As part of Too Faced's "totally unexpected" rerelease of the Sweet Peach palette, they decided to capitalize on the franchise and branch out to include several products, including the Papa Don't Peach blush.
And I won't be buying.
(Sigh)
To be completely honest, out of the entire Sweet Peach collection, this blush might be the most annoying to me. My thoughts on the Sweet Peach collection can be found here. My thoughts on the Sweet Peach palette can be found here.
I have made it known that Too Faced has grown to be one of my least favorite brands. In fact, they have probably fallen the farthest for me personally. I, like most people, used to get excited for every Too Faced release. But then things took a sharp turn when it became obvious that they were more interested in pumping out as many products as possible and coming up with the best gimmick to sell poor quality, uninspiring products. Too Faced has an audience and fan base that will buy from them no matter the corners that they cut, and they know it.
I am personally just not at all interested in that anymore. At this point, I can't really see myself purchasing from Too Faced again, and slowly I have whittled down my entire Too Faced collection to just one thing (Chocolate Bon Bons). This year alone, from Too Faced, I have decluttered:
- Chocolate Bar palette
- Chocolate Bon Bons palette (and then repurchased)
- Natural Matte Eye palette
- Boudoir Eyes palette
- Baby Love blush
And most recently:
- Peanut Butter and Jelly palette
PB&J is a recent declutter for me. I don't think it's a bad palette, and it's certainly the best quality release that they had in recent memory. But I have always struggled with having it because there is nothing all that interesting about it. Just a bunch of warm naturals that I have ten times over. And that one magenta shade—Jelly—that I really like. But I realized today when preparing for this post that I am really just not interested in Too Faced any more. I only really loved one look from PB&J, and I'm sure I could recreate it with colors I have in my collection. Plus, the quality wasn't exceptional (though it's not bad), and I wasn't reaching for it. So, it has been decluttered.
I mention the PB&J palette because it reminds me a lot in concept of the Papa Don't Peach blush. It's ordinary.
Let's look at the blush:
And let's break down what we have here:
- A shimmery peach blush
- Tin case packaging
- Peach-pink ombre packaging
- Packaging with a smiling peach
- Synthetic peach scent
Let's focus on that first point. It is A. Peach. Blush. Full stop. Nothing more.
Looking at the pigment of this blush, away from the packaging (which, as we can see from the above list is clearly the draw here), do you think anyone would be excited by this? Do you think people would stalk the Sephora and Too Faced websites for this? Do you think reviewers would claim that it was "so cute" and that you absolutely had to have this?
NO.
And do you know why?
Let's look at some other peach blushes. From my own collection, there's Laura Geller Cantaloupe:
Photo: Temptalia
I've previously owned NARS Luster:
Photo: Temptalia
From Too Faced's own line there's Sparkling Bellini:
And I Will Always Love You:
Photo: Temptalia
And, of course, the Sweet Peach Glow palette:
There's also MAC Ripe Peach:
Photo: Temptalia
NARS Gina:
Photo: Temptalia
Becca Songbird:
Photo: Temptalia
Clinique Peach Pop:
Photo: Temptalia
MAC Gingerly:
Photo: Makeup and Beauty Blog
Hourglass Incandescent Electra:
Tom Ford Lovelust:
Photo: Temptalia
And Milani Luminoso:
Papa Don't Peach is a peach blush. That's it. And Too Faced already has two of them, three if you count the blush in the Sweet Peach Glow palette. And people are falling all over themselves trying to get their hands on the "Sweet Peach blush." When really, it's about as unique of a product as a pink blush or a matte mid-toned brown eyeshadow. And I don't care if it has a great formula (I don't know if it does). Pretty much every blush listed above has a fantastic formula.
Papa Don't Peach costs $30 for 9 grams of product. Personally, I think the price should be lowered by about $10 just because I doubt the quality is great, but on the whole I'm not totally mad at the cost. Becca blushes, in comparison, are $32 for 5.6 grams. Tom Ford blushes (keep in mind this is a luxury brand) are $55 for 8 grams. The Too Faced Love Flushed blushes are $26 for 6 grams, and the Too Faced Sweetheart blushes are $30 for 5.5 grams. So, even by Too Faced's standards, this is a fair price for a blush.
But, for it being a part of a special peach-only collection, I think Too Faced could have delivered something a little more interesting than a standard peach blush. As I have said many times at this point, most blushes within a color family will look pretty much the same once applied and sheered out onto the skin. So once you have one peach blush, you pretty much have what you need. Of course, that doesn't account for formula or staying power, so I can understand having more than one blush of a favorite color in different formulas. However, I highly doubt that the Papa Don't Peach formula will be anything noteworthy. It might not be as awful as everything else they have been releasing lately (such as the Chocolate Chip palettes), but I do not think it will be a "wow, this is really something special" kind of product either. It's just a peach blush in a peach-pink ombre tin with a smiling peach and synthetic peach scent.
As with most of Too Faced's products, the audience for this blush, in my opinion, are people who collect Too Faced products. That's it. Because the product itself is just not that special. On Too Faced's website, they boast that this blush is "wearable and flattering on any skin tone." And I don't buy that. I think there are plenty of skin tones that won't be flattered by this product, and I am not a huge fan of companies making those kinds of blanket statements because they do so just to encourage people to buy the product, even those who the product won't work for.
And if Too Faced was hell-bent on making a peach blush to include in this collection, I think they should have tried to make it special, interesting, and different rather than a run-of-the-mill color that most people already have.
How do you make a peach-themed blush interesting? Let me introduce you to NARS Taj Mahal:
Photo: Temptalia
Admittedly, this blush might classify as "orange" more than "peach," but if Too Faced got away with the "peach" shades they put in the Sweet Peach palette, this seems fine to me.
I mentioned this in an earlier post, but Taj Mahal is one of my favorite blushes of all time. It does not flatter my skin whatsoever and I therefore don't own it, but just because it's not for me doesn't mean it can't be one of my favorite blushes. I think this blush is absolutely stunning, especially on medium, dark, and deep skin tones. This kind of blush—that is different, interesting, and commands one's attention—absolutely deserves to be highlighted in a special collection. There are not many blushes like Taj Mahal, but there are dozens of blushes like Papa Don't Peach. But Too Faced probably wouldn't make a blush like this and highlight it in one of their special collections because it's not inherently made for the audience they cater to—white people. And that, frankly, is garbage.
Papa Don't Peach, while smelling like peach candy, is just a peach blush. And I already have a peach blush that flatters me and that I enjoy. I have no desire to collect special kitschy packaging from Too Faced or get something just because it's in a gimmicky special collection. This blush would probably be too shimmery on my cheeks and emphasize my pores. Since there is literally nothing special whatsoever about this product, I won't be buying.
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