The holidays are nigh. Some stores are already playing Christmas carols (quelle horreur). That means holiday palettes are upon us.
To date, I’ve purchased one limited-edition holiday palette: Too Faced Everything Nice. TFEN was novel and fun, but I ultimately ended up depotting it into a Z-Palette. Frankly I don’t use what survived very often, and am currently making a concerted effort to Project Pan it.. I have higher quality shadows I reach for more often.
Why? It’s a have a few, simple reasons:
Holiday Palettes, Sets, LEs are Guaranteed Sales
When something is a sure thing, companies are a bit more, “flexible,” when it comes to quality. (Read: Flexible is code for, “compromising,” as in a brand may pursue a cheaper formula or manufacturing process.)
In plain English: Unfortunately, brands generally resort to lower-quality formulas in their holiday value/LE palettes. It isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, but think – if a ten-shade palette from a brand normally costs $45-50, how can they offer you 20 for $60 with a similar (even if slightly smaller) pan size? It’s obvious – the formula isn’t the same. They’re cutting corners to increase their profit margin.
Is it Bad?
Not really, and I’m not even seeking to criticize it as a practice. As far as I know, there aren’t any non-profit cosmetics companies out there. Businesses are in business to make money. By itself. that’s neither good nor bad – it just is.
I’m personally not up for paying prestige pricing for, at best, drugstore quality products. Case in Point: Too Faced’s normal formula is nicer than the formula I received in TFEN. Also, the (in?)famous BECCAxJaclyn Hill collaboration that resulted in some sub-par palettes being released…whoops.
While those collections can be fun, if they aren’t on par with the brand’s current formulas and manufacturing, why are we so eager to drop money on the products?