Tag: face powder

Tarte Cosmetics Newness

Tarte is a brand that is fast becoming a favourite of mine – the packaging is to die for, and the products are such great quality with amazing results. The latest batch of loveliness has just hit QVC UK – here are a few things that are on offer.

First up is the Amazonian Butter Lipstick Trio in the shades Guava, Lychee and Mulberry. Can we take a moment to appreciate the packaging please? Gorgeous cardboard casing with floral patterns all over them… swoon. Right, the lipsticks! As you may imagine, I don’t always bother reading boxes, I just want to get to the product, and that was the case here. My first thought as I tried these on my lips, was just how buttery they were, then I realised they were called Amazonian Butter lipsticks and that yes, they are infused with Amazonia cupaucu and murmuru butters. They are intensely moisturising and hydrating, and feel so comfortable to wear.

The three are sheer lipsticks, but with enough colour for it to be there, like an insanely pigmented balm. Guava is a reddy-coral with tinfy flecks of golden micro-glitter. You can’t see it on the lips, but it adds to the 3d-effect once it’s on. Lychee is my absolute favourite – a really easy to wear purpley nude, I just love it, and it will take pride of place in my handbag so I can wear it as much as possible! Mulberry is a deeper, rosy nude that will be great for autumn.

Next I tried the BB Tinted Treatment 12-hour Primer. This is designed to be used either as a primer to other make up, or as a BB Cream on it’s own. It’s oil free which is a bonus for me, but doesn’t give me enough coverage to wear on it’s own – nor is it the kind of finish I like. It claims to be buildable – the top photo is my hand which one layer on, and some more squeezed on. The bottom photo shows my hand with 2 layer on. Although it doesn’t work for me as a BB Cream, I am really enjoying using it as a primer – it minimises the appearance of pores, and my foundation glides on top of it. It came with a stippling brush which I am absolutely in love with. The hairs are so short and firm that you can really work your foundation into your face. The bamboo handle and golden metal is a lovely touch too.

The other brush I have been trying is the Buffy Bamboo Face Powder Brush – another great quality brush, it feels so floppy and soft when you use it to apply powder to the face. It gives a nice even distribution of product so as not to look cakey. I have been using it with the Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder which is also amazing. It’s a white loose powder which is so finely milled that it creates a little dust cloud when you close the lid. It leaves your skin with an airbrushed finish, and controls shine without looking powdery. I have extremely oily skin, and my make up lasts a lot longer than usual since I’ve started using this.

So there’s my little round-up of Tarte newness. I urge you to go and try some of their stuff out, as you may have already guessed – I am loving it!

MAC Archie’s Girls

MAC release limited edition collections more often than I’ve had hot dinners, but as soon as I got wind of the Archie’s Girls Collection, I knew some of it had to be mine! I am too young to have experienced Archie’s Girls as a comic, but I believe MAC have taken two of the characters from it – Betty who I gather is blonde, sweet and innocent and made a collection for her, and Veronica – a dark haired vixen, and made a collection for her too.

It was released in USA at the beginning of February, so I have been eyeing up the swatches that have appeared on blogs, making a list of what I wanted. It still isn’t for sale in MAC stores in the UK, but when I got an email from Selfridges saying they were stocking it exclusively I couldn’t wait to place an order!

I feel I was quite restrained really – if I was better off I definitely could have ordered more, I love the look of most of the collection. Number one on my list of importance was Betty Bright. The moment I saw it swatched on Temptalia I knew it was definitely my kind of lipstick!

When I swatched it on my hand I thought it was quite similar to Viva Glam Nicki by MAC, however side by side, you can see that Betty Bright looks much more coral in comparison to the pinkiness of Viva Glam Nicki.

It’s a Satin formula, which I find means that it will be moisturising, long lasting and buildable. The colour is opaque and not overly creamy – however as this is a colour verging on neon, I found that it needed to be applied with care so as to not look streaky – and also picked up any dry bits on my lips. That said, I adore the colour and think it will look amazing with a tan.

The next must-buy for me was the Pearlmatte face powder in Flatter Me, which is also from Betty’s collection.

It is described by MAC as a ‘golden peach base with coral hearts’ which sounded up my street – Stereo Rose by MAC has been my blush of choice for years now, and this sounded like it could come close colour wise. Besides, I loved the design of the product – the hearts are mega cute!

In the photo above I first swatched just the coral heart, then the base, then the two mixed together. The hearts could quite easily be avoided if you wanted to use the base colour on it’s own – I think it would be a really pretty highlight shade. Temptalia said in her review that she had problems in getting any colour from the hearts – however I found it to be no problem at all – the two mixed together leave a gentle coral colour which I find to be ideal with my kind of skin tone. It’s fairly sheer so it may not show up on darker skin tones though.

It went on really easily and smoothly and lasted all day – could this be a contender for my new fave coral blush!?

The Pearlglide eyeliners all looked amazing – if I could, I would have bought all four in the collection, but they are part of MAC’s permanent collection so I wasn’t too worried about getting them just for the Archie’s Girls packaging (plus they’re £1.50 cheaper!). Instead, I went for Black Swan, and Designer Purple.

Amazing, huh!?

They have glitter particles in them, which make them almost frosty looking and shimmery – even wet. You can’t use them in your waterline in case the glitter irritates your eyes, but they look fab on the lower or upper lash line.

They are really highly pigmented so one swoop of the pencil is all you need. I found them to be incredibly soft – so thin little eye liner lines are not possible straight from the pencil. These are all about being seen! The softness means they glide onto the eyes really easily. I think the black will look great to accentuate a smokey eye, but think I may end up using these as eyeshadow bases – they seem the perfect consistency!

And so, unfortunately – that is all… the photos above show me wearing everything I bought.

Let me know what you think, and what you have your eye on from the collection.

The MAC Archie’s Girls collection is available at Selfridges.