little white truths

These little sample cards came along with Sephora orders earlier in the year and I've been looking forward to trying them because I've heard so much about Tarte blushes in particular (its bronzer as well) that I wanted to see what they were like for myself.

Do note that I have swatched Tarte blushes in Sephora and decided that they weren't for me because the texture was hard and dry. As you may know, I prefer a softer, creamier powder so when I swatched these, I immediately didn't want to buy one anymore. 

Yes it's best to try something on the face to see how it performs, but considering that I have too many blushes as it is, I don't think it's a bad thing that I found a way to discount these and not feel tempted to buy one.

Anyhoo. I've since received the Tarte mini blush that came as part of our birthday gifts from Sephora this year, but it's pink so I prefer it on the eyes because pink blush doesn't suit me. I also think the formula of that mini is a little different from the full sizes I swatched because it's softer - and it's certainly different from this sample Glisten blush, which is very dry and very gritty.

Let's just move straight into swatches and I'll go into my first impressions more below.

There's a light and a heavy swatch of Tarte Park Ave Princess and Tarte Glisten, indirect sunlight:

And direct sunlight:

Verdict

Ok, so this is definitely a first impressions post because I've only used each product on my face twice and on my eyes once. And I have to give Tarte points here because at least the samples were large enough for a few applications (plus swatches): when I received a card of Laguna Bronzer from Nars, that wasn't the case and I barely had enough for my face after doing a swatch. 

Let's start with the bronzer because I liked that better. It's softer and creamier than the blush, although I would still call it a dry formula and it wasn't my favourite formula for bronzing for this reason. Nevertheless it applied and blended well, and because it's not super pigmented, I could build it and I wasn't worried about making mistakes and winding up with too much product on my face.

Park Ave Princess is a good, neutral milk chocolate brown and I think it would suit fairer skintones. Yes I could wear it on my light/medium to medium skin, but because I have warm undertones, it looks quite cool on me so it's better for contouring than it is for bronzing.

I tried the bronzer on the eyes and it worked nicely there too, plus it wore well on my face and eyes throughout the day. I liked it overall but I wouldn't buy it because it's not the right colour for my personal tastes and I've also used other formulas that I prefer (eg Hourglass, Kevyn Aucoin and Bobbi Brown bronzers).

As for the blush, the formula is very dry and gritty (it might just be the driest powder I've ever touched), and I think part of the problem is that it's overloaded with gold glitter. Indeed, I'm surprised that Tarte included this shade in this sample card: surely it would have been better to include a popular shade that people love, such as Tarte Exposed.

In any event, whatever Tarte chose for this card, I don't think Glisten was a good option because I don't know many people who like noticeable glitter in their face products. I definitely don't, and I found this blush to be unwearable because I hated the shimmer so much.

The colour is a peachy pink that definitely leans on the pink side, but happily there's enough peach in it that I can wear it (pink blushes normally don't suit me). I found that if I applied just a tiny amount then the glitter wasn't so obvious, but as soon as I tried to build it so you could see it, the glitter was everywhere and the gold sheen in the product also emphasised texture (eg open pores).

I also tried Glisten on the eyes as a lid colour and it was ok but I had to build it a lot because it's not very pigmented, and by the time I'd done that, I'd applied too much powder so it looked super drying and wrinkly on my lids. It did wear well on both the cheeks and the eyes, though, so that's something.

Overall I think the bronzer is nice and it's a great one to try if you're after a bronzer that isn't warm, but I didn't like the blush so it's not one I would try again.

Let me know what your favourite Tarte blush is: I might have one applied to my face next time I'm in Sephora, just to see what all the fuss is about.

Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x