Nikkie Tutorials for Too Faced: Power of Makeup Palette
I’ve watched NikkieTutorials on YouTube for ages now. Her no-nonsense approach to makeup, hilarious “Oh God No” segments and open-mindedness when it comes to the beauty world is refreshing. When I heard she had teamed up with one of my favourite brands of the last few years, Too Faced, to create a palette of her own, I was excited at the prospect. The Power of Makeup Palette has some definite misses for me though. Keep reading to see why I think this (for me) is a bit of a, “oh God no!”
The Packaging
When I first saw the Power of Makeup Palette my initial thought was that the packaging definitely wasn’t winning any awards for me. While I love how slim it is, the hot-pink-animal-print-gold-metallic motif just seemed over the top and dare I say it… tacky. I get that it is supposed to be eye-catching, and it certainly is, it just isn’t my cup of tea.
The Colour Scheme
Then we move on to the colour curation, and this is where I think it really starts to fail. I feel like Nikkie and Too Faced tried to do way too much with this palette. The metallic teal and purple shades seem out of place and disconnected from the rest of the palette, and the neutrals are underwhelming. I supposed I expected more from Nikkie – someone who makes a point of creating incredible eye makeup looks using several different shades to get the desired effect. The shadows themselves also really underperformed in terms of pigmentation as well, sadly. The best pigment went to Mystic Hour (teal) which held up to what I expect from Too Faced shadows, but the rest just didn’t deliver. The matte shadows were dry to the touch and the shimmers held no colour pigment. In the swatches below it took 3 swatches on top of each other to build enough to show the colour. There’s been some controversy over this as Nikkie showed some insanely opaque swatches in her announcement video, but didn’t actually swatch the palette on camera. I can say from my own personal experience with this that it would take some serious effort to get that kind of payoff, which is really disappointing to have to report.
The Performance
The shadows themselves also really underperformed in terms of pigmentation as well, sadly. The best pigment went to Mystic Hour (teal) which held up to what I expect from Too Faced shadows, but the rest just didn’t deliver. The matte shadows were dry to the touch and the shimmers held no colour pigment. In the swatches below it took 3 swatches on top of each other to build enough to show the colour. There’s been some controversy over this as Nikkie showed some insanely opaque swatches in her announcement video, but didn’t actually swatch the palette on camera. I can say from my own personal experience with this that it would take some serious effort to get that kind of payoff, which is really disappointing to have to report.
The palette also is teamed up with two of the Love Flush Blushes, which thankfully perform the way I know and love them too, and the famed Chocolate Soleil Bronzer, which sadly wore unlike the original with a patchy uneven finish that was much more warm in undertone. New to the palette is a highlighter, Champagne Truffle, which really surprised me in how little pigment payoff there was given how much Nikkie loves to highlight.
The Swatches
The Power of Makeup set also comes with Too Faced’s famed Shadow Insurance Eyeshadow primer, which I find decent, but didn’t improve the quality of the shadows, one of the new Sketch Markers, which applied patchy and bled badly, a glitter which looks very pretty but again doesn’t really fit the colour scheme of the palette and a special edition Better Than Sex Mascara in Purple, which I do think is a great mascara and would love for Too Faced to launch into their regular line.
I really debated posting this review, given the negative nature of it, but feedback like this I think it essential for those who may only treat themselves to a palette like this once a year (or buy as a gift for example). It’s a real miss for me, and I’ll be honest – I was expected so much more from a collaboration with one of my favourite brands and favourite YouTubers. Too Faced has some incredible palettes out there (Natural Eyes is one of my all time faves!) and the Love Flush Blushes are incredible. I am just so sad to see a quality drop here – the name, “The Power of Makeup” has me expecting so much more.
I don’t think that this is a negative review-you just said what you think & thanks for that! I didn’t buy this palette because I’m savibg myself for all those highlighter palettes that will come out till Christmas 😀
Great post Jaime. I definitely think negative reviews are just as important as positive one. One, it helps people save money. Two, it shows that as bloggers we don’t just post positive reviews and we don’t just love every single item. I think it adds to a blogger’s credibility.
❤️ Vanda
http://www.MissViggityBeauty.com
Thank you lovely! I agree about negative reviews, they help the reader both trust my endorsements as well as save their money. I don’t always love writing negative reviews because let’s be honest, it’s easier to write about something you’re passionate about!
So disappointing to hear that the quality of the palette doesn’t hold up! I have a holiday palette from a couple of years ago that I love but to see such amazing colours with poor pigmentation is something else ;( It’s a generous value-pack set though!
Stephanie | theFantasia.com
Perhaps that is why there are so many little extras- to offset the obviously poor pigment. Personally, I prefer to buy my palettes as just a palette, and not sold with minis that will run out quickly.