Too Faced Selfie Powders
When I was researching the Too Faced Selfie Powders for last week’s post, I came across a thread on a popular makeup community discussing the product. The discussion was split roughly 50/50 – with some expressing feelings similar to mine, and others saying it was cute/kitschy/fun/etc.
There were, however, a few people who were neither for the Too Faced Selfie Powders nor against them that questioned the criticism. One participant adds something along the lines of (this is paraphrased):
I don’t understand why the Too Faced Selfie Powders are getting so much hate – why is this worse than silly nerd collections by Indie makeup brands?
It’s a good question, and it makes you think about the product and issue a little more. But I have a good answer.
Here’s the difference:
Geek Chic’s adorable Sailor Moon collection and Hello Waffle’s hilarious Archer-themed collections are just eyeshadows. They don’t claim to do anything special, they’re just cute eyeshadows with fun names. Too Faced Selfie Powders, on the other hand, are literally marketed as being, “filters,” for your real-life face…they’re just colored powders. At best, they’re for color correction. They aren’t appealing to a fandom, they’re marketing a product claiming that it does something that, realistically, it doesn’t do.
Good point. False advertising is the problem here. They aren’t “skin perfecting” powders, they’re just fancy highlighters and illuminators to mimic some of the artificial glow that can be created with an Instagram filter.
You’re right this is basically marketing products with a claim that they will do something for you while selling a themed collection of eyeshadows is a little bit more like putting your cards on the table and saying we’re selling you these on the back of a fandom. I can see it from the other side too but I think you make a good point! :-)