Tarte is one of those brands that I’m interested in purchasing from, but I’m almost never willing to buy their products at full-price. And, frankly, one doesn’t need to because they have quite a few sales at 30% off or more throughout the year. Between my Black Friday purchases from last year, and the “Choose 4 for 50% off” deal from April, I have enough products to do part 2 of my original dedicated Tarte post.

Sweet Tarte Cravings Eyeshadow Palette

Considering how pretty the outer packaging is and how adorable the chocolate shaped eyeshadows are on the inside, it’s amazing that I was able to hold off on getting this palette until it was discounted. It’s so cute and has some fun textures and finishes.

These perform as well as any other Tarte palette, but it’s quite interesting how foiled and wet all five shimmers are. Tarte shimmers tend to be creamy, but these are much wetter to the touch than I expected, while still clearly being a powder product and not an actual cream. As for the mattes, or at least Truffle and Drizzle, they’re the standard buttery feeling mattes I’ve come to expect from the brand. Semi-Sweet and Ganache are semi-matte considering they have dark colored micro shimmer in there that I didn’t notice until about the fifth time I used the palette. They just look matte on my eyes. The texture of those is also a little drier than I’m used to.

Raspberry Swirl and other medium toned magenta shades tend to look red on my eyes instead of purple, and Semi-Sweet just looked brown instead of plum. So, I was a bit disappointed that I’m not getting the purple shades I wanted. It’s basically entirely a warm neutral palette for me. However, it’s pretty and good quality, so I’m happy with the palette. I get a little creasing from the shimmers, particularly in the inner portion of my eyes, but it’s acceptable for all-day wear.

Maneater Catitude Eyeshadow Palette

I was interested in the Maneater After Dark palette, but it’s quite large, and I tend to pass on those nowadays. This Maneater Catitude palette has the green and some neutrals I was interested in, so I bought it hoping it could be a more curated version of Maneater After Dark.

The mattes don’t feel like the others I’ve had from Tarte. Rather than creamy, they instead have a silky-slip feel to them. They are still pigmented and buildable, but not quite as easy to blend as the Amazonian Clay matte formula. Attraction, Smitten, and Infatuation are adequate quality. Instincts has the tendency to be patchy and is more time consuming to blend than the other mattes.
The shimmers Sizzle and Spicy are foiled type of eyeshadows too, and smooth, though not wet like the ones in the Sweet Tarte Cravings palette.

I’ve liked the looks I have made with this palette, and I like the sparkle level in the shimmers, but because of the nearly flaky texture, I still spray my brush when I apply them because I feel they need a little help with adhesion. Doing that does lead to noticeable, but not terrible, creasing.

This palette is pretty good for the price, and even better at a discount, but it was most useful just to satisfy my curiosity. The quality wasn’t special enough to really be worth buying when I get more enjoyment out of my Dior Backstage Khaki Neutrals palette and Bobbi Brown Jadestone palette, even though those are twice the price.

Tartelette Juicy Amazonian Clay Palette

This was one of my Black Friday purchases, and getting the deal is the only way I’d have bought this palette because I have random moods when I want to rock pink eyeshadows, but they are few and far between. I really like the Amazonian Clay eyeshadow formula, as I discovered after getting the Tartiest Pro 2 Palette, so the quality didn’t disappoint. The mattes are creamy and blendable. The shimmers are shiny and smooth, though I like to help them along by applying them damp. I sometimes get issues with the shadows disappearing from the inner corner of my eyes from rubbing that spot, but otherwise, they usually have good longevity.

These are great for soft, girly, romantic looks and for neutral lovers. I knew this prior to purchasing. I just wanted more depth from Dream Chaser and Dusk. It’s the same issue as the Sweet Tarte palette’s magenta color pulling red instead. Dusk, on my eyes, isn’t the rich brown I expected. It’s more of a medium golden-bronze color. Euphoric is the only option for me to deepen up a look to the level I like. So, this isn’t perfect, but I like it. I might have regretted buying it at full price, but the 50% off made it palatable.

