Okay, so, here's the deal: we all know that these two palettes are amazing and pretty much holy grail items in any collection. We expected quality and Too Faced brought that to the party. Twice. Two times in a bloody row.
And, don't get me wrong, that's an impressive thing for a brand to pull off but there's only one consequence... these two palettes are sworn enemies who will now fight to the death to win the prestigious title of "Best Chocolate bar palette EVER created". I didn't ever expect it to come to this but there must be a winner and after evaluating all the relevant criteria, that winner WILL be determined. Which one are YOU rooting for?
Challenge one: Colour range
SO let's get started! The first element we're going to put to the test is the colour range; these two palettes are both incredibly neutral but each contain a completely different array of colours that NEEDS to be assessed.
The original chocolate bar contains, as I said, a very neutral, brown spectrum of colours, however, the pops of colour included within the range are very rich pinkish and purplish colours, which I quite like. There are about three or four different matte brown transition shades, which is a great amount for a palette containing 16 shades. However, the two shades in the larger pans are incredibly light; they don't really cater for darker skintones, hence why I think that the large sections were wasted on those white/ off white colours.
Overall, the original chocolate bar does have some amazing colours that are very everyday wearable yet quite diverse. The stand out colour for me is definitely the rich, burgundy colour on the bottom row of the palette; it's a gorgeous and unique wine red tone that I, so far, haven't been able to beat with any other similar hues.
So, for colour range, the 'Chocolate Bar' earns itself a very respectable 3.5 stars out of 5!
Moving on to our second contender: The 'Semi Sweet Chocolate Bar', which is definitely warmer than the original palette, containing more orangey browns and golden shimmers. Within this palette, there are about 5 matte brown shades for the crease (6, if you count 'Chocolate Chili' and it's morsels of gold glitter) which is definitely more generous than within the original. However, one could argue that too many transition shades indicate the absence of colour, therefore, it depends on the person as to whether this is a positive or negative difference.
The pops of colour within this palette are very varied and don't really follow a theme; there's a berry blue here, a baby pink there and well.. you get what I mean! I like the variation in colour so for me, it's a plus and definitely pulls me out of that comfort zone of "brown, brown, brown" everyday. (It's an easy road to go down and a difficult one to escape from.)
In terms of the larger pans, this time, they have included two banana/honey coloured shades, which is a step up from the ghostly colours included with the original Chocolate Bar. I can ACTUALLY use Butter pecan as my brow bone highlight without it looking weird. So bonus points there!
I can conclude that for this section, the Semi Sweet scores a sublime 4 stars out 5! (I am the alliteration QUEEN.)
Challenge Two: Colour Payoff
For me, this category is THE most important to the competition; it's all about how those shadows perform and how much pigment they're carrying.
All swatches were done using my fingers and without an eyeshadow primer underneath, in order to get a realistic feel for the pigmentation.
Chocolate bar:
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| 1st row swatches |
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| 2nd row swatches |
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| 3rd row As you can see, there are about 4 shades that don't match the others in terms of quality: Milk Chocolate (first row), Semi Sweet (2nd row), Strawberry Bon-Bon (2nd row) and Candied Violet (2nd row). These four are slightly underwhelming compared to the rest of the bunch, but they're honestly not too bad if you double dip the brush. The other shades are incredibly pigmented, rich and show up beautifully on the eye; the colour payoff is impressive. So, bravo Too Faced, you've earnt a score of 4 out of 5 for pigmentation! 
Semi Sweet Chocolate Bar:
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| 1st row swatches |
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| 2nd row swatches |
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| 3rd row swatches |
However, Pink Sugar (the frosty baby pink shimmer) is the biggest disappointment of this palette; it's literally a lot of sheer, chunky glitter with no base pigment behind it; it almost doesn't show up. And for that reason, I don't really enjoy using Pink Sugar; unfortunately, the score for the 'Semi Sweet' has been knocked down and currently sits at an average 3 out of 5.
Challenge Three: Fall out
There really isnt much to say for this section because Too Faced have really got the formula right when it comes to creating shadows that don't kick up a lot of dust; I find that when I swipe my brush gently across the pans, there's little to no fallout there. The one anomaly is the shade 'Candied Violet' in the Chocolate Bar, which does produce a fair amount of fall out. So for that reason I am awarding a 3.5 star rating out of 5.
And for the Semi Sweet, I'm going to award a 4 out of 5 star rating for almost no fall out.
Challenge 4: Packaging
For the final section, I've decided to include a small segment on the packaging of these two gems. Despite the simplicity, I personally like the way these palettes look; the glossy "chocolate bar" inspired exterior is really lovely to look at and, with the magnetic closure and metal palette, everything is well protected and sturdy.
However, I'm slightly biased due to my particular liking of milk chocolate (Completely irrelevant, I'm sorry!) and due to that small detail, I prefer the Semi Sweet chocolate bar. So, the scores are as follows:
The Chocolate Bar: 4 out of 5
The Semi Sweet Chocolate bar: 4.5 out of 5
The results are in:
The moment we've all been waiting for. And the winner is... *about 10 seconds worth of drumrolls* THE SEMI SWEET CHOCOLATE BAR!
Which one of these staple, classic eyeshadow palettes is YOUR favourite? Which one takes the cake for you?
Let me know in the comments as always, but don't forget to follow this blog for more content just like this! I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing it (This was a lot of fun to put together, as I've never reviewed anything using a star rating format before!)
Have a wonderful day!
Until next time,
Marina Rosie x
I love the whole star scoring system! I think i would prefer the chocolate bar one too because I think pigmentation is key!
ReplyDeleteI nominated you for the one lovely blogger award.
