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. 

November Favorites

Personally, November could not have been more of a rollercoaster month for me. I felt sadness and fear in a way that I had never before experienced, and was disgusted to a level I didn't know was possible. But in the latter part of the month, I experienced such overwhelming joy. 

Makeup-wise, November was a great month. One week, one palette has been going great; I discovered new products that have shot to the position of all-time favorite; and I rediscovered some old favorites. 

These are the products that stood out to me the most this month.

My custom Inglot palette:

I used this palette the first week in November in my one week, one palette project, and I absolutely loved it. There was not a single look that I created that I didn't love, and it was incredibly difficult for me to put this away and move onto another palette. I love eyeshadow so much and really do love the majority of things in my collection, but using this palette for a week straight really showed me the negative side to having so many palettes. The fact that I won't be able to use this palette again until this round of my one week, one palette project is over kills me, especially because I have several more months to go. I'll probably sneak use on this palette here and there while engaging with this project because I just love the palette that much. 

Juvia's Place Masquerade Mini:

Using Juvia's Place Masquerade Mini in my one week, one palette project really was a turning point for me. I've always been terrified of color and stayed happily within my world of bronze, taupe, and rose gold, but challenging myself to use all colors in a palette has been really fun and enlightening. And I bought this palette because I was curious to see how I would like and use the colorful shadows.

 I cannot even express how much I loved this palette and how much fun it was to create all the different eye looks. Frankly, this is probably the most "all in one" palette I have because it has a ton of great shimmery neutrals, staple matte neutrals, and a variety of colors. It would also look incredible on a myriad of skin tones, and that is very unfortunately a rare trait. 

It Cosmetics CC+ Cream:

So, this product is great. I've heard people talk about this CC cream for ages and have even seen many people mention it as their go-to, all-time favorite foundation. But up until a few months ago, I only wore powder foundation, so I had no desire to try it. Added to that, It Cosmetics was only available at Ulta, and there are no Ulta locations where I live. 

But several weeks ago I went to Sephora to buy an eyeliner (that I hated and returned) and saw that they had a sample of the It Cosmetics CC+ Cream as a 100-point perk. I must have missed when Sephora started carrying It Cosmetics, but I was eager to try it, so I picked it up. 

And my goodness, I loved it. I loved absolutely everything about it. The color (Medium) matched my skin perfectly, the texture was lovely, the finish was gorgeous, and my skin just looked radiant and healthy. Now, to be completely honest, I have only tried a handful of liquid foundations. I've tried:

• CoverGirl Clean Matte BB Cream (broke me out)
• Milani Conceal and Perfect (all of the colors were too dark for my skin and the coverage made me look like I was wearing a mask)
• MAC Face and Body (I loved the look of this, but it broke me out)
• L'Oreal Infallible Pro Matte (mostly like this, but it is a touch too matte for my skin)
• L'Oreal Infallible Pro Glow (way too shiny on its own, but I liked it mixed with the Pro Matte; however, it broke me out)
• Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless (I liked this the most out of everything in this list but hate that it doesn't have a pump and I have to pour it out) 

Without doubt, the It Cosmetics CC+ Cream is my absolute favorite. I do really like the Maybelline Matte and Poreless, but the color is slightly off, it clings to the dryness between my eyebrows, and it may have broken me out. I was using it in conjunction with a primer from Make Up For Ever that I think has been breaking me out, and I was also using it in a rotation with the L'Oreal Infallible foundations. The Pro Glow absolutely broke me out, so I can't be totally sure if the Maybelline one broke me out as well. 

Either way, the It Cosmetics CC+ Cream is essentially perfection on my skin for my specific skin type and what I like. However, It Cosmetics recently sold to L'Oreal for $1.2 billion, which I was very disappointed to see. I would not be surprised whatsoever if the quality of the CC+ Cream changes in the future under L'Oreal's control, but I really hope it doesn't. If the formula doesn't change, I would be happy using only this product in the future. I have no desire to look elsewhere for a foundation. 

Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Opal:

This was a really pleasant surprise for me this month. The infamous Opal highlighter from Becca has always been a disappointment for me. It's not disappointing in quality or performance—it has always been beautiful in that regard—but the color was never quite right for me. 

Originally I had been applying highlighter with a fan brush, and Opal always looked like it was an almost yellow-gold stripe across my cheeks. I much preferred Becca's Moonstone and have even hit pan on it. I never understood why everyone loved Opal so much, and I had all but decided to declutter it from my collection. 

But then I purchased the Anastasia Beverly Hills 23 highlighter brush:

And on a whim decided to use Opal again. The combination of the It Cosmetics CC+ Cream and the application from the Anastasia brush made Opal an absolutely gorgeous highlight on my skin. I honestly can't even explain what really changed since the CC+ Cream is a fantastic color match for me, so it's not as though I'm wearing foundation that is darker than my actual skin tone. I have to assume it's the base the foundation gives my skin as well as the application the brush gives. 

I have a ton of highlighters (far too many at this point, unfortunately), and I haven't been able to use anything other than Opal since discovering how gorgeous it looks on my skin. I'm really glad I gave it another chance instead of just decluttering it because it is certainly a stunner. 

NARS Goulue Blush:

This blush was given to me by Sephora when I made VIB Rouge for the third or so year. Like many people in the makeup rehabilitation world, VIB Rouge status is an embarrassment for me, not a point of pride. I'm not sure if I will realistically ever not be VIB Rouge, however, because I spend a ton of money on skincare each year. My makeup purchases alone could have potentially pushed me over the Rouge edge, but skincare is really where most of my money is spent. 

So, Sephora gives me this eyeshadow-sized blush as a "thank you" for spending an absurd and alarming amount of money in a year's time. Great. When I received this, I was pretty happy with the state of my blush collection. I had all the colors that flattered me covered—rose bronze, pink, peach, and mauve—and wasn't interested in adding anything new. But before decluttering it, I decided to try it on, and I was surprised by how much I loved the color. 

I didn't have a color quite like it in my collection. On me, it is somewhere between pink and mauve. I decided to keep it in my collection and monitor how often I reach for it. If it didn't get used, I would declutter it within a few months. To my surprise, I've been reaching for this blush quite frequently. When I can't quite decide if I want a pink or mauve flush, I reach for this and am always happy with the result. 

This is currently the only NARS blush in my collection, but I have owned a handful of them in the past. NARS has one of my absolute favorite blush formulas, and I love the longevity of them. I considered purchasing a full-size of Goulue since it is listed as a limited edition product, but the reality is that I will likely never finish this mini size, so there is no need to spend the money to buy a backup. 

Garnier Anti-Dark Circle Eye Roller:

I haven't heard anyone talk about this product in years, but I wanted to give it a mention this month since I've recently purchased a new concealer and will be testing that.

My relationship with concealer has been really complicated. I'm fortunate in that I don't really have dark circles or extreme darkness under my eyes, but I still like to have a bit of coverage in that area. I'm unfortunate in that the skin under my eyes does not play well with most products. I've tried countless concealers (mid range and drug store) with various application methods, and all of them left the skin under my eyes looking dry, creased, or cakey. 

The last one I had tried was the Urban Decay corrector in Pink. The corrector in Peach was way too dark for me, and the Pink one seemed to be a good color match (and that was weird because of my warm olive undertones). While the color looked fine, the same thing happened with the skin under my eyes looking terrible. I felt so frustrated at my inability to find a product that worked when I remembered something I tried years ago and really liked: the Garnier Anti-Dark Circle Eye Roller. 

I don't know if it's the rollerball application that makes this product work so well on me, but I love it. It provides just enough coverage to correct the slight darkness under my eyes, doesn't crease, and never looks dry. I apply it directly onto my skin with the rollerball and then blend it in with the tip of a damp Beauty Blender. 

What's even more amazing about this product is that it looks incredible on my warm olive skin and also looks incredible on my friend with pale, cool-toned skin. I was sure that the undertones would be too warm for her, and when I first applied it, the color did look quite off, but as soon as I blended it in, it was a seamless transition that looked amazing. Based on that experience, I would assume this product could work well on several different skin tones. Or maybe she and I just have a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Concealer going on. 

NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base:

This product has an interesting story with me. I always heard people talk about this eyeshadow primer and say that it was the best. It took me years of consistent use to finish my Too Faced Shadow Insurance, and I never had any problem with it, so I was curious to see if the NARS one would really be that much better. 

I'm not a fan of how this product applies. The stopper is so severe that barely any product comes out with each dip, and I always have to dip it at least twice to cover both eyes. A few months into using it (keep in mind that it took years to finish the Too Faced primer), I was barely getting any product on the brush and I had to really dig to get anything. I watched a tutorial online about how to pull out the stopper with tweezers, and doing so ruined my Tweezerman tweezers. But with the stopper out, I was shocked to find there was so much product left in the tube that I could use it for another several months. So this primer really is a ripoff unless you plan to remove the stopper. 

