Amazonian clay full coverage balancing foundation in light. According to the little pamphlet that came with this set, this foundation will "adjust to meet and address your skin concerns for makeup that wears better, longer, and truer!" When I think of a full coverage foundation, MAC's StudioSculpt or StudioFix come to mind. In my experience, those foundations cover every uneven skin tone or acne scar. If MAC is a 100% coverage, the tarte formula is at best a 75% coverage. I have some minor acne scarring, and this foundation didn't cover it very well. However, the color matches my skin beautifully, and it did last all day. With this set comes an "airbrush finish" foundation brush. According to the directions, you're supposed to put quarter sized dots on your face, and then use the brush for a "flawless" look. I'm not a big fan of foundation brushes to begin with, but this one is nice and fluffy so I thought this one might be different. I wasn't impressed. It gave the foundation an even lighter coverage. The brush is very nice, though, very well made with a bamboo handle. I think it'll be great for powder or bronzer.
Foundation grade: B.
Brush grade: A
Amazonian clay blush in glisten. I just ran out of my Nars Orgasm, and the pictures and description sounded a lot like it, so I was excited to see if this would be similar. On first glance, it is. However, the tarte blush has less pigment in it and seems to be all shimmer. It doesn't build well, I had to apply the blush about five times to get it visible on my cheeks, and I'm pretty pale. It didn't last very long as well, by lunch time there wasn't a speck of color and hardly any shimmer. However, while playing around with some of my other blushes, I have found the tarte blush layers very well with my all-time favorite blush, Benefit's Coralista for a great glow. Here are some swatches:
Blush * is where I applied the blush with my finger maybe 2-3 times and it looks great there. But blush ** is where I applied the blush with my blush brush, and I think I counted like 5 times trying to build the color. If you can't see what I'm talking about, click on the photo and it should blow up to its actual size. Look for what appears to be hives on my arm. I also have the swatches for the eye liner and lip gloss on my arm as well.
Blush grade: C- on its own, B- if layered
Amazonian clay eye shadow palette. Clockwise, Shimmering Bronze, Shimmering Cocoa, Shimmering Sand, and Shimmering Plum. I think I was most excited to get this palette than I was anything else, purely for the Shimmering Plum shade. It does not disappoint, it is gorgeous. I have dark brown eyes, and it really enhanced them. The Shimmering Cocoa and Bronze have a rich color to them, and are well-pigmented. Shimmering Sand is okay, it's very sheer and doesn't show up very well, but I think that's how it was supposed to be. It's a good canvas for the rest of the colors. I've very happy with this palette, and have no doubt it will go into heavy rotation in my daily makeup bag. It also comes in an adorable bamboo compact that is a tad awkward to open. Swatches for the colors are below:
Eyeshadow grade: A+
PureOptic gloss in Golden Pink. I'm not a huge fan of tarte's glosses as most of them are UBER-sparkly. The color itself is pretty, but I don't like it with this set. With the heavy amount of shimmer in the blush and eyeshadows, a super sparkly gloss turns your head into a sort of flesh disco ball. It has a light mint flavor.
Gloss grade: B if not worn with set.
Amazonian clay waterproof eyeliner in Golden Plum. I don't use eyeliner pencils as I prefer a thinner line, so I really don't know how to grade this product. It lasted all day, and went on smoothly. Yay?
Eyeliner grade: ?
Lights! Cameras! Lashes! Mascara in Black. This is my all-time favorite mascara. It makes my lashes super long, and they don't clump. unfortunately, it's pricey at $19 a pop, so I switch between this and another mascara to make it last longer.
Mascara grade: A+
The set came in a purple clutch that is made out of PVC that has a stamped woven effect. Normally, I end up giving these sort of things away because A) I'm up to my end parts in all sorts of makeup bags and B) they're usually just cheap pieces of crap. But the one that the set came in is well made and can hold a bunch.
The set was available on QVC and QVC.com for a short bit before they sold out. They still have the set available in Deep, though. I've read on a few blogs that this will be coming back, they're just waiting to get more in stock. The item number is A212775.
