What I'm Not Buying: Too Faced Sweet Peach Palette

Ugh, this palette. 

Too Faced's "beloved" and "best-selling" Sweet Peach palette that was quite intentionally very hard to come by is making a comeback in December that surprised no one. 

I'll be honest. I hate every thing about this palette, what it represents, how it was marketed, and how it was sold. But at the same time, I am grateful for this palette. This was the palette that pushed it all over the edge for me. This was the palette that made me scream, "Enough!" This was the palette that finally curbed my excessive and unhealthy makeup buying habits and inspired me to write this blog. 

And you can bet that when this baby hits stores again—conveniently at the exact time people are throwing reason and caution to the wind and spending, spending, spending—I sure as hell won't be buying. 

I made a post back in May about this palette, but it was my first post and my style of blogging wasn't what it is now. I thought it might be excessive for me to make two posts on this palette, but then I guess if Too Faced is going to make two releases of the palette, it's only right that I make two anti-haul posts about it. 

As I said, to me, this palette is the epitome of everything that is wrong and corrupt with consumerism and marketing within the cosmetics industry. Too Faced released what was arguably a boring eyeshadow palette with two peach-ish shades. But, here's what they did:

• They gave it a cute (and misleading) name
• Scented it synthetic peach
• Gave it cute packaging 

Photo: Temptalia 

And that was it! That was all it took for people to completely ignore how run-of-the-mill and boring this eyeshadow palette was. But Too Faced didn't stop there. They teased (in typical Too Faced fashion) the palette for months, gave consumers unhelpful snippets of information (like only the name of the palette), and organized one of the biggest shit shows of a palette release in recent memory. 

The Too Faced party line is that they had no way of knowing the palette was going to blow up like it did and they simply could not have expected the demand. And to that I call major bullshit. I absolutely believe every aspect of the Sweet Peach launch and ensuing fiasco was 100% orchestrated. And considering Too Faced just sold their company for $1.45 billion, I'd say they knew exactly what they were doing. 

You simply don't tease a palette for months on end and then make a fraction of the anticipated demand for it. I read reports of multiple Sephora and Ulta locations receiving less than ten palettes for the entire store! And most of those palettes ended up being sold to the employees before the average consumer had the opportunity to purchase. Websites crashed, people stayed up late into the night, and some called and/or drove to multiple stores, cities, and states just to get their hands on this. It was absolute hysteria. 

And all the while, I looked at images of the palette and did not understand whatsoever why people thought this was so special. But because I was strapped onto the derailed hype train heading for a cliff, I started wondering if I should try to get my hands on it too because there had to be some reason people were going crazy. 

And then I realized there was no reason. Too Faced created an incredibly small amount of palettes so that the demand would be enormous. Because there is nothing that sexies up an unsexy, boring product more than the idea that everyone is trying to get it and no one can. Sweet Peach was playing the oldest trick in the book: hard to get. Good move, Too Faced. I hope you enjoy your $1.45 billion. 

Let's look at the palette a little closer. The two most common "dupes" attributed to Sweet Peach are both from Makeup Revolution, a brand known for shamelessly duplicating popular items. 

There's the Chocolate Vice:

And New-trals:

But if you really look at Sweet Peach:

And take away Just Peachy and Candied Peach, you've got a pretty average (and boring) neutral palette. 

You've got Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons:

And Ciate London x Oliva Palermo Smokey Suedes:

But it is called the "Sweet Peach," so people are most drawn to the peach shades. And that's what is so wild about the chaos: there are only two peach shades! The others lean pink or golden, which are present in both palettes listed above, and most are just straight-up brown with the crappy purples Too Faced always throws in. 

So, if you were one of the many who were unable to get your hands on the Sweet Peach palette and plan to purchase it this December (out of pride or spite or general hype sickness), I really recommend that you don't. It is very, very likely that the quality will be poor (and I'll talk about that in a moment), and you more than likely already have most of the shades in the palette. 

And if you're drawn to the idea of the peachiness of this palette (because really, the peachiness of "Sweet Peach" is just an idea and not a reality), I would like to offer you some alternatives:

First, there's Lime Crime Venus:

I think this is the only entire palette that could work with a peach vibe. 