Maracuja Juicy Lip Balm (Travel Size) in Strawberry, Hibiscus, and Coconut

This balm comes in a plumping version as well, but I tend to avoid those types unless they’re very hyped up and described as a minty plumping product, since I like having a cooling sensation on my lips on occasion.

I think these give a decent amount of color payoff, but they do need to be applied thickly for it to show. The issue is that the formula feels almost too soft for the tube packaging. I think a doe foot applicator or some other type that could smooth out the color would have been better. The balm, when glided across the lips, comes off in thicker chunks of color. It looks terrible unless one rubs the lips together, which spreads the color evenly at the expensive of that action sheering it out.

To get the color to show in photos, I end up using my finger to spread it, add a second layer, then spread it with my finger again. Strawberry has more pigment than Coconut and Hibiscus, or at least Strawberry shows up more strongly over my natural lip color. The amount required to see my lips visibly tinted is a lot, so I started to just use them for nourishing lip purposes instead of a color product.

While it feels moisturizing and soft in the beginning of the day, eventually by the end (with retouches throughout the day since it doesn’t last after food), my lips dry out slightly. This happens to me with nearly every balm with color added to it. I just have excessively dry lips and so many things can exacerbate it. The upside and why I still use this from time to time is because a lot of other lip products dry my lips much earlier in the day. With this one from Tarte, if I just remove it by the evening time and switch to something more nourishing early in the night, I won’t have any of the negative consequences. I get to keep enjoying the slightly tinted and beautifully glossy look it gives.

To clarify, when I use the term “tinted” in this context, I mean visibly seeing a different hue on my lips instead of my natural lip color. I don’t mean tinted from a lip stain.

As I mentioned before, the texture is a bit strange to put in stick packaging since it’s such a soft melty consistency. It instantly made me think of the Makeup by Mario Plumping Lip Serums and MAC Glow Play Lip Balms. The difference is that the Tarte balm is thick, glossy, and creamy, whereas Makeup by Mario’s is thin, shiny, and oily. MAC’s is also wet and “oily” for lack of a better term. One more thing about the Tarte balm that others might not like is that it has some stickiness to it, but not enough to bother me.

Shape Tape Glow Bronzer in Deep Bronze

I bought this expecting to use it as a highlighter because Deep Bronze looks lighter and more golden in the product photos than it is in reality. I did not expect it to be so dark!

This means that I can use it as intended. Good job, Tarte! I’ve noticed the brand’s efforts to have more shade options for their products. There’s still some room to grow, after all, only two shades is still going to exclude a lot of people from being able to use them. Plus the brand still doesn’t have a traditional bronzer in a wearable shade for those with deep skin. However, I acknowledge the increased efforts as of late. That being said, I wish they’d be more transparent about what this product actually is and does, because it’s pretty much a contour.

The name Shape Tape implies that it’s a sculpting product, but the line started with concealers. Sure, technically it can lift the face if a brighter shade is used, but I believe most people are like me in viewing Shape Tape as a product to conceal unwanted things on the face, not as a highlighting and contouring product. There was a Shape Tape foundation, after all, which doesn’t fit the sculpting idea either.
Although these “Glow Bronzers” are part of the Shape Tape line, they’re described on the website as, “radiant baked bronzing powders for a luminous glow.” So, I didn’t question it being anything more than a glowy bronzer. I was pleased when it turned out to be darker than I thought, but confused by how grey toned it looked in the compact. I own some products that look warmer in the light, but even in the light this has to be at a very specific angle to see a warmer tinge.

It’s only the box packaging that has writing on it stating that this product is a, “natural matte” and “cool toned powder.” Radiant and luminous, as described on the website, is definitely not the same thing as natural matte! In addition, the fact that it’s cool toned means it is very likely to have a contouring effect if it’s too many shades darker than someone’s natural skin tone, as is the case for me. There are people who specifically prefer cool toned bronzers, but the advertising gives no indication that this is what we’d be getting. Plus, most of the images of the product itself looks super shimmery, meanwhile only some of the model photos have it looking semi-matte. So, buyers please be aware that Deep Bronze is a sculpting bronzer or contour with a slight sheen. It’s not shimmery or glittery whatsoever. Below is an example of the shimmer level of the BareMinerals Blonzer (Kiss of Spice) and Kosas Sun Show Bronzer (Paradise) look like compared to the one from Tarte.

