Monday, September 28, 2015

Chocolate Bar Dupe? Makeup Revolution Death By Chocolate Eyeshadow Palette

Alright - Death by Chocolate Eyeshadow Palette by I Heart Makeup (~ $12.50 for 22g), a sub-brand of Makeup Revolution, is definitely NOT a dupe for any of the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palettes, even though it mimicks the idea, packaging and layout of the shades. But that is precisely why I wanted to try it: while I think Too Faced makes some really lovely eyeshadows, for my personal taste, both Chocolate Bars are way too warm. I just knew I wouldn't use at least half of the shades, so when I saw some recommendations for the Makeup Revolution version on Polish YouTube, I knew the shade selection in Death By Chocolate would tick all the boxes for me.
Let me start by saying that if you're a make-up fanatic like me, Death by Chocolate is by no means a necessary purchase. It sure is pretty and even practical, but if you have a larger collection, you should be able to dupe nearly all of the shades very easily. However, if you're still building your stash, or you're looking for an inexpensive eyeshadow palette for everyday, or would like to have a good travel palette you wouldn't worry too much about being damaged in your suitcase, Death by Chocolate is your friend - and if you're not into cool-leaning shades, there are two other versions that are more warm-toned (Naked Chocolate and I Heart Chocolate), and I assume the quality is probably very similar.




Unlike the Too Faced palettes, these Makeup Revolution spin-offs are housed in sturdy plastic cases. The only two things I dislike about this packaging is the plastic insert with the shade names (c'mon, I thought we all moved on from that!) and the fact that the top with the mirror is a bit heavier than the bottom with all the shades, so when you angle the palette at more than 90 degrees, the mirror just falls flat on the counter - a bit annoying, to be honest. But yes, the mirror is large and good quality, and would absolutely suffice to do your whole face while traveling.
As mentioned, Death By Chocolate follows the same layout as Chocolate Bars, having 14 regular sized shadows and 2 larger pans of highlighting shades. To my eyes, Death by Chocolate is a 'complete palette': you get both a matte and a shimmery highlight, you get at least two matte transition shades (one warm, one cool), you get a whole selection of shimmery lid shades, both warm and cool, and a pigmented matte black to use as a liner or deepen things up. There's also a fun pop of color by way of a beautiful glowy plum purple, one of my favorite shades in the palette.

Really, the array of looks you can achieve with this palette is enormous - from barely there daytime looks to sultry smokeys for a night out. Even though the shades are predominantly cool, there is a few warm options to spice things up. I also appreciate that the palette combines shadows in a few different finishes: we have some mattes, glowy satins and a lot of metallic, high shine shades (look at all these variations of taupe in the bottom row!).
First row swatched, L-R: White Light, Don't Let Go, Break Me Up, Consume Me, All Is Lost
Middle row swatched, L-R: Lick Me (mine broke and had to be repressed), Fool's Gold, One More Bar, Devour Me, Tear the Wrapper, Love You To Death
Bottom row swatched, L-R: Pray For Me, Dipped, Tease Me, Set Me Free, Bring Down Angels
As for the texture and pigmentation of these shadows, overall, I'm very happy with the quality. Sure, some shades could use a bit more pigment (e.g: White Light, the matte ivory highlight, or Devour Me, the matte dark plum), but actually, on the eyes they apply and blend very easily. One important note, as you can see from my arm swatches, a lot of these shades swatch very differently from what they appear to be like in the pan, e.g. Don't Let Go or Pray For Me. As a general rule, I would say these apply better than they swatch; they all have a buttery texture but are quite tightly pressed in the pans, which makes them difficult to pick up with a finger. From my vigorous rubbing for the swatch shots, some shades even developed a bit of hard pan, so I think from now on, I'll be only using brushes with this palette. Throughout the day, all the shadows I've tested wore nicely, although I think my favorite purple lost a bit of its vibrancy by the end of the day
My warm eyeshadow look with Death By Chocolate Palette using Tear the Wrapper on the lid, One More Bar in the outer corner and Bring Down Angels in the inner corner
For now, Death by Chocolate isn't one of the Makeup Revolution palettes carried by Ulta, but I still thought I would review it for you in case you wanted to know about the quality of their shadows or decided to seek this one out on eBay/ order through Makeup Revolution's UK site. I've been really enjoying using this palette ever since I got it three weeks ago, but I think this is my last large eyeshadow palette purchase for a looong while. I just increasingly feel that every time I buy some new shadows, I have almost exact dupes at home already waiting to be used. Have you bought any larger palettes recently? Are you planning to pick up any of the newly released Holiday ones?

12 comments:

  1. I saw these in Superdrug a few weeks ago, and really liked the look of the one in the white chocolate bar palette, but I really didn't like the packaging. Its very cheap looking, but the colours are very pretty. Great review :)
    https://cherieedle.blogspot.com/

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    1. I know what you mean - I think especially the white chocolate one looks super cheap :/ The darker brown ones look a bit better. Thank you for commenting, Cherie! <3

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  2. Ha, what a name...Big palettes confuse me, I think the most I can handle is a quad with a split pan (so kind of a quint...but there is always a base/top wash kind of shade that doesn't really count which put me at ease). Anyway, I really like your matchy metallic liner in the look (so I will be sure to copy that someday).

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    1. Apparently, Death By Chocolate is a name of a popular dessert - which I learnt only when I googled this palette, lol. I quite like the big palettes, because I like to pull one out and use all the different shades for about a month, and then switch to a different palette. Thank you, Citrine! The eyeliner is the Pixi Copper Glow :)

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  3. First-time commenter here. :) Thanks for your review of this! I bought it last year and just recently got around to playing with it (I know...no more big palettes for me either, it seems). I really like the shimmery shades but I wish they had fewer mid-tone coppers and another matte or two thrown in for better contrast. I do find this to be an extremely foolproof palette, though, and I'm glad I own it. It seems that I should be holding off on buying any holiday items but I'll allow myself just one or two things if they're just too awesome to pass up.

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    1. Hi there, thank you for subscribing and taking the time to comment, I really appreciate it! It's true that this palette could use a few more mattes, but compared to a lot of other palettes on the market, I'm still pretty impressed with the range of shades and finishes. I'm not a huge fan of warm metallic shades usually, but I quite like that copper; still not convinced about the gold though, it tends to pull too yellow on me.

      I'm trying to really hone down my beauty wishlist for the Holiday releases; I'd like to treat myself a little but only get things that I will actually love and use. For example, I think that the new UD Vice palette looks absolutely stunning, but I know myself and I'm sure I wouldn't use half of those shades more than once or twice.

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  4. Wow! The packaging looks sooo yummy. So cute too. I must have one of these. So wanna try it out.

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    1. It's a really pretty palette, and such a good price point!

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  5. The colours look so different on the swatch!

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    1. I know, it's a bit annoying when you're trying to plan a look, because you have to remember what the shades actually look like on; like that shimmery taupey shade in the first row - looks totally cool-toned in the pan, but in the swatch it's more of a warm rosy shade! Can't really complain though given the quality for the price.

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  6. Those swatch really pretty compared to how they look in the pan!

    Could you tell us what you're wearing on your lips in these photos? Whatever it is, I love it!

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    1. Hi Claire! I believe it's the Elf Mineral Lipstick in Rosy Raisin :) Thank you!

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