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Tarte NeutralEYES Volume II Palette

The Tarte NeutralEYES Volume II Palette is a 10 shadow palette with colors ranging from pale pink to a a milk chocolate brown. This palette comes with a Tarte emphasEYES brown eyeliner, a dual shadow brush, and a sample of their eye primer. I think it also came with a card with some ways to use the palette but I lost it. I bought mine from ULTA for $44.00. I’ve had about a month to play with it and I have some good and bad things to say.

I’ll start with the packaging:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The case is pretty sturdy and the lid is magnetic so it snaps into place. I feel like this would work really well for travel. It’s not too bulky or large and you could easily throw it in a suitcase and not worry about it shattering everywhere.

Next the eyeshadows themselves:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You get an even mix of matte and shimmer shades with the palette. The top 5 colors are matte and the bottom 5 are shimmer. None contain any noticeable glitter which is great because I hate glitter fallout. The colors themselves look nice in the pan but I find that the colors themselves don’t have the best payoff. The first 2 top shades and first 2 bottom shades had the least color payoff for me. When I swatched them on my arm you could barely even seem them. I also found that the 4th bottom shade also shows up very light.  Considering I spent 44 dollars on this set I was a little disappointed that almost half the shades didn’t show up against my skin. However, the buttercream shade (third in the top row) and the two brown shimmer shades on the bottom have great payoff and I love wearing them. The brown shimmer shades both remind me of cooler toned versions of Urban Decay’s smolder. I also think the grey shade in the top row looks nice paired over Maybelline’s Tough as Taupe Color Tattoo. Here are the colors swatched on my arm:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The feel of these varies, the matte shades are a little more powdery while the shimmer colors are pretty creamy. One huge plus is these colors literally last ALL day on me. Tarte products always have amazing staying power for me these are no exception.

The freebies that come with this are great. The eyeliner is such a crazy consistency. Its an aqua-gel liner in pencil form, it’s so soft it almost feels like a liquid when you are applying it.  The only problem is that since it’s so soft you could blow through this pencil in 2 weeks if you used it as an everyday liner and I’m pretty sure they retail for $22 so that would be a big budget buster. The brush is great and I enjoyed the primer as well.

Things You Need To Know:

1. The color payoff isn’t great on some of these shades but the lasting power is unbeatable.

2. My favorite way to wear this palette is to apply the buttercream shade all over my lid and then mix the 2 shimmer brown shades into my crease.

3. This palette has a good mix of matte and shimmer shades and avoids chunky glitter

4. Be careful when you apply the eyeliner to your waterline, it melts into a liquid and I’m always getting it in my eye which burns like crazy for the first 10 seconds. (However the staying power is great so I still use it, I’m just very careful)

5. I use these with a primer to get the most color payoff

Overall I feel like this palette was more a miss than a hit for me. I definitely can find ways to wear it and the eyeliner it came with was awesome but I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone on a budget. This was kind of an impulse buy for me and I wish I had done a little more research and swatched the colors in the store. While I still love Tarte products this just didn’t impress me very much.

 

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Posted by Holly | 0 Comments

Tarte Amazonian clay long-wear blush

These Tarte blushes are my absolute favorite, they have great pigment, blend easily and wear evenly.  I think they are also marketed as lasting 12 hours.  I however don’t really notice them lasting that long. Still love them though!

Amused

Blissful

These blushes were $25.00 a piece but worth the splurge. I find myself reaching for blissful almost everyday. I love that there is no shimmer to them and blissful looks beautiful on my medium skin tone, although both colors are flattering. I’ve read many positive reviews on these and I’m happy I’m not the only one that loves them.  These are very pigmented and because they are baked I find there is very little powderiness to them.  Another plus is the packaging! These are so easy to throw in my purse and the lids never come open.

When I have some extra cash I definitely want to invest in some of the other colors

 

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