This Week's Looks: Kat Von D, Bare Minerals, Viseart, Too Faced

The looks I did this week were made up of a mishmash of items. I'd like to say there was a rhyme or reason behind anything I used, but I basically just used whatever I felt like using. For the most part, the commonality was that these were shadows that I had not used in a while.

Here are four looks I did last week.

Look 1: Kat Von D Thunderstruck

Thunderstruck on the lid and Inglot shadows blended into the crease. 

Look 2: Viseart Boheme Dream

5 on the lid, Physician's Formula Classic Nudes quad blended into the crease, and 9 padded onto the outer corner. 

Look 3: Bare Minerals Skinny Dip and Velvet Pecan

(Left: Velvet Pecan, Right: Skinny Dip)

Skinny Dip on the lid and Velvet Pecan blended into the crease.

Look 4: Too Faced Cafe au Lait and Almond Truffle

(Top left: Cafe au Lait, Bottom right: Almond Truffle)

Cafe au Lait on the lid and Almond Truffle blended into the crease.

Kat Von D Thunderstruck

Status: Keep, really enjoy 

Kat Von D Thunderstruck is a really fun eyeshadow. The reason I first bought it, interestingly enough, was because I was trying duplicate Too Faced Satin Sheets. I've written a couple of times of my love for Satin Sheets, and when I first swatched Thunderstruck, I thought it was going to be a dead ringer for Satin Sheets. It's not. But it's in a related family and is still really pretty. 

I swatched three shades on my hand, two of which I used this week, to show the true color. Because these shades are all kind of duochrome, the color gets completely washed out when I take the pictures of my eye. The swatches below are much more accurate in terms of color. 

From left: Kat Von D Thunderstruck, Too Faced Satin Sheets, and Bare Minerals Skinny Dip

Thunderstruck and Satin Sheets are both "white gold," in my opinion, but Satin Sheets is a little more yellow than white. I like the way Satin Sheets looks all over the lid better than Thunderstruck, but I still really enjoy Thunderstruck. I think it gives my eyes a nice fresh, glowy look. Thunderstruck is also lovely as a face highlight. 

Viseart Boheme Dream

Status: Favorite

I really enjoy this palette. I could easily write a blog post about why people don't need to buy it, but I did, and I enjoy it. I think there are absolutely substitute palettes out there, and I think the repetition of the pink, blue, and green shades can be a little overkill, especially in a palette that is so expensive. But, since I have it in my collection and I enjoy it, I use it. Interestingly, I had never actually used the "neutral" side of the palette before, and I really loved it. Viseart shadows glide on like a dream, but the color that I used certainly was nothing revolutionary. 

Bare Minerals Skinny Dip

Status: Keep and enjoy

Bare Minerals Velvet Pecan

Status: Favorite 

I really love Skinny Dip on me, and I especially love it paired with Velvet Pecan. The pictures of my eye don't do Skinny Dip any justice. The flash completely washed it out, but the above swatch is a pretty accurate depiction of it. If the light isn't hitting it, it looks invisible, but when the light does hit it, it is a beautiful iridescent pink shade. 

Velvet Pecan is one of my favorite shadows of all time. I wasn't a huge fan of it being a loose shadow, but I am not as hung up on that detail anymore. This is the perfect crease shade for my skin tone, and I love it. The only issue is that I can't seem to find it for sale anywhere. I bought it and Skinny Dip at a Bare Minerals outlet store in California over the summer, and I haven't seen them offered anywhere else since. 

Too Faced Cafe au Lait

Status: Keep and enjoy

Too Faced Almond Truffle

Status: Favorite

I wrote a post earlier in the week about depotting Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons. I realized that while the entire palette was usable and could create pretty looks, I only really loved five shadows. And I bought the entire thing for those five shadows while telling myself that the rest were completely suitable. But I wasn't really wanting to reach for Chocolate Bon Bons after I used it in one week, one palette, and that was because the palette on the whole didn't excite me. It was just those five shadows. And since depotting those shadows, I was really aching to use to them again. The look I did with Cafe au Lait and Almond Truffle was one of my favorite looks from that palette and one of my favorite looks last week. 

Decluttering and Depotting: Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons and Juvia's Place Masquerade

During my one week, one palette challenge, I used and thoroughly enjoyed the Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons and Juvia's Place Masquerade palettes. I felt confident and happy keeping them in my collection. But as I have been really drawn to singles lately, I've been scrutinizing my palettes to really see if I love the entire thing or if I just love pieces of it. 

With both of these palettes, I realized I just love pieces. 

Typically when I've made the decision to declutter something, I just declutter and don't look back. If there is a "special" shade in a palette, I see if I can try to duplicate it in my collection or just buy the single shadow. 

I've mentioned before my love affair with Too Faced Satin Sheets. I've had it in three palettes, and I've decluttered all three. And every time I declutter, I think I won't miss Satin Sheets. I'll remind myself that I have a ton of shadows and I'll be fine. And each time, I miss Satin Sheets. And because Too Faced is, frankly, obnoxious and doesn't sell singles, there is no way that I could get this shadow outside of a palette.

