Tarte Amazonian Treasures Collection | Sephora 500 Point Perk

Happy Friday, everyone! Today I'm taking a little break from my Disney Princess series because truthfully, I didn't have much time to put into creating a new look. The store I work at had it's grand opening which meant 11 1/2 hour shifts all weekend and after that I just wanted to rest. Also, apologies for yesterday's post. I posted because I thought I had to and that rubbish came out. It's a fantastic product so I may just rewrite it when I get the chance and re-publish it! Anyway, today I'm going to talk about a fantastic little set of Tarte products that Sephora was (and again, is) offering as a 500 point perk. It's the Amazonian Treasures Collection which features 5 deluxe samples of some of Tarte's most popular products! I'm not one to spend my Beauty Insider points, but there was no way I couldn't on this! I've had a chance to play around with these guys so I thought I'd do some mini-reviews on each. Right off the bat I can tell you it's well worth the 500 points!

• Pure Maracuja Oil | This is going to be a life saver during the cold, dry months for anyone with a drier skin type. It's a face oil that hydrates dry and acne prone skin without leaving it feeling greasy. It's amazing to put under foundation to have it apply evenly and without any dry patches. I've always wanted to purchase the full size but wasn't so sure about the $46 price tag (for 1.7 fl oz), but it might be well worth it! 
• Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara | This mascara is apparently supposed to be a 4 in 1. Anything you could want in a mascara you'd get with this one! I love what it does to my lashes and I'm gutted that this little guy has already dried out. This is the second mascara to ever make me think about perhaps venturing into high end mascaras. I still have loads of mascaras to get through, but this one coats my lashes, separates, and curls so nicely that it might be the first I buy!
• Amazonian Clay Waterproof Cream Shadow in Shimmering Moss | I'm not one to buy cream shadows on the fly but I was excited to see this gorgeous olive shade in the mix of products! The cream blends evenly onto the eye when patted with the finger. On it's own it kind of a downer because it creases in a matter of minutes- beautiful color and it creates a nice, soft look, but what does it matter when it looks like shadow wrinkles on your eyes?! I'd suggest a heavy duty primer underneath it to keep a hold on that shadow. I don't see myself purchasing a full size of this, but I'll be enjoying the deluxe sample whilst I have it!
• Amazonian Clay 12-HR Blush in Exposed | I LOVED THAT A BLUSH WAS INCLUDED IN THIS SET. Seriously, if it's one product from Tarte that you NEED to try it's their blushes. Such a fan-dabey dosey range of colors and the formulation is amazing. It's a bit smaller than their full size blushers but the pigmentation is so great that you only ever need a little dab-dab to have the color show. The great thing about Exposed is that it's such a warm, almost mauve pink that you can use it as either blush or for a bit on contour and color! Love, love, love it!
• Amazonian Clay Finished Powder | If you guys, have been reading my blog for a while you know that I'm already a fan of this fabulous finishing powder. I have a very in depth review of it that you can read over here. This powder is excellent to set your foundation without making it look "layered" and cakey. The powder is translucent and silky which reduces the appearance of flakiness and dry patches- I'm all for it!!

I got this set maybe two months ago, but now that it's finally back in Sephora stores as a 500 Point Perk I highly recommend you take a look and think about cashing your points in. So many great products in very generous sizes- you can't take a chance and pass it up!

How often do you spend your Beauty Insider points? Ever find a gem, like this?