But there's also plenty of amazing singles:

There's L'Oreal Amber Rush:

A cruelty-free dupe is Makeup Geek Grandstand:

Makeup Geek Cosmopolitan:

Photo: Temptalia

Makeup Geek Cinderella:

Makeup Geek Mango Tango:

Photo: Temptalia

Makeup Geek Mai Tai:

Makeup Geek Spell Bound:

Makeup Geek I'm Peachless:

From my own collection, I have:

Inglot 311 matte:

Inglot 314 matte:

And Inglot 361 matte:

And yeah, I get the convenience of a palette. The biggest excuse I always gave myself when I bought palettes I didn't need that were filled with shadows I already owned was that I wanted to have all these colors I already owned together in one place. And if I liked the formula, even better. But that's a bad excuse and really showed the depths of my addiction that I couldn't see past that. 

But really, you would be better off buying a Makeup Geek or Inglot palette full of peachy shades than buying the Sweet Peach palette. Even if you only bought a quad, it would most likely be a better investment for you and would be something you would use a lot more than Sweet Peach. 

I made some predictions several months ago when people were going crazy trying to find this palette. I said that since it was limited edition, the hype would burn off nearly as quickly as it came in. People on YouTube wouldn't be using it anymore since many of them have an aversion to showing anything limited edition, and there would be so many more hyped products coming out that it would get lost in the conversation. I also predicted that in a year's time, Sweet Peach would be showing up in many people's declutter videos. And sure enough, I haven't seen anyone mention their Sweet Peach palette outside of a collection video (and they are most proud to show it as "completing" their Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette collection), and I have already seen it show up A LOT in blog sales and other declutter videos. Because once the hype died down, everyone was left with what the palette always was: a boring neutral palette with uninspiring shades that everyone already owned. Oh, and two peach shades. 

I am also weary of the quality of the rereleased Sweet Peach. It has been strikingly obvious in the past year or more that Too Faced has cared way more about packaging, theme, and gimmicks than about the actual quality of their products. (Again, hope they are enjoying that $1.45 billion. Because they sure earned it convincing people to buy lackluster quality items because of a smiling peach or peanut butter sandwich.) Pretty much all Too Faced items (especially eyeshadow) that I have seen released in the past six months or have been included in their massive and unnecessary holiday releases have been of very poor quality. The Sweet Peach palette wasn't that great of quality to begin with, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if the quality of this release is even worse. But that won't stop people from buying it. Because they will remember the hype of the last release and how they searched and searched and came up empty-handed. And how they felt awful every time they saw someone mention it in a haul or swatch video even though it never made an appearance again. They will want the peach packaging to complete their dark brown, light brown, and pink Chocolate Bar packaging collection. They will want to feel "complete" that they have the palette that eluded them for so long. And then that "complete" feeling will wear off almost as quickly as it came to be. And they will only have packaging and synthetic peach smells. And Too Faced will again be laughing all the way to the bank. 

The Sweet Peach palette doesn't interest me whatsoever. And it never did. And Too Faced as a brand has made me lose all interest in them with their hype tactics, gimmicky products, insane amount of mediocre releases, and now their sell to Estee Lauder. Sweet Peach is smoke and mirrors. The best thing it has going for it is a gimmick, which is pretty bad. I have plenty of gorgeous peach colors in my collection that outperform the few included in Sweet Peach. I don't need or want this palette—never did—and I won't be buying. 

Why You Should NOT Buy the Too Faced Sweet Peach Palette

... Or care if you haven't been able to get your hands on it.

If you have found my blog that talks about the over-saturation of the beauty market and rampant, unnecessary consumerism, you must be a person who likes makeup. Welcome.

Too Faced's Sweet Peach palette was the cherry on top of everything that I personally feel is wrong with the beauty industry right now, and it inspired me to start this blog, to encourage other people to be more sensible with their purchase choices and to step away from mindless hype.

Why was the Sweet Peach palette so coveted? It wasn't, really. And that is where Too Faced was smart with their bottom line in mind but crappy when it comes to customer service and satisfaction.

Too Faced is just one company in a long line that has released "teaser" images of upcoming products to create hype and a "need" for a palette. It's no different than a teaser movie trailer before the official trailer. It's marketing--anything to help their profit.

People loved the idea of a peach palette. They speculated for weeks on what it would look like and started drooling over these imaginary shades of complex peach. An entire palette of warm, peachy shades, people thought. So many variations of tone and depth and PEACH.