When I finally finished it up, I decided the packaging was too much of a problem for me and I was not going to repurchase. I hadn't noticed much of a difference between it and my Too Faced primer other than the fact that on the rare occasion that I would fall asleep before removing my makeup, my eyeshadow looked incredible the next morning. I absolutely hate falling asleep before I have the opportunity to wash my face, but it was weirdly awesome to see my eyeshadow look incredible the next morning. 

I purchased three different primers to replace the NARS one: MAC Paint Pot in Painterly, Milani Eye Primer, and the Urban Decay Primer Potion in Anti-Againg. The Urban Decay primer was the worst for me and has since been returned, but the other two are fine enough. I like having a Paint Pot for the times when I want to put down a colored based on my eyelid, and the Milani one works fine for certain shadows. 

With the MAC and Milani primers, my eyeshadow looked good for the majority of the day, but I started noticing that at night the shadows started breaking down. And that was odd for me because it never happened with the NARS one. But it was using the Juvia's Place Masquerade palette that I really saw how much I missed the NARS primer. As I mentioned in that post, no matter what primer I tried with Masquerade, the shadows creased terribly by the six-hour mark. I haven't yet had the opportunity to try Masquerade with the NARS primer to compare, but I used the NARS primer with the Juvia's Place Nubian 2 palette, and I had no issues with creasing. 

I decided that as much as the packaging is not the most functional and kind of sucks, the product is still the best I have ever tried. I obviously never want to fall asleep with my makeup on and certainly don't care what I look like the next morning since it all gets washed off immediately anyway, but there is a certain confidence I have in knowing my eyeshadows will look amazing for hours on end until I decide I want to take them off. 

One Week, One Palette: Juvia's Place Masquerade

For the seventh week of my one week, one palette project, I decided to go with the newest and most colorful palette in my collection: Juvia's Place Masquerade. 

As I mentioned in last week's post, the palette I was using became a little too dark and depressing for me as the days progressed, so I knew for the next week I wanted to try something fun and colorful. I should mention that before I started this one week, one palette project, I never wore color. Ever. But when I started challenging myself to use every color in these palettes, I was forced to try color. And I was shocked to find that I loved it! 

Since starting this project, the palette I've most enjoyed using is the Juvia's Place Nubian 2 palette. After using that palette and having so much fun with it, the Juvia's Place Masquerade palette started creeping into my thoughts. I would have never considered this palette even a few months ago, but I just loved the Nubian 2 so much and wanted to play more with color. When I saw that Juvia's Place created a mini version of the Masquerade, I jumped all over it. 

I used every shadow in this palette, but in order to do that, using this palette went significantly beyond one week. As I mentioned on my Instagram, I was traveling last week and put the blog on a temporary hiatus until I returned. However, I continued using this palette while I was away.

As for additional shadows I bought in, I used Inglot 351 matte (matte cream) on my brow bone each day. I also used some shadows from the Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye palette on a couple of days, and used Make Up For Ever Pearl on the inner conner most days.

Below are 10(!) looks I did last week:

Look 1:

Makeda on the lid, Bori blended into the crease, Zobo blended to deepen the crease, and MUFE Pearl on the inner corner.

Look 2:

I followed this tutorial from KathleenLights.

Zola on the lid, Burkina and Zobo blended into the crease, Mali padded on top of Zola on the center of the lid, and Giza on the inner corner. Burkina, Zola, and Chi on the lower lash line. 

Look 3:

Chi on the lid, Ada blended into the crease, Zobo blended to deepen the crease, and MUFE Pearl on the inner corner. 

Look 4:

Dalia on the lid, Cairo blended into the crease, Zulu and Ada blended to deepen the crease, and MUFE Pearl on the inner corner.

Look 5:

Mali on the inner and outer lid, Giza on the center of the lid; Fulani, Ada, and Burkina blended into the crease; Zobo blended to deepen the crease; and MUFE Pearl on the inner corner. 

Look 6:

Casablanca on the lid, Zulu and Burkina blended into the crease, Zulu blended to deepen the crease, and MUFE Pearl on the inner corner.

Look 7:

Dahia on the lid, Kat Von D Ludwin blended into the cease, Kat Von D Succubus blended to deepen the outer corner, and Giza on the inner corner. 

Look 8:

Calabar on the lid, Zobo blended into the crease, and MUFE Pearl on the inner corner. 

