Happy Wednesday! Let’s start this post with a special shoutout to my friend Rose for even alerting me to the latest addition in eyeshadow palette world, known as the Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar. I haven’t had too much time to play around with the colors considering I just purchased the palette Monday night, but I swatched all the colors and wore a few to work yesterday. From first impressions alone, I really like this palette. I use the Chocolate Bar and Lorac Pro Palette 2 the most, but I can see the Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar (or SSCB as I’ll refer it to throughout this post) joining the ranks of those two as I become more familiar with it.

What makes this palette an instant favorite?

Easy. The colors fit my makeup needs so well it’s almost as if I handpicked the shades and made a custom palette. Normally, there are a handful of shades that I hardly (if ever) reach for. With the SSCB, the blue shade is the only one I can’t see myself wearing. If they swapped it with Salted Caramel from the original CB, the palette would actually be my perfect neutral collection. I also love that there are truly warm, orange-y browns in this palette because it’s always a challenge of mine to find a warm enough eyeshadow.

How much is it and where can you buy it?

The palette is $49–which breaks down to around $3.06 per shadow– the same price as the original CB. It was at first available to VIB and VIB Rouge members online and in store at Sephora/Sephora.com, but it’s now open to the public.

How does it compare to the original Chocolate Bar?

It’s hard to get too detailed as this is more of a first impressions post than an in-depth review, but at first swatch I felt the shadows had a different texture than the original palette. In my opinion, they have a buttery texture similar to the Lorac Pro palettes, whereas the original Chocolate Bar felt less smooth and condensed. I’ve seen quite a few reviews on the Sephora site stating this palette isn’t as pigmented as the original, but I’d have to disagree. I didn’t find that the shades required a heavy hand in order to produce pigmentation. As far as appearances go, I greatly prefer the new packaging to the old. The new packaging is thinner than the old one, and each shade has its name on the casing instead of a clear insert. And yes, it smells amazing.

Overall, I’m extremely pleased with the SSCB and hope to become more familiar with it over time so I can get a true grasp of the product’s value. Do you have intentions of picking up the palette? Swatches are posted below to help with your decision: