What I'm Not Buying: Too Faced Papa Don't Peach Blush

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. 

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

As part of Too Faced's "totally unexpected" relaunch of the Sweet Peach palette, Sweet Peach has been franchised to include lip glosses, blush, and a cheek palette. This post is going to specifically discuss the cheek palette. 

I won't be buying. 

It's no secret that Too Faced has become one of my least favorite brands because of their marketing that hinges on hype and "fear of missing out" tactics, rapid product release schedule, gimmicky nature, and utter decline in quality. The Sweet Peach palette was a culmination of all of this, and my thoughts on that palette can be found more in depth here. 

Once they had successfully orchestrated a disastrous release of the Sweet Peach palette, Too Faced claimed that they had no way of knowing the product would have been as in demand as it was. And I don't buy that at all. I especially don't buy it because now we are getting an entire Sweet Peach line of products. I find it hard to believe that all of this could be conceived and executed in the months since the initial Sweet Peach release. 

With that said, a few months ago, teaser images of the Sweet Peach collection surfaced, which again tells me that this mega release has long been planned. I am of the opinion that Too Faced is banking on three things to sell this collection:

• Hype
• Peach scent
• Packaging (which includes a smiling peach)

The Sweet Peach Glow costs $42 for a peached-toned highlighter, blush, and bronzer. At this time I don't know the size of each of the products within this palette, so it is difficult to gauge the value of the palette. I can say that while $42 for a face palette isn't terrible or wholly outside the typical price range for a mid-range brand, I also think this price could have been lower. Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kits, for example, contain four highlighters and cost $40. 

One positive I can give Sweet Peach Glow (with the caveat that I have not actually seen swatches to gauge color depth or pigmentation) is that I think it may be able to work on medium and deep skin tones. While I doubt the peach bronzer would work as an actual bronzer on many skin tones, I do think it has the potential to be a very pretty highlighter on deeper skin tones. Depending on the pigmentation, I could see the blush and highlighting powder also looking lovely on medium to deep skin tones. 

Another positive that I can give the Glow palette is that it actually looks peach. Within the highlighter, blush, and bronzer, I can see peach tones, which is already a step up from the Sweet Peach palette. However, the peachiness is most easily seen in the promotional photo (top). This photo of Sweet Peach Glow, which looks to have more realistic lighting, shows the highlighter and bronzer with less peach undertones:

As a standalone product, apart from its name and associated hype, I don't think this is a very desirable product. Admittedly, I don't know what the market is for people who want an entirely peach cheek palette, but I assume most people who want a peach blush already have one. I also assume that these same people already have a highlighter and bronzer that flatter their skin tone. With that in mind, it seems as though this palette was created based on a gimmick and wanting to ride the coat tails of Sweet Peach's success. As a consumer, I find that frankly obnoxious. I would be much more interested in a product that appeared to have some thought to it for practical use rather than, "Look, more peach stuff!"

The biggest audience I can see for this product is someone who collects Too Faced products, someone who collects highlighting palettes, and someone who wants to collect the Sweet Peach line. Now, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with being in that audience. Although I don't personally collect makeup, I know many people do and many people collect all kinds of things. I don't pass judgement on people who thoroughly enjoy collecting makeup. But from a business standpoint, I don't think it's a great move on Too Faced's part to make a palette that seems to only appeal to collectors because it is under the guise of being for the average makeup consumer. 

Because this palette is so specific in its peachiness, unless peach is someone's go-to color, I don't think the entire palette would get a ton of use. If someone does a look and thinks peach would look nice of the face, I can see them using this palette. But I don't think for most people it would be an everyday product. And for $42, I think that's a lot to spend for a once-in-a-while type of product. 

Within my own collection, as I've mentioned, my favorite peach blush is Laura Geller Cantaloupe:

Photo: Temptalia

I also have the Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kit in Gleam, which has some peach- and pink-toned highlighters:

And I have already found my all-time favorite bronzer, Hourglass Luminous Bronze Light:

Photo: Temptalia 

This bronzer is so perfect for my skin that I honestly have no desire to look for any other bronzer, peach-toned or not. 

Thing is, I bet that most people can look at their collection and find suitable replacements for the products in the Sweet Peach Glow palette. Despite that, people will still be drawn to this product and will try to come up with every excuse imaginable for why they should still buy it.

• It will be nice to have all those products within the same place. Really? Is it that much of a hassle to have the bush, highlighter, and bronzer you already own not in the same place? If it's that important to you, couldn't you just depot them into a custom palette? 
• It will be great for travel! Will it? Really? Is your go-to face look mostly peach-based? Is this really a realistic everyday, perfect face palette? 
• I've been wanting to try a blush/highlighter/bronzer from Too Faced. Have you? Then why haven't you already? And if so, pick one and just buy that separately. 
• A peach bronzer sounds fun. But is there a reason you don't already own one? Have you already found the tone that works for your skin tone? And is it not peach?

And then, of course, there is: 

• The packaging is cute. 
• It smells like peaches! 
• I don't want to miss out. What if everyone loves it and then I don't have it?!

For the first two reasons, if you are willing to spend your money for packaging and synthetic peach scent, if those things are that important to you, then I guess buy it. Your mind is probably already made up, and there won't be many arguments to change it. 

But if you're caught on that third point, I think it's really, really important to take into consideration how quickly trends change in the beauty community. For example, look at how many people are still talking about the Sweet Peach eyeshadow palette right now. Most people stopped talking about it within a month of its release. And I highly doubt that any person who encounters you will ask if you are wearing the Too Faced Sweet Peach Glow on your face and then be impressed if the answer is yes. I can almost guarantee that such an encounter will never happen. And if you were wearing this palette and someone complimented your makeup, I would bet the exact thing would happen if you were wearing any other peach blush, highlighter, and bronzer combination. Because the entire purpose of products like these is to make you look generally healthy and nice. They aren't meant to call attention to themselves. 

As I've said, I think the main audience for this is someone who wants to collect Too Faced products. Personally, I feel as though Too Faced's quality has significantly dropped over the past year. I also think it would have to be difficult to be able to develop exceptionally high quality products at the speed of Too Faced product releases. I think Too Faced very carefully observed the current trends within consuming beauty products and saw the benefit of serializing products. The sales of the Urban Decay Naked 2 and Naked 3 palettes probably would have been significantly less had they not been part of the "Naked" line. That's why Urban Decay created a "Naked" everything. Too Faced repeated this with the Chocolate Bar line and then found their gimmicky stride in products with food names and related scents. They sat back and watched as people went crazy trying to get their hands on all these products to complete collections. And capitalized on it by releasing product after product as quality dropped. But people continued to buy the latest release regardless of quality, so what incentive is there to adopt any other sales tactic?

I've never been the biggest fan of Too Faced, and I always felt a little different because of that. It's not that I ever thought their products were bad, they just weren't as good to me as others. I'm left with only the Chocolate Bon Bons and Peanut Butter and Jelly palettes, and these are the last palettes Too Faced has released, in my opinion, that were of really good quality. Watching Too Faced this past year has really been a turn-off for me. It just looks visibly greedy. But there is no incentive for them to change unless people start becoming smarter shoppers. The Sweet Peach Glow palette looks nothing more than riding the coat tails of the Sweet Peach palette. It doesn't strike me as something expertly curated that is meant to be a staple in a person's makeup bag for several years. It's an expensive "hot product of the moment," and I won't be buying. 

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.