Thursday, October 25, 2012

Swatched: Tarte Holiday 2012 Collection Sets


Unless you've been living under a beauty rock, you must have heard of these fantastic Tarte Holiday Sets. From what I've seen and heard, they've been flying off Sephora shelves so fast it's like UD Naked all over again. Looking at them and how little they cost, I totally understand the frenzy. With most of these sets, you're essentially paying a little over the price of one item for multiple products. The best part? Aside from the blush set, they aren't even mini-sized

A portion of my face has been rather odd lately so I haven't been able to take photos of myself wearing makeup. For now, here are swatches of the three sets I have, in case you were hesitating on your purchase (but seriously, why are you?).

Fantastic Foursome 4-Piece Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush Enthusiast Set ($35 for $60 value)
L-R; Angelic, Fantastic, Magic, Stellar

L-R: Stellar, Magic, Fantastic, Angelic

The colors are all exclusive to this set! Angelic is an ivory highlight, Fantastic is a matte cool pink, Magic is a pink-leaning coral, and Stellar is a shimmery light bronzer. Out of the four, Fantastic was slightly chalky (since it's matte) while Stellar required some packing to show up, but I think that's a good thing in a bronzer shade. 

5-Piece LipSurgence™ Collector's Set ($34 for $120 value)
L-R: Escape, Enchanted, Exposed, Sweet, Elite

Tarte included three different formulas in this 5-piece set. Escape and Sweet are Lip Lusters (sheerer, more shimmer), Enchanted and Elite are Lip Tints (more pigmented), while Exposed is a Matte Lip Tint. It's fantastic if you've been hankering to try out a variety of Tarte lip offerings without breaking the bank. My only caveat is it's mostly comprised of warm pinks. I would have liked to see a wider color selection, maybe switch two out for a red and a nude.

Eye Catchers 6-Piece SmolderEYES™ And Skinny SmolderEYES™ Collector's Set ($39 for $144 value)
L-R: Ash Violet, Rainforest Black, Champagne, Gunmetal, Gold, Onyx

Again, the colors are exclusive to this set and not available in their regular line. I can't even begin to explain how awesome swatching these liners felt. Gliding butter! Yet they won't budge! Look at those colors! And that black! I mean, that's what I call a black

I guess it felt like a lot of exclamation points. I think the colors are pretty self-explanatory from the swatches and accompanying names, except Gunmetal, which is a taupey brown and not a steely gray as the name would suggest.

From swatching and some light testing, all the items in these sets hold up to the usual Tarte standard. I've been a longtime fan of their blushes, Exposed being my go-to browned rose, and am happy to rediscover their lip pencils and eye liners. I was once a staunch devotee of SmolderEYES in brown and only put it away because I went back to wearing black liners. 

These Tarte sets are available at Sephora and Tarte.com, and I say they're all worth it. Even if you only like one color out of the entire set, you can split them up and give them as Thanksgiving/Hannukah/Christmas/I-Don't-Need-A-Special-Reason gifts. After all, what girl doesn't like receiving makeup?

The products in this post were provided by the company for editorial consideration

24 comments:

  1. OMG I'm so so so happy I got the fat pencil set!!! Can't wait to receive it! Every color in there is my color really!

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    1. Eeeeee! Me too! Taupe, Dark Green, Khaki! Perfection! I would wear all of these, even occasionally the gold, despite being cooler-toned...

      On another note: OMG WHERE DID YOU GET THEM. Is there somewhere that stocks Tarte AND ships internationally? I've looked but I can't find a single supplier anywhere and both me and my Mum really want one.

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    2. i've been looking for a site that ships tarte internationally too! if you know of any please tell me and i'll forever grateful

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  2. Gorgeous!! Totally loving those eye pencils :)

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  3. i got the pencil set as well!
    my purchase was officially justified by your swatches. thanks! :D

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  4. I want everything :D but especially the blushes, Angelic looks like a beautiful highlighter!

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  5. These photos are so good that I am disgusted. LOL.

    *Grabby hands*

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    1. I'm SO glad someone else understand the "disgustingly good" compliment. I've had more than one person actually get offended when I've told them that online. They've been like "My pictures disgust you...?"

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    2. Hahaha really? I take it as the highest form of compliment :P

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    3. I KNOW! I absolutely don't get it. Its like "devastating". If its so good you just lose your will to LIVE then its pretty freaking amazing. \

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    4. Like when you find the perfect product, or after each episode of Sherlock. When I got my clarisonic I think I had to be practically resuscitated.

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  6. Soo tempted by the Lip Surgance set. I only own one LS but I love it so much! xx

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  7. I didn't know I needed the Smolder eyes! What beautiful swatches! :)

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  8. That pencil set...I kind of want it. But are they those big chubby pencils that are meant to be shadows? Because I kind of hate those. ._.

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  9. I *just* bought the eye pencil set today! I'm not sure I want the blush set but I *do* want the LIpSurgence set, so that's next on my list.

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  10. I'm eyeing those liners--I've heard a lot of good things about this formula, but I've been too chicken to stray from my MUFE Aqua Eyes because most everything else smudges on me. Do you find that these Tarte ones are actually long-wearing for you, Xiao? I have very small and oily lids and usually nothing can withstand that deadly combo!

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    1. I'm still testing them! So far, without primer it lasts about 4 hours. It doesn't really "fall out," but it creases up on my hooded eyelids. I applied them while my eyelids were oily though. I'm hoping to get better testing this weekend and report back!

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  11. Rainforest black looks amazing! Does it look black in some light and green in others?

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  12. THOSE LINERS. Every color looks perfect for fall ohmygoodness

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  13. Gorgeous. I love the look of the eyeliners. Those SHADES!

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  14. Gliding butter...I'll need to try out these liners for sure. The tarte lippies set make such perfect gifts... I'll be tempted to gift myself!

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  15. I ended up getting the four-piece blush set and it's def value for money. But I was still a little underwhelmed because the shades they put in the set are not their bestsellers. I wish they did but it could have had a more dramatic flying off the shelves effect in Sephora. I got mine online. Anyway your photos are disgustingly and devastatingly great as always ;)

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