If I apply this lightly, I can see some of the red tones come through, but it always appears patchy. No matter what brush I use, or whether my base has been powder set or not, I end up needing to go back over the area with foundation, concealer, or to cover up the uneven spots with blush. If I use a normal amount of product, it looks more even, but it also creates a stronger contoured effect. So, what I tend to do more often is apply it like a contour and add a bronzer from another brand over the top of it. I’ve found a way to make it work and look pretty in my own eyes, but I don’t see myself reaching for this again. It’s just too much effort when I have a contour from Kaleidos that I like or the custom powder combination I can make from Hindash’s Beautopsy palette.

In the demonstration photos below, the sheer application looks quite grey, but grey/brown/red in the thicker layer. I didn’t realize until afterwards that my attempts to apply it, see it’s too patchy, remove it, try it again, and repeat the cycle with different brushes led to the final result looking darker/cooler. I believe it’s due to there not being enough time between my fourth or so re-application of foundation not being 100% dry before adding the sheer layer for the final time. I must have been feeling a little impatient by the fourth time since I wanted to demonstrate this product in the best possible light, knowing my words about it would be negative.

Another thing I can’t ignore is the closure of the packaging. Some genius thought it was a good idea to make the space to lift the lid practically flush with the bottom of the compact. A compact that already has holes on the bottom, making it awkward to place the fingers to grip. I have to literally stick my nail in the tiny space and hold my other nail in the side gap to pull it open. I rarely have trouble with packaging enough to need to mention it in a review, but this one is quite annoying.

Expectations for a luminous bronzer aside, I recommend the evenly priced Huda Beauty GloWish Soft Radiance Bronzing Powder instead. It has a prettier sheen and blends right into the skin. Longevity isn’t an issue for either of these two produdcts. The GloWish comes in more shades, plus some of the colors are available in mini sizes too.

Blur Brush

I selected the Blur Brush because I’ve always wondered how it compares to The Buffer brush, a long time holy grail synthetic fiber foundation brush. They both have a ton of bristles packed together. I always thought The Buffer was dense, but the Blur Brush is on another level! It feels especially tighter packed because it has much shorter bristles. The Buffer brush has longer fibers, so there’s a little more room to bend and splay, so there’s more flexibility while buffing it. The Blur Brush is so dense that it takes more force to move the product across the face. The wide surface area keeps it moving quite evenly though, and the foundation remains mostly on the tips and doesn’t go far down the bristles, which means less product gets lost during the application. Because of that tightness, it’s also more intuitive to swipe the foundation as opposed to trying to buff it in.

I should also note that I’ve only used these brushes with liquid foundations. I haven’t used them with creams or powders. In theory, I think the blur brush might pick up and disperse too much powder if it’s a setting or finishing one. However, one might like it for maximizing the coverage of a powder foundation. Also, I can imagine a stiff cream product with this stiff brush might be uncomfortable. However, I don’t know for sure since I only ever intend to use this with liquids.

Because the excess foundation remains on the skin and doesn’t go further into the brush, it can look like product is sitting on top of the face if too much is accidentally pumped out. For that reason, the Buffer Brush is more helpful for me to use because it takes the excess off the face and also helps push the remaining product further into the skin for a more natural look. The Blur Brush is still quite useful, but it takes second place to The Buffer for me and my foundation needs.

Two other things I noticed is that wherever the brush touches the foundation first will leave the biggest pool of product on the brush. I can blend some of it out of the pool and onto the face, but that initial part is the only place foundation gathers, besides the tips. The other thing is that this feature of how tightly packed the fibers are makes it both harder and easier to clean. At least I don’t need to worry about opening the brush and soaping up what’s deeper, but it’s hard to get the product out of the places it did stick.

So far, I’m still pleased with my decision to give this brush a try.

That is everything for this post! Thank you for reading!

-Lili ❤