Tarte Cosmetics are a HUGE cruelty-free cosmetics company that has recently graced the shores of Australia with the introduction of the holy Sephora stores. With four million followers on Instagram, we wanted to see what the fuss was about this new makeup company making a splash the down under.
Tarte was founded out of a one-bedroom apartment by CEO Maureen Kelly who noticed a gap in the market for cruelty-free and ‘healthy’ makeup in pretty packaging. Now Tarte pride themselves on using high-performance, natural ingredients that actually look good, feel good and last all day.
But that’s all information you can find out by Googling the makeup brand. We actually put Tarte Cosmetics to the test, trying out their Clean Slate Poreless Primer, Amazonian Clay Foundation, Tartlette 2 In Bloom Palette, Maracuja Oil, Matte Lip Paint and Precision Longwear Liner.
From left; Tartlette 2 In Bloom palette, Matte Lip Paint in Frenemy and TBT
The first look we tried was a natural-eye-and-statement-lip look that we wore running around between meetings and events all day. We started on a fresh face with the Clean Slate primer, which left our skin feeling smooth and velvety. We then moved onto foundation, which is quite thick due to the clay and offers heavy coverage, however can buffed out easily using a damp Beauty Blender for lighter coverage. For our eyes we used the In Bloom eyeshadow palette, combining Smarty Pants and Jetsetter to define our crease and Flower Child on our lid. We then used the Precision Longwear Liner to do a simple winged eye. To finish off the look, we applied the Matte Lip Paint in Frenemy to define our lips.
The second look we tried was a heavier evening look, using a mix of Smarty Pants and Jetsetter as our transition colour and working a bit of Rebel in as we got to the crease. We wanted our eyes to look really dramatic, so we blended Leader into the outer crease and corner. For the lid, we used Smarty Pants as our base colour then went in with a damp brush and piled on Firecracker, which we wanted to be the star of the show. Firecracker is our favourite shade in this palette, it’s warm, sparkly and insanely pigmented, so gives you a perfect foiled shadow look when used with a wet brush! We then smudged a little bit of Leader under out lower lash line, and applied Firecracker on our inner corner and dragged it out until it met Leader. For the lips we used Matte Lip Paint in TBT, a nude shade that makes us feel like Kyle Jenner. We love this.
Overall we found the eyeshadows extremely pigmented and blendable. We only had to use a small bit of product to get the colour shown in the pan, and it didn’t require a whole lot of muscle work to smoke the shadows out! The colour selection is on point too, with most of these colours now finding a place in our everyday makeup routines. As Matte Lip Paint is pure pigment in an oil base, we recommend using a lip liner for all shades as the colour will bleed. As for the foundation, we liked it as an everyday foundation because it let our skin breathe and felt quite silky on our skin.
From left to right; Clean Slate Primer, Maracuja Oil and Amazonian Clay Foundation
Tarte’s Maracuja oil has been a holy grail product for a lot of people with dry, dull skin. The product can be applied in the evening before going to bed to moisturise skin, reduce inflammation and improve softness, or a single drop can be added to foundation to achieve a radiant, glowing look. We tried it before going to bed and woke up with soft and hydrated skin! As it’s a dry oil, it can be used under foundation to keep skin moisturised all day long and give a satin finish. It’s got vitamin c in it too, for that highly-sought after brightening result!
Tarte Cosmetics can be purchased online through the Sephora website, with free shipping on all purchases over $55! Who doesn’t love cruelty-free makeup at affordable prices with free shipping?
