Too Faced Chocolate Bar Eyeshadow palette review, swatches, photos

I am probably the last blogger to swatch the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Eyeshadow Collection. In fairness, they didn't have it in Sephora when I went in December and then I was on a shopping ban until February (beauty boxes exempt). Finally, I decided to treat myself to this palette after my ban and because my birthday is only a month away :)

Part of the Too Faced Spring 2014 collection, the Chocolate Bar palette contains 16 eyeshadows, all infused with 100% natural cocoa powder. As a huge fan of Too Faced (my first-ever eyeshadow palette was Too Faced Liquif-Eye Collection), I had this palette on my wishlist as soon as it was announced.

Here is my review and swatches of the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Eyeshadow Collection.

Packaging of the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette

This is going to be a rather long write-up, because the packaging is super-pretty. The pink external box makes it look just like the wrapping of one of those large Cadbury's bars we used to get from the larger department stores during childhood. I hate the modern sweets and am a sucker for anything that looks classic and this looks so vintage. The wrapping makes me want to use the Vintage Cosmetics Company eyeshadow brushes because they are made for each other where looks are concerned!
The back of the box shows you the shades inside and tells you what you're in for.

Inside the metal case is sturdy and a little heavy and looks just like a bar of chocolate. They used to make pencil cases like this when I was in school.

As soon as you open the case, the heady smell of cocoa hits you. Take a deep breath, and it is just like eating a bar of Bournville or drinking a warm cuppa. Amazing, really.

Inside, you have a mirror, no applicator - thank goodness - and the two highlighter shades are three times larger than the other 14 eyeshadows. But we'll come back to the shades in a minute.
The palette also comes with a neat how-to glamour guide with three looks and how to achieve them.

Formula and staying power of the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette

So these eyeshadows contain antioxidant-rich cocoa powder. I can well believe that, given the smell. This palette was inspired by a chocolate facial and the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer and the founder of Too Faced, Jerrod Blandino, decided to harness the healing powers of cocoa.

They warn you not to eat it.

No parabens in the ingredients. The formula of the eyeshadows is soft and buttery and reminds me more of theBalm eyeshadows - but there is very, very little fallout, even with the most glittery shade in the palette.

Staying power is brilliant. I use a primer over my oily lids anyway but I have swatched them without primer - as always - so you can see the pigmentation, and there were traces of all the deep brown shades on my arm even after a shower.

The eyeshadows are named after different kinds of candy. This should remind me of the Sleek Candy Collection palette, however, these shades are subtler neutrals and Candy Collection contained the most candy-looking shades!

Shades and swatches of the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette

Yes, there are a few variants of deep brown in this palette. This is great if, like me, you are trying to smoke up your eye looks, or if you like experimenting with shadow liners. There are a couple of highlighters and just two or three shades that could make up a lighter lid. Since I have quite a few palettes, I can always mix and match and dig up some lighter neutrals.

The left half of the palette is warmer and the right half is cooler. Six of the shadows are matte. I am an NC person with neutral to yellow undertones and prefer cooler shades as a rule, but I'll take anything that smells this good. I'm also going to show you some similar shades in Too Faced A Few Of My Favourite Things.

Here are the shades in the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette:

Gilded Ganache: A deep bronzy-brown. Definitely a crease shade.
Salted Caramel: A burnt-orangey brown matte shadow. This is one of the few lighter eyelid-shades in this palette.
Hazelnut: A beautiful golden rust-brown. Mostly a crease shade, but you can smoke up your crease with deeper shades and then pop this on the lids.
Marzipan: A golden peach frost. Blends into my skintone, so I haven't decided whether I want to use this on the lids or as a highlighter.
Creme Brulee: A medium gold shade for the lids.
Semi-sweet: A medium reddish brown matte shadow. I will be using this as a crease shade with salted caramel.
Haute Chocolate: A deep reddish brown that can only be used in the crease.
White Chocolate: Matte ivory highlighter. 
Milk Chocolate: A medium matte brown. We have seen something close to this shade in A Few Of My Favourite Things, where it was called Woollen Mittens.
Strawberry Bob Bon: This matte light pink reminds me of Taffy in A Few Of My Favourite Things; only, Taffy was shimmery. This was the shade I didn't really like in this palette; it was hard to work with and a bit sheer for me.
Cherry Cordial: A deep matte plummy maroon. Definitely crease-only. We've seen the shimmery version of this in A Few Of My Favourite Things, called Soiree.
Black Forest Truffle: A glittery burgundy shade. I was expecting heavy fallout with this but was pleasantly surprised.
Candied Violet: Whoa, I love that they added a violet eyeshadow in a neutral palette! This is a cool deep violet shimmer which is a little sheer but buildable. Not in-your-face purple. It would be interesting to try this on the lids.
Triple Fudge: This matte deep brown is a dead ringer for Dark Chocolate from Favourite Things. Boo!
Amaretto: A medium reddish brown which will work on both lids and crease.
Champagne Truffle: A pale, pale pink highlighter shade. Not a huge fan of this.

And now for the swatches in direct sunlight. 

From left to right on row 1: Gilded Ganache, Salted Caramel, Hazelnut, Marzipan, Creme Brulee, Semi-Sweet, Haute Chocolate, White Chocolate.
Left to right on row 2: Milk Chocolate, Strawberry Bon Bon, Cherry Cordial, Black Forest Truffle, Candied Violet, Triple Fudge, Amaretto, White Chocolate.

And, here are swatches in natural light. 

As you can see, Strawberry Bon Bon looks somewhat chalky on me.

Bottom Line
Don't get me wrong - I love this palette, I do. And I am absolutely glad I bought it and will definitely be doing quite a few looks with it. It's just that I like Urban Decay N!ked3 better and wish there were fewer of the deep brown variants or that they hadn't included those shades close to the ones in A Few Of My Favourite Things. That said, my favourite brown-based neutral palette remains theBalm's N#de'Tude but Chocolate Bar is definitely second - I like it more than N!ked1 or 2, because there are more mattes here.
You can pick up this palette at any Sephora with Too Faced, or from TooFaced.com if you live in the US, or from Beautybay.com if you live elsewhere - they ship worldwide for free. Prices at Beauty Bay vary according to exchange rates and currencies, so do check online first.