First Look| Tarte Tartelette Palette (Limited Edition)

Tarte eyeshadows have never caught my eye.

No really, I've never owned anything eyeshadow related from them, even if their concealers, blushes, and foundations rock my world. I've heard that they're dry, crumbly, patchy, and generally underwhelming when there are so many other choices on the market. So how did the Tarte Tartelette Palette ($44) happen to find its way home to me? 

I didn't care for Urban Decay Naked Basics 1 or 2 while hoards of women proclaimed them to be workhorse palettes. While the formula was decent, the colors weren't exactly interesting on my lids. Why wear mattes when I could wear glittah?

Not to mention, I could curate my own set of matte crease shades elsewhere (cough, MUG, cough) and be completely content. Mattes were meant to supplement my creations, not BE them. 

While I was still wafflin' about on buying the Tartelette sight unseen, I had the chance to go in stores and swatch/decide for myself They swatched:

- ULTRA BUTTERY

- VERY PIGMENTED

-SO SOFT

And yes, I caved. Would I consistently wear mattes because of the formulation? Would mattes become the very essence of who I am? I hoped to answer those questions with a resolute yes with this palette. Since it's limited edition I didn't want to wait to ponder these metaphysical questions of life. *eyeroll*

But in all seriousness, they WERE amazingly soft, smooth, buttery, and pigmented without a hint of powder or fall out. Definitely not true to the rumors I've heard about Tarte eyeshadows. Yes, there were one or two (I'll tell you soon) shadows that were on the sheer side, but none of them are outright chalky or crumbly. 

The packaging is cute, securely fastened, compact and slim, and includes a huge mirror. The palette comes with a sheet of instruction and a clear sheet of film over the eyeshadows, which seems to have collected some dust/fallout in storage even when the shadows look untouched.

Another important aspect of this palette: it's actually neutral. I have enough warm matte browns and don't care for cool toned shadows at all. From online pictures it's hard to tell which shade is really cool, neutral, or warm, but the picture above is the best representation of the colors in my opinion. 

I really appreciate the variety of depths, undertones, and layout of the palette. You can create a warmer brown look from the top row, a rosey look from the middle row, and a cooler toned taupe look from the bottom row. Likewise, the left column of "lid shades" can be used to complement/neutralize your mobile lids, especially useful if you enjoy a cut crease look.

You can see that while some shades like "Dreamer" and "Wanderer" and "Multi-Tasker" are warm leaning, they will not swatch very warm. (Btw, who came up with these names...?) Likewise, cool looking shades like "Natural Beauty", "Power Player" and "Bombshell" are also neutral enough to not make me look like the undead.  

In order to pick up the maximum amount of pigmentation and ensure awesome blendability, feel free to work your brush into the pan. There won't be any fallout (or very minimal) and you'll be able to pick up the right amount of product that makes blending a breeze. In terms of blendability, I'd say that these shadows perform like MAC eyeshadows. 

If you use too little, there will be patchiness on the lids. I also noticed that this formulation works better alone than with a drying primer like a MAC paint pot (Lorac Behind the Scenes Eye Primer is ok.) They do not crease throughout the day and fade slightly after 6 hours of wear. 

I've included swatches (2 passes) over bare skin and under different lighting situations. As you can see, the darker colors "Bombshell" and "Multi-Tasker" look like they swatch badly but are very buttery on the fingers. The true chalky queen is "Super Mom" which I didn't care for at all. 

For every day, I usually go right to the colors in the middle of my swatch arm. Any look is easily amplified for night-time with the darker brown, plum, or black. 

The true testament to how much I love this palette? I've been wearing it every day for a week. I haven't run out of looks to create, and I can pop a bit of glitter onto the inner half of my lids for a new look. It's a compact palette which means that I can take it to work and back every day in my handbag. 

If you're never willing to drop $80 bucks on the Viseart Neutral Matte palette but still want to indulge in a matte palette, why not check this one out?

xo Be