 

And the thing is, the people who are most likely to buy this palette are people who have a plethora of neutrals in their collection already. So this could have been a really cool and unique opportunity for Too Faced to make a palette with really fun colors, fully embracing the theme and name, to go along with the naturals already in their collection, many already from Too Faced. But instead, Too Faced gives us what they always give us: a really boring collection of shadows with several underperforming purples thrown in. 

As a final point, I really don't like that the Funfetti collection is connected to the phrase "It's fun to be a girl." Too Faced was founded by two men. And, I don't know, there is something about this phrase and marketing that rubs me the wrong way, especially coming from a male-run company. I get that "Fun"fetti is connected to "It's 'fun' to be a girl," but this also feels like incredibly lazy marketing. "Buy our product because you're a girl and girls wear makeup and pink and purple and it's fun to be a girl. Please give us your money."

Maybe I'm being too hard on Too Faced, but that's what it feels like to me. 

On the whole, the eyeshadow palette doesn't interest me. I already have pinks in my collection from Too Faced in my Chocolate Bon Bons palette. 

I'm not a fan of the Better Than Sex mascara, I don't like or wear lipgloss, and I would have no use for the weird heart brush. In the pan the blush looks really cool and interesting, but my guess is that when swatched, it will look like any other pink/peach blush like NARS Orgasm. I don't need another blush and certainly don't need to buy this entire collection just to get that. 

Too Faced's current approach on the whole has summed up why I am becoming a much smarter shopper and being very critical about any new purchases that I make. They are banking on people wanting to collect their gimmicks and not be left out of the conversation and have absolutely flooded the market with mainly underperforming products. And it upsets me even more because I fall for it too. They strategically release names and images of packaging to generate so much hype and interest so that people have essentially made up their minds before they even see what the product looks like. Personally, I imagined a gorgeous Sweet Peach and Funfetti palette that I was set to buy until I actually saw the product and was disappointed. I just don't like Too Faced's marketing tactics and I really don't like them placing all energy on packaging and theme and less on actual quality. Funfetti stops being interesting at the name, and since the product is a toned-down version of Chocolate Bon Bons, I won't be buying.