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Tipsy on Tarte

Coral is everyone's best friend in the summer season, is it not? Well it's def. mine and it def. was last year! In the summer of 2012 everyone bat-crazy with coral shadows, liners, and blushers. One of the most amazing coral blushers that I came across was Tarte's Amazonian Clay Blush in Tipsy. Tarte's Amazonian Clay Blushes are the bees knees in every aspect. I got mine at Sephora for $28 and it'll honestly last you forever! The packaging is simple, yet quirky with their logo printed on the top and the individualized color. I love that about their blushes - each blush compact represents the shade of the blush inside so it's a no brainer when you go looking for one! If you'd like to see my more in-depth review on these blushes you can check out my review on Natural Beauty (which is what's called, a complete natural beauty!) over here. Actually, head on over there to read about the blush and I'll just reiterate cause this formula of blush needs to be praised. The pigmentation of Tipsy is SUPER, well, pigmented, haha! You need the lightest of taps with your brush to get a really nice color. It's easy to overdue because of the crazy pigmentation, but the good news is it's also quite blend able - not to the point where you blend everything away, but it blends to look more natural. Am I making any sense at all? Probably not, but we'll move onto the shade. Tipsy is the perfect coral shade. I thought it might lean more orange since the packaging is totally orange, but it's the perfect blend of orange and pink tones. It's not a hard blush to pull off even though it may seem a bit intimidating. It looks great with natural looks and has always been the greatest compliment to more colorful eye looks, which sounds weird, because it's color on color, but trust me, it works! I managed to include a cheek swatch (that doesn't sound right, haha) to show you how it blends and looks on the face. Plus, I'm wearing some ridiculous gold and purple liner combos, and it still looks ah-smha-zing! (what?! haha, I'm sorry, it's the caffeine talking) I love having this color in my collection and it's def. worth looking into!

What Tarte blushes are/would be a must have for you?

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Tarte Smooth Operator | The Powder for Drier Skin

It's Friday, Friday! Who's excited that it's finally Friday? Me! Tomorrow is the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island, which I only realized today and now I'm scrambling to find someone to go with! So far, no takers. Eh, if I have to go by myself, I'll go by myself. I just want to see the mermaids ... who are mostly dudes in drag, haha! Anyway, where am I going with this? No where, stay on track Jess!

Today I'm talking about the finishing powder made for all beauties, but that'll also work nicely on dry skin beauties! Before getting this powder I was all over the NARS Light Reflecting Powder, but after talking to my friend Julia she suggested I try Tarte's Smooth Operator, which is a micronized clay finishing powder. It's a translucent powder, that's supposed to not only mattify your skin, but also minimize the appearance of your pores and replenish your skin. The 'replenish' part is what reeled me in. I love powdering my face because it helps my foundation last that much longer but sometimes that just means I'm going to make my face look that much more dry. The magical Amazonian clay does about a gazillion beautiful things for your skin, which is why Tarte loves using it in so many of their products! Amazonian clay in this powder makes your skin smoother, mattifies it, and at the same time hydrates your skin so that the appearance of dryness and flakiness is reduced. They not only say that, but it actually does that!

Smooth Operator makes my skin feel and look smooth. It can look a bit flaky if my skin is feeling particularly parched and I haven't moisturized that day, but other than that it looks great - no dry patches around blemishes or around my nose. This is exceptionally good for setting under eye concealers and brighteners! It keeps the concealer put throughout the day and prevents it from creasing. Since it's summer and I haven't been wearing too much foundation, or a heavy layer of it, using it to set my under eye make up has been my favorite way to use it. Also, just buffing this on its own on my face slightly evens out the redness on my face, controls the gah-ross sweat and still smoothes my skin!

I leave the packaging for last because it is gorgeous but may be the reason you hate this product if you don't do your research. The powder comes in a typical twisty-top pot? mini-jar? (see below, haha) with a really nice palm tree design on the cover! Now when you twist off the cover you'll notice the sifter and then you'll notice it comes with one teeny whole. Yes, the sifter is one teeny hole. When I first started using it I couldn't get ANY of the product out. You can hold it upside down and tap it all you want but nothing will come out. *I almost returned it because of this* but I really wanted to try it and didn't want to have to take off the itty, bitty sifter to do it. So I dug a little deeper, read reviews on Sephora and found out you have to push down on the sifter with your thumbs to get the product out. When you push down the powder just puffs out of the sifter. Problem solved! (but don't push too hard because then you'll end up with powder everywhere) At first it was bit strange to have to push to get my product out of a tiny sifter but it means that I can toss this in my bag and don't have to worry about it exploding! I'm still getting used to the fact that it's a powdered-power instead a pressed powder, but other than that's it's really lovely on the skin and the fact that I don't have to worry about looking flakey is a big plus for me!

What do you think? What are you favorite finishing powders?

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