It then came as a major shock and disappointment to many when the official photos of the palette were released, and lo and behold, there were two peach shades. Two. In an eighteen-pan palette. How? people asked. How is this the peach palette we've all been drooling over? 

Many people, myself included, decided to pass on the palette. For me, the idea of an entire peach palette was absolutely appealing to me. I didn't don't need another eyeshadow palette, but the idea I created in my head of what this palette could be seemed genuinely unique. In such an oversaturated market, a unique product could be worth picking up. When I saw the official images, however, it was just like any other neutral palette. There were two peach colors. That was it. Not entirely surprising when you think of profitable palettes, but disappointing nonetheless.

Too Faced, however, made a crucial marketing decision--create hysteria by having a limited quantity of palettes.

This is purely my own personal opinion, but I don't think Too Faced had any intentions of having the Sweet Peach palette actually be limited edition. If so, it wouldn't be in the larger size that their most popular product--the Chocolate Bar--is in. I think it was always intended to be a permanent item, but they wanted to have the hottest, most sought-after product of the season. So they didn't manufacture very many of them.

When the palette launched, the bloggers went to purchase it, as well as the few people who genuinely wanted it despite its lack of peachiness. And then all hell broke loose. Because there was such limited quantities, stock ran out immediately. (This seems to be a tactic Too Faced borrowed from many popular social media brands.) The site crashed. (Another seemingly borrowed tactic.)

Now, as anyone involved in the beauty community understands far too well, once you can't get a makeup item because everyone else wanted it, you immediately HAVE TO HAVE IT. So then Ulta online got the palette, and their site crashed as hoards of people tried to get it. Then Sephora. Then stores got the palette in stock, but their quantities were laughable--fifteen to twenty per store--and the sales associates were purchasing them first.

And there you have it. A palette that disappointed most people became the hottest product of the season. Simply because people had a fear of missing out. Even when reviews started coming out, and people said, "This isn't that great," people didn't care. They wanted to get their hands on the two peach shades in a neutral palette and smell the artificial peach scent. Because obviously makeup should smell like peach candy (sarcasm).

I didn't fall into the trap. I have enough eyeshadow palettes of incredible quality that I didn't need one of mediocre quality with nothing special about it except an artificial peach scent. Nothing about the palette appealed to me except the hysteria around it. I'll admit for a moment there, I honestly wondered if there was something I was missing. How are so many people losing their minds over an uninteresting neutral palette? Should I buy it just to find out?

NO. I shouldn't. And neither should you.

I get that many people get annoyed with product releases that fail to live up to their expectations. Another neutral palette? people say. But we have SO many of these. Where is something interesting? But here's the deal: the vast majority of consumers aren't like me--or us. They don't have a hoard of makeup and just want to play with the newest thing. Most people have one eyeshadow palette--maybe two. And they are more likely to buy something neutral and versatile. They will need a matte highlight shade, transition colors, and a matte black. So while those of us who have ten or more palettes likely have ten or more matte black shadows, the person who buys only one palette will only have one matte black, and they will probably want that shade. So, yeah. A lot of these neutral palettes are "boring" and "repetitive" and everyone's favorite description: "dupable." But that's because it's what the normal consumer wants.

So I get why Too Faced made a natural palette. But if it truly was meant to be limited edition, and if they're going to call it "Sweet Peach," it shouldn't be marketed to the normal consumer. It should be marketed toward the people who have and love too much makeup and are excited by themed releases. It should be made up of peach shades! But, if the plan was for it to be permanent all along, it makes sense to make it marketable to the vast majority of people. And then, if enough hysteria surrounded it, when it returns, they can claim it is makeup's number-one selling palette.

So, why shouldn't you buy it? If you really love it and want it, of course go for it. But if you're struggling with what to do, don't. It's just another neutral palette that smells weird and has two low performing peach shades in it. If you already have any Chocolate Bar palette, you probably already have most of the shadows. Throw in one or two peach eyeshadows (or even blushes!) from your collection, and there you have the Sweet Peach palette.

It's nothing special, and it certainly isn't worth the hysteria that Too Faced created. Businesses are after one thing: your money. But as consumers, we should be smart about what we buy and where we give that money. I fully expect to see this palette turn up in people's "Products I Regret Buying" videos or declutter piles in a short time after the hype has died down.