Beauty, Blush, Face, Makeup, Mid-Range Brands, Review, Swatches

Is it just me or are holiday collections coming earlier and earlier every year? We haven’t even made it to Halloween yet and we’re already seeing new holiday palettes and sets. I’m not complaining. But dang! Can I go trick or treating and get through Thanksgiving first before these beauty brands are digging all in my pockets? Sheesh! I could have used a short break after Ulta’s enticing 21 Days of Beauty but it looks like that’s not happening since many brands, like Tarte, are already flashing their new holiday goodies in our faces.

Since I’ve become such an insane highlighter junkie I’ve started back wearing blush more often. Which has led me to buy more blushes that I honestly don’t need. But a girl needs options and Tarte’s new limited edition Color Wheel Amazonian Clay Blush Palette has plenty of them at a great price. The Color Wheel Amazonian Clay Blush Palette features 10 mini blushes for $44. It’s a small and compact palette that’s the same size as the Tarteist Contour Palette. Although the pans are small, they’re still big enough to fit a fluffy blush brush and hold a decent amount of product too (0.0084 oz).

The Tarte Color Wheel Amazonian Clay Blush Palette features 10 brand spankin’ new blushes exclusive to the palette with a neutral color range that’s mostly pink based. The shades include:

• Mod peachy coral
• Deco poppy pink
• Surreal hot pink
• Culture coral shimmer
• Idol nude shimmer
• Concept pink nude
• Icon dusty rose
• Montage pink mauve
• Ironic berry rose
• Crafty pale pink shimmer

The Color Wheel Amazonian Clay Blush Palette is a pretty nice mix of colors that’ll work well on many skin tones from fair to deep. There’s a few shades that I’m not super fond of like Deco, Icon and Concept (all pale pinks) but the majority of the shades work very well for my brown skin making the Tarte Color Wheel Amazonian Clay Blush Palette a hit for us dark skin divas too. Part of me still wishes that Tarte made the pans full sized like the Big Blush Books but I can’t really complain about the smaller pans because they seem to contain more than enough product for the average makeup junkie. Plus, the smaller pan sizes help make the Color Wheel Amazonian Clay Blush Palette much more convenient for travel since it isn’t nearly as bulky as the Big Blush Books.

When it comes to Tarte’s holiday sets and palettes, people seem to be a little skeptical of the quality because they’re typically made in China. I’m pleased to report that the quality of the Color Wheel Amazonian Clay Palette is right on par with the full sized Amazonian Clay Blushes. Each shade is moderately pigmented with a soft, finely milled texture that practically melts into the skin and blends quite easily. I was actually very impressed with the Color Wheel Amazonian Clay Blush Palette because the colors I thought would look horrible on me actually didn’t look too bad once applied. I tried Icon and Concept on and both shades seem to work rather well on my brown skin. They were still a little light for my tastes so I eventually mixed them with Ironic to give them a little more dimension but they didn’t look chalky, pale or ashy once applied.

I was also very impressed with the 2 highlighters Tarte tossed in the mix: Idol and Crafty. Idol is a golden bronze with golden shimmer while Crafty is more of a yellow gold-champagne with golden shimmer. Both highlighters look beautiful on brown skin and give a nice, soft golden glow that’s easy to wear. I wouldn’t necessarily consider them to be sheer but they’re not full on pigmented like most highlighters so it’s very easy to get a soft, natural glow or layer them for a more pronounced glow that never looks glittery or metallic. Overall, I think Tarte did a pretty bang up job with the Color Wheel Amazonian Clay Blush Palette. It’s well worth the money!

I was able to snatch up this beauty when it first went on sale at Tarte but, of course, it went rather quickly. Thankfully, it’s also available at Sephora where it seems to still be in stock online and in stores. I’d act fast though because the Color Wheel Amazonian Clay Blush Palette is an amazing buy with beautiful packaging that I don’t think is going to hang around too much longer. Get yours before it’s gone!

Idol, Mood, Deco, Surreal, Culture, Concept, Icon, Montage, Ironic and Crafty

Idol, Mood, Deco, Surreal and Culture

Crafty, Ironic, Montage, Icon and Concept