Look 9:

Cairo on the lid, Casablanca padded over Cairo, Kat Von D Ludwin and Succubus blended into the crease, and MUFE Pearl on the inner corner. 

Look 10:

Bori on the lid, Cairo blended into the crease, Zobo blended to deepen the crease, and MUFE Pearl on the inner corner. 

I really, really enjoyed using this palette all week for the colors, finishes, creativity, and the color combinations. However, I was slightly disappointed with the performance of the shadows. I tried these shadows with three different eye primers—Milani eye primer, MAC Paint Pot in Painterly, and Urban Decay Primer Potion in Anti-Aging—and by about the six-hour mark, they creased every time. Shadows don't typically ever crease on me with a primer, so this was highly unusual. 

I hadn't before used the Urban Decay Anti-Aging primer, and I was really disappointed with it, so I will be retuning it in exchange for my favorite primer, the NARS Smudge-Proof Eyeshadow Base. Typically when wearing the NARS primer, a shadow will last all day for me, even into the next morning on the rare occasion that I fall asleep before having a chance to take off my makeup. When I get the NARS primer, I will test the Masquerade shadows again to see if that will work better. (It should be noted that I used the Nubian 2 shadows exclusively with the NARS primer before I finished the tube.) It's also worth acknowledging that while I didn't use my favorite primer, the Masquerade shadows still creased with the MAC Paint Pot and Milani eye primer, and I don't typically have issues with either of those primers. 

As far as colors are concerned, I pretty much loved everything about this palette. The only days I felt slightly less jazzed about my eyeshadow were the days that I did a completely neutral look. And that's so funny because originally when I looked at this palette (before I loved color), I thought it wouldn't be a good purchase for me because I would only get use out of the neutral shades. The neutral shadows were pretty, and there was nothing wrong with them, I just didn't have nearly as much fun using them as I did the more colorful shadows. 

My favorite looks of the week were looks 3 and 4, but I also really loved looks 1 and 2. Zobo was my favorite shadow from the palette as I felt it really paired nicely with most of the shadows. It is a matte dark pink/berry, and I didn't have any other similar colors in my collection. I also loved Dalia and Chi and thought they made exceptionally beautiful lid shades. 

The matte brown shades toward the bottom of the palette felt a little interchangeable to me. Burkina and Ada were my favorites, but there was not a huge difference between those and Zulu and Fulani. Calabar was the only shadow that slightly disappointed me, and it was because I was expecting a richer cranberry color instead of a brighter pink, which is how it looked on the eyes. 

I opted for the Masquerade Mini because I am not a fan of eyeshadows (especially palettes) that have a ton of product. In my entire collection, I have hit pan on one eyeshadow, which is Make Up For Ever Pearl. Even then, it will take me probably an entire year of daily use to use up the smaller pan that was downsized from the typical pan size. The pans in my Nubian 2 palette are huge and overwhelming, so I really appreciated Juvia's Place making a smaller version of the Masquerade palette. I've read some complains about the size of these pans, and I honestly don't understand them. These shadows are the same circumference as MAC, Makeup Geek, or Morphe shadows. It is not as though they are dime-sized or smaller. The Mini is a much more manageable palette size, in my opinion, especially for colorful shadows. 

Had these shadows not creased so terribly on me, this palette really would have been a home-run for me. But I was always so disappointed to see my shadows creased so badly by the evening when shadows typically last on me until I decide to take them off. Once I have my NARS primer back, I will see how these perform and make a decision from there. I am hopeful they will perform like any other shadow since that primer is so good, but if they don't—if they still crease—this palette may be a pass for me. And I hate saying that because I loved using this all week. But if I don't feel I can make it even six hours without the shadows looking terrible on my lid, then it really isn't worth it for me. 

But I will say that using this palette all week was so much fun, and I have had zero desire to buy anything new. That's the thing about using palettes consistently and using every single color. It forces you to look at your palettes a little differently, and when you see all the possibilities you have in just one palette, it makes the desire to buy something new go away. The Sephora VIB sale went on while I was using this palette, and I bought a brush to apply highlighter. That was it. And I've watched so many haul videos and have seen people bring in so much stuff, and I don't feel like I missed out at all. I have had so much fun playing with my palettes, and this week was the perfect example of that. There were so many more color combinations that I wanted to try with this palette, but I felt ten days of looks was probably enough and that I should move on to the next palette. But the Masquerade palette reminded me every day why it's so much fun to play with makeup and why it's so important to love and use your makeup rather than just buy and collect whatever is hot at the moment.