Saturday, August 5, 2017

What I'm Not Buying: Marc Jacobs Provocouture


Marc Jacobs has released six new Eye-Conic Multi-Finish eyeshadow palettes, and the one I am most drawn to is Provocouture.

But I'm not buying. 

I am currently recovering from surgery, and my very good friend was over visiting yesterday. She lives across the country, so I don't get to see her very often, but she is also my oldest friend, which means she knows all my patterns and quirks and isn't at all afraid to call me out on my BS. While she was here, I showed her a picture of this palette and said, "Isn't it pretty? I really want it." And without missing a beat, she looked at it and said, "You have all of those colors already" and returned to what she was doing. 

And while I was not very seriously considering buying this palette, it was kind of this perfect moment of friendship because she understood my makeup taste and knew what was already in my collection and knew that adding more of the same is not something I'm interested in. And it made me wish that everyone had a friend like her (for a lot of reasons). 

I've wanted to try Marc Jacobs eyeshadows, but have never been compelled enough to do so. And the reason for that is that I thought they were too small, not as great of quality as some of my other shadows, and overpriced. But when I saw that Marc Jacobs dropped the price of these Eye-Conic palettes (but also dropped the shadow size), I thought it might be worth it to try. Marc Jacobs Daisy is my all-time favorite perfume, and the Marc Jacobs blushes have become my favorite blushes, so I'll admit that this only heightened my curiosity. 

Looking at all the new Marc Jacobs palettes:



I have to say that I am actually excited by some of the color schemes that they're releasing. I think most people will be drawn to Scandalust, on the far left, because it is a basic warm-toned neutral palette, but as I've said, I was really drawn to the pinks of Provocouture. 

It's when I look at the swatches, however, that I stopped being tricked by the sleek packaging and the couple pretty colors. 


When I look at this photo, I see that there is very little difference between the first four shades in the palette. And if the shadows look like that in a swatch photo provided by the brand, where they want the colors to look as amazing as possible, that tells me that this would actually be a very real problem for me if I decided to purchase. 

And looking at the above colors, I can also tell you that I only really want the last two colors, and that, as my good friend said, I already have plenty of those in my collection. I have all of these colors, frankly, but I am not even drawn to most of them. I don't need or want a shimmy white shade, a shade that is supposed to look like a light pink but just comes off as another white, a light taupe, a shimmery light taupe, or a dark blackened brown. And at the price of these palettes, that's a ton of money to spend just because I was really drawn to two shadows—that I already have. 

When I started thinking about items in my collection that fit the bill of the pink and burgundy shades, I thought of the Urban Decay Electric palette:


Urban Decay Jean-Michel Basquiat Tenant palette (see this post for my thoughts on this palette):


Sephora Pro Editorial:


Coloured Raine Queen of Hearts:


Depotted shadows from Juvia's Place Masquerade: 


My custom singles palette:


And Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye Quad in Plum:


Outside of my collection, Provocouture also looks like Viseart Nuance:


Dose of Colors Marvelous Mauves:


And Colourpop Belle of the Ball: 


When I saw how many similar of duplicate shades I had in my collection, I wanted to laugh, but I honestly felt a little sick that I even considered buying this palette. What a colossal waste of money it would have been for me. I was drawn in by the sleek packaging and the fact that it's Marc Jacobs, even though Marc Jacobs eyeshadows have never been something I have needed to own. I used the Mac Jacobs eyeliner for years because it was the only thing to ever stay on my waterline, and I thought that absolutely justified the price, but I have since used a Rimmel Scandaleyes eyeliner that works great and has replaced the Marc Jacobs. So while I think sometimes the performance of a product can help justify the price, other times, like with this palette, there are just so many cheaper shades that perform just as well, if not better. 

Another thing to note about this palette (and several of the new Eye-Conic palettes) is that the color scheme is so specific that it doesn't have a lot of versatility and therefore doesn't bode well for longevity. With a price of around $50, the fact that Provocouture is mainly pinks is kind of ridiculous. Because unless I'm someone who is truly just all about pink all day every day, that is a difficult color scheme to come back to day after day. For that kind of money, I would like to get some mileage out of my shadows and know that they are something I can continually return to. On the flip side, I would rather get something like the Colourpop shadows that are around $15 for colors that I might not use on a daily basis.

So, I find myself at the end of this blog post being reminded how easily one can fall into a consumerism mindset but feeling happy that I am again on the other side of it in a lot of ways. I have mentioned in a few of my other posts that I am currently recovering from surgery, and if I'm being completely honest, this recovery has not been easy. I have received a bit of makeup as gifts, and I have also purchased some replacements I've "needed" or things I have been meaning to get. And I am reminded, especially since I cannot move around, of how comforting online shopping can be. Think about it. When someone is ill, people tend to bring them something, whether it's flowers or a plant or a book or makeup. Part of that is to show someone that you are thinking of them, and part of it is because getting new things is comforting in a lot of ways. So I need to extra aware right now especially of my shopping habits and really evaluating anything I want to bring in to my life. 

This pink palette from Marc Jacobs seems to only be the surgery, recovery, pain, discomfort, and boredom talking. But, eventually all of this will pass. And when it does, I will be glad I don't have a huge pile of unnecessary makeup to declutter. I absolutely don't need to buy Provocouture, so I won't.

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