Almond Truffle is also another favorite shadow of mine in this palette, and I know that if I didn't have it, I would sincerely miss it.

Those aren't the only two shadows I love in this palette, but they are certainly favorites of mine. And I suppose because there are a few other shadows that I love and then plenty of shadows that are totally fine, I decided I liked the palette enough to keep it.

But you know what? When I really looked at it, I love Sprinkles, Molasses Chip, and Cafe au Lait.

I like Cotton Candy, Totally Fetch, Bordeaux, Mocha, and Malted, but I have all those colors several times over.

I don't really care for Dark Truffle, Pecan Praline, Earl Grey, Divinity, and Black Currant. They are fine and totally workable, but they just aren't shadows that I'm really drawn to. And I hate Cashew Chew.

When I realized I really only wanted to keep five shadows, it seemed really dumb to keep this entire palette. I had some space open in a palette I depotted my Natasha Denona shadows into, so I thought maybe depotting would be the best option.

I couldn't find any tutorials for depotting Too Faced Chocolate Bar palettes, let alone the weirdo Chocolate Bon Bons, so I thought I would write how I depotted it.

So, first, you need to get a thin tool to wedge in the space between the brown part and the pink park. I worked the tool around the perimeter of the palette, making sure not to pry too hard as the shadows would break. I just went around, little by little, until the entire thing popped out. And guess what holds Chocolate Bar palettes in place?

Yep. Just three strips of tape. That's it, guys. 

So, now you have the shadows separated from the bulk of the packaging:

From here, I placed the shadows I wanted on top of the tiles of my hair straightener and waited until the plastic slightly melted. Then I took the same thin tool and lightly lifted the shadows from the palette. The glue was melted, so they just slid right out.

I then was able to pop the insert back into the packaging:

And here is my new, streamlined palette:

With the Juvia's Place Masquerade palette (mine is the mini), I really liked almost all the shadows. I mentioned in yesterday's post that the mattes aren't my favorite, but they are workable. And I really do think this is a great palette for someone who doesn't really have any eyeshadows at all. It gives you incredible color along with powerhouse neutrals. But for me and those of us who have a lot of neutrals, close to half of this palette is repetitive. 

So, I decided to depot the colors that I thought were most special and beautiful. Since these palettes are cardboard, the heat method doesn't work. Instead, I just pried them out and tried to be as careful as possible. 

I kept the top two rows as well as the third shadow in the third row. That shadow, along with the one above it, went into my custom palette with my other singles. I put the rest of the colors in a palette from Anastasia Beverly Hills, along with a single from Makeup Geek:

I only had one casualty, and that was Zobo. Half of it shattered, and I repressed it. As you can tell, I didn't cover the entire shadow in alcohol (likely a mistake), and after having several days to dry, I believe the shadow just looks like that now. It swatches beautifully, though, so I am hopeful that everything is okay. 

So, this process taught me a lot. First of all, it feels great to be one palette down and several shadows lighter. More importantly, I feel like this is the lesson of palettes. If you were to take a palette and only keep the shadows that you love, that are special, and that you want, my guess is that it would not be the entire palette. I really enjoyed using both of these palettes. I used every shade in both, and I was happy with how my eyeshadow turned out. But the shadows were largely just fine. They weren't crazy special or unique. They were just a part of the palette and acceptable, so why not? And those "meh" shades were really what drove me to pull the trigger on buying. Because had those "meh" shades been totally ugly, I likely would not have purchased the palette. But when I am choosing to spend money on a product, it should be a fantastic product all the way through. Or it should be something new and special all the way through. With the Masquerade palette, it is fantastic that half the shades are neutral, but for me, those weren't all that interesting because I have so many neutral shadows.

In the end, I don't think either of these palettes were a good purchase for me. And having to do it over again, after thinking more critically about my purchases, I would not have made either purchase. But, it's honestly a little hard for me to say that because there are shadows from both palettes that I completely love, and they are not available outside of these palettes. 

It's funny. When I was looking for a tutorial on how to depot Chocolate Bon Bons, I watched many depotting videos of other palettes. And in the comments, people were talking about how the video made them sick because their palettes are their babies and they could not imagine "destroying" them like that. And I am caught in between both ways of thinking. On the one hand, I do enjoy the presentation and uniformity of a palette, and it is just pleasing for me to look at. But on the other hand, depotting has been a fantastic way for me to downsize my collection while still holding on to pieces from palettes that I love. I like my makeup to look pretty, but I moreso want my makeup to be functional and used. And I can tell you that the depotted shadows from both palettes will be used a lot more now that they are free of their palettes. 

In the future, if I'm ever considering purchasing a palette again, I might ask myself, "If I were to depot this, which shadows would I keep?" And that would be keeping in mind colors that I already own and don't need to have duplicates of. And if the answer is not all or exceptionally close to all of the shadows, it should absolutely not be a palette that I purchase. 

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.