I am a fan of tarte and was fortunate to obtain a few QVC value sets over the last year or two. Haven't come across a product from them that I don't like.
further enhances the brand's reputation in creating great products, just in time for the holiday.
This LE kit features a collection of tarte's favorite eye, lip and cheek products, arranged in a travel bag with beautiful purple/ pink/ gold patterns. The box that holds it was beautiful too.
In opening up the bag, the right sleeve has a plastic zippered pouch which houses:
- Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder (0.07oz)
- Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in
Adventurous (shimmering rose, new exclusive shade, 0.05oz), and the domed brush for finishing powder or the like (full sized)
- Lights, Camera, Lashes! 4-In-1 Mascara (0.16oz).
Once you take out the plastic sleeve that holds the products in place inside the pouch, there will be a lot of space left for other products that you might want to bring while travel.
Close up on this group of products and a gloss (from the group below) for size and applicator comparison.
The finishing powder is nice, but because of the small size of the
pot, I need to dump some of the powder onto the lid and tap the brush
in. When you need to close the lid, leftover powder went everywhere.
The mascara is nice and works ok with my straight lashes. The bristles and handles are at good length, for easy application.
Needless to say,
Adventurous is another pigmented blush from tarte.
The colour is very natural but also very easy to get really intense if you don't use a light hand. Even when I know tarte blushes are pigmented, I still over-applied
Adventurous the first time I used it.
I trust that this type of shade suits almost every skin tone.
Inside the left sleeve of the bag are the 8 Maracuja lip glosses (0.059oz each).
On the left, from top to bottom:
Nuria,
Ali,
Mer and
Jena.
On the right:
Mel,
Anna,
Casey and
Heath.
These glosses has a light minty scent, quite comforting. Again, when you remove the plastic sleeve that holds the glosses in place, you have more space for other stuff in this pouch.
Swatches, in the same order as in the pic above. These are
Nuria,
Ali,
Mer and
Jena.
See the beautiful shimmers even without direct flash? That's my kind of holiday glosses. Most of the glosses are quite sheer, not easy to be worn by themselves but are awesome to layer on top of other lip products (lipsticks or lip liners).
Needless to say, I am smitten with
Ali because of its purple tint (and the awesome shimmers). Have been wearing it a lot with Annabelle TwistUp in
Royale, very season appropriate.
Nuria is a cute (sheer) red.
Mer is so nude that it almost has no colour at all on my lips.
Jena is the only creamy shade in this group with slightly better colour payoff, pretty nonetheless.
And these are
Mel,
Anna,
Casey and
Heath. This group is all cream except
Heath.
Mel is another stand-out colour, as a Barbie pink. I wish it has enough pigmentation to wear on its own. This type of colour is growing on me and I have wanted a pigmented gloss in this shade.
Anna,
Casey and
Heath, to be honest, did not wow me much. Very sheer, and appear pretty much the same on my lips. The shimmers in
Heath are not very noticeable either.
Colours like these are probably more appropriate for those with naturally pink lips where you don't need much of pigmentation from the gloss. So when travel, I maybe bring a few shades from the first group, with accompanying lipsticks then I'm all set.
In the middle is a huge mirror and the hidden pocket behind it keeps a thin eyeshadow palette with the same purple/ pink/ gold pattern on the packaging.
There are 24 eyeshadows (0.06oz each), with matte and shimmery finish, divided into 6 quads. The shades are named (after a place on the map where members of the tarte team have traveled).
The names are printed on the clear plastic sheet that is placed on top of the eyeshadows, not on the palette itself. Good enough for reference, as I hate not having colour names when I need to refer to a certain shades.
I took the close up shots of every two quads plus swatches below.
First row, clock wise from the top left in each quad.
Left quad:
Snowfall in Paris,
Golden Gate Bridge,
Pyramid Gold and
Volcanic Ash.
Right quad:
Pearl River,
Seychelles Sand,
Martha's Vineyard and
Touchdown in Londontown (which is a purple, not blue as my camera told you, argghhh).
And here is how they look when swatched, same order, left quad then right quad.
Snowfall in Paris is a white-ish silver. Love
Golden Gate Bridge as it is gold enough to show up on my skin tone.
Pyramid Gold is more of a peachy gold that can be invisible on me sometimes.
Volcanic Ash is sheer at times, but has beautiful silver shimmers. Buildable as well.
Pearl River has a light pink tint, pearlescent.
Seychelles Sand is another silver shade, with a hint of taupe.
Martha's Vineyard could be a little more pigmented purple-ish taupe but buildable.
Touchdown in Londontown is a purple with a light blue duochrome effect. Beautiful for mid lids.
Move on to the second row.
Left quad:
Pebble Beach,
Boston Brick,
Napa Grapes (colour shows up incorrectly, again) and
Spanish Sangria.
Right quad:
Georgia Peach,
Tuscan Sun,
Coral Reef and
Acai Jungle.
Swatches of the left quad.
Pebble Beach is pretty for inner corners.
Boston Brick has a beautiful lavender sheen.
Napa Grapes gotta be the most pigmented (and matte) shade in this palette, an intense plum shade.
Spanish Sangria is another surprise colour when swatched. I am obsessed with it, enough said :)
Right quad, another winner.
Georgia Peach does not show up well on my skin tone, works well as brow bone highlight.
Tuscan Sun is an intense gold colour, a must have for the holiday.
Coral Reef is another love, a peach colour with awesome gold sheen. And I'm gonna sound like a broken record but
Acai Jungle is also another love lol. You see why, right?
Lastly, third row.
Left quad:
Iceland Air,
Mystic Seaport,
Hampton Waves and
Concrete Jungle.
Right quad:
Sunshine State,
Hawaiian Palm,
Sin City and
Olive Grove.
Swatches of the left quad. Sad to say that this particular quad was not as pigmented as I expected.
All shades are sheerer than most shades in other quads.
Iceland Air is quite similar to a few highlight shades above.
Mystic Seaport has beautiful blue sheen.
Hampton Waves looks intense in the pan but takes more swipes to show up on my hand.
Concrete Jungle would be one of my loves if it could be more pigmented. Beautiful colour though!
The right quad show up a little better.
Sunshine State goes well with the other three shades.
Hawaiian Palm is a beautiful gold green.
Sin City is blue with gold sheen, another surprise.
Olive Grove is just as the name suggest.
All in all, most eyeshadows are great. The combinations for looks are just endless. The palette is thin, easy to carry.
The whole set retails CAD70 at Sephora. If you are looking for a makeup set that has almost everything you need, this is it! And to put things in perspective, here's my