Aleeha xXx
http://www.halesaaw.co.uk/
Hey you! So glad you like the scoring system; it was something new for me so I thought I'd try that out! xx Yes, the Semi Sweet chocolate bar has no issues with pigmentation except for that one pink sugar shade which let it down on that front. But, all in all, it wins, fair and square. xx Thank you so much for the nomination hun, I'll be checking that post out now! x
DeleteLots of love,
Marina Rosie xx
I only have the first chocolate bar palette and I do really love it, don't get me wrong, but looking at the semi sweet, I think I might splurge and make that purchase next time I can. Great post, loved the format.
ReplyDeleteYasss Layla, great to see you again! They are both really amazing and I use them all the time! x But if you haven't got that Semi Sweet, it's DEFINITELY worth the money! x Trust me Layla, you won't regret it! x
DeleteLots of love,
Marina Rosie xx
I would like to have that Chocolate bar one! ♥ Lovely photos ❀
ReplyDelete* Blog de la Licorne *
Heyyy there Gabrielle! xx Yes, the original chocolate bar, despite being the loser of this challenge, will never stop being awesome! I use it on the daily! x Thanks very much for your kind words,
DeleteLots of love,
Marina Rosie xx
Love your thorough review, thank you! It really highlights the many small differences between the 2 palettes, and I found myself gravitating towards the semi-sweet the more I read :D I will say though, that blue shadow in semi-sweet is really random!
ReplyDeleteJenny // Geeky Posh
Hey Jenny, thanks so much for commenting, I'm so glad you enjoyed the post! xx Yess, the semi sweet was definitely the well deserved winner for me. I do agree, the blue is slightly out of place amongst the rest of the shades, but I actually love it for creating gorgeous pops of colour!
DeleteLots of love,
Marina Rosie xx
Thanks for comparing these too. Your photos were great -Like Hanna
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for reading hanna, I'm stoked you enjoyed the post and my photography. Thanks for the love and support,
Deletelots of love,
Marina Rosie xx
The semi-sweet palette looks like a great one - can see why you love that one more.
ReplyDeletewww.pink-purpledots.blogspot.com
Hey Lynette! Yes the semi sweet has to be the winner for me, although it was close! xx Thanks so much for reading,
DeleteLots of love,
Marina Rosie x
Heyyyyyy I have neither of these palettes but after reading this I feel I've missed out BIG style! And love the score system girl, it's fab! Loves, Lau xx
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Heya hun! Yes, Lau, you HAVE to have at least one chocolate bar palette from Too Faced; they're so good! x And thanks so so much for your kind words and encouragement, girl, it really makes me smile.
DeleteLots of love,
Marina Rosie xx
I am actually really surprised that you favour Semi-Sweet over the original Chocolate Bar palette because everyone else who has both seems to think the opposite. For that reason I completely dismissed the Semi-Sweet but think I need to give it a go now. Thank you for this comparison post, I love how you explored each criteria as well, great in-depth post xxx
ReplyDeleteALittleKiran | Bloglovin
Heya, thanks so much for reading, I loved the fact that you enjoyed the way I compared these two! x Yeah, everyone seems to have different opinions really, but it's up to you which one you love the most! xxx
DeleteLots of love,
Marina Rosie xx
I don't have any of these but after this post, I feel as though I need at least one haha!
ReplyDeletetipscapsule.blogspot.com
Thanks for being here Trish! So glad I could persuade you into buying at least one of these; they're honestly so worth it! x
DeleteLots of love,
Marina Rosie xx
Thanks for post!
ReplyDeleteI will be glad friendship blogs, dear ♥
Julia Shkvo
Julia, it's really kind of you to say, I'm stoked you enjoyed this post! x I really love your blog so yes, blogger friends it is! x
DeleteLots of love,
Marina Rosie xx
Thanks so much Ilija, it means a lot. I will definitely be checking out your new post! In fact, I'll do it now! x
ReplyDeleteLots of love,
Marina Rosie xx
Love these palettes! Great post babe! x
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www.bloglovin.com/blogs/from-luxe-with-love-14590195
Thank you so much for reading, so glad you liked it hun! These palettes are honestly my holy grail palettes! x Love your blog by the way!
DeleteLots of love,
Marina Rosie xx
Both of those palettes are so pretty! I'm a big fan of browns/chocolates, personally.
ReplyDeleteNew follower :)
xo Annie
New England Romance
Yesss Annie, warm tones and neutral tones (I.e browns and all that jazz) are my ultimate faves. After all, you do need those transition shades; a palette would be nothing without them. x Thanks a lot for the follow; I do believe I already follow you, your blog outstanding x
DeleteLots of love,
Marina Rosie xx
Oh I love it both palette this is a pretty hard decision but this was a great comparative post!
ReplyDeletexx
www.sakuranko.com
I know, it was a tight, cut throat competition but a winner had to be found! xx So glad you enjoyed the comparison; it was so much fun to write! x
DeleteLots of love,
Marina Rosie xx
Great post my dear! I love both palettes :-)
ReplyDeleteHey alice,
DeleteThanks so much for reading and enjoying! x I love both palettes too girl, Too Faced do some amazing stuff so it was really hard to decide. But I do love both! x
Lots of love,
Marina Rosie xx
Thanks so much Vane, means a lot! xx
ReplyDeleteLots of love,
Marina Rosie xx
They're both really pretty and overall I have always been impressed with Too Faced eyeshadows. I do still think the original does it the most for me though - maybe it's those warm pop of colour but it just calls out to me haha
ReplyDeleteJasmine xx
Jasmine Talks Beauty
Thanks so much for reading Jasmine, I love your blog! xx Yes, they have the formula down pretty well for their shadows, I do really enjoy them! The original will always have a special place in my heart although the Semi Sweet one this xx
DeleteLots of love,
Marina Rosie xx