Summer favorites from Tarte Cosmetics

This Summer, I am excited to get glowing with two of my favorite products from Tarte Cosmetics. (Of course, I will also be using the Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Blissful that I got from Meg's Makeup earlier this year.) They are the LipSurgence natural lip luster in Buff & the Amazonian Clay Shimmering Powder in Rose. :)

I first learned about the LipSurgence Natural Lip Luster at the NYC Beautylish Spring Trends event! They were doing mini-makeovers and I received this gorgeous Buff color- a natural-looking shimmery pinkish nude in our goody bags. Psyched to try this out, I have been using as my summer lip staple so far! This lip stain glides on smooth for a hint of color perfect for the hot summer days. Also adore that it looks like a chubby lip pencil but no sharpening is required! More reviews here.

Learn more about the Tarte's Shimmering Powder...

I received another Meg's Makeup gift package about 2 months ago which included the Provacateur Amazonian Clay Shimmering Powder. I got a few repeats in the package so I didn't do a separate post, but I was excited to try this out! If you're looking for a subtle glow this summer, try this in Rose. I am a bit pale, and this hardly showed on my skin, but it gives my skin a nice sheen & glow to it. (used this for cheek highlighting) Color is definitely workable and blendable so you can keep adding to it, but this won't be giving you a bronzed look if that's what you're aiming for.

Read reviews on the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour blush here.

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Sephora Sundays 2011 #1: It's back!

Last January, I started a Sephora Sundays mini series that included products that I liked and available at Sephora's website. (See last year's series here!) I can spend hourssss just browsing on Sephora.com to checking out their new products, samples and just to look at products I really want to try. For 2011, I wanted to start it again since it's the new year and there's always lots of new stuff being added.

Here are some of my current items on my wishlist:

	1) Pacifica I Love fragrance - This set contains 5 solid perfumes, including Tuscan Blood Orange, Tahitian Gardenia, Hawaiian Ruby Guava, Indian Coconut Nectar, and French Lilac. I have already tried all of these except French Lilac.. and they're all yummy! See my past Pacifica reviews here.
	2) Tarte Radiant & Rested Luminous Complexion Collection- This kit is also a limited edition set from Sephora that contains 5 products to give your face a radiant look for the new year! This set contains: Natural Cheek Stain in Glisten, EmphasEYES™ Inner Rim Brightener, Recreate™ Silicone-Free Primer With Wrinkle Rewind™ Technology, Smooth Operator™ Illuminating Serum, Park Ave Princess Mineral Bronzer. I am def. interested in the inner rim brightener.. :)
	Josie Maran Eye Love You Too Palette- Looks like the packaging upgraded but the colors are so perfect for the Spring season. Love the light pink, green and blues. :) It's $42 which is a bit pricey for me right now since I've tons of other eyeshadows to use. :)

All pictures, courtesy of Sephora.com!

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Sephora.com at all. Just a huge fan! :)

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Tarte Friends & Family Sale, 40% Off Ends December 13, 2010

Tarte is also having a Friends & Family sale from now until December 13, 2010. (Check out Urban Decay's Friends & Family sale here.) Save 40% off of Tarte products with the code: FFDEC but there are some limitations. Check out the image for more details.

Get reviews of your favorite Tarte products here.

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Girl on Top Book Tour's Goodie Bag

The NYC Girl on Top book tour event this month gave away goodie bags to attendees. It was filled with fun treats!

Here are some of the items from the goodie bag: a letter opener (I think), Moxie pads, Vosges Matcha Bar (chocolate-yummy!), and a Tarte eyeshadow book.

The Vosges Haut Chocolat Matcha Bar was absolutely delicious! What is a Matcha Bar? It's made of Japanese matcha green tea mixed with deep milk chocolate- 45% cacao. For more information, check out: www.vosgeschocolate.com

The Tarte duo eyeshadow in Kalalau Trail is a gorgeous couple of complementary colors to create a beautiful smoky look. The left color is a black smoky color and the right color is a golden shimmery color. This convenient case also contains a mirror. You can get this as part of the GlamourEYES set at Sephora.

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Free Tarte Eyeliner at Sephora

With any purchase under the "Natural and Organic" product category, you can get this Tarte eyeliner in Black for FREE! Use the code: TARTE to get this freebie.


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Tarte Cosmetics's Vanity Edition Palette

Remember the mini-train case of samples that I received from Sephora?



As part of my haul, I ordered Tarte: The Vanity Limited Edition Palette; it is truly a treasure chest. Since I have purchased this palette, I have used it many times but mostly the eye shadows. I really like how this case has 3 levels- one for eye shadows, lip colors and blushes. It also comes with their Deluxe Lights, Camera, Lashes! mascara and two brushes.



First Level: Eyeshadows


I am not crazy with these colors because I find a lot of them are very similar-such as 5 & 12 (both are whites), 1& 8 (peaches), 2& 11 (turquoises) and 4 & 9 (purples). Although color #1 looks to have more shimmer than #8, the different is not that big. Either one would make good eye brighteners or highlighters. I am a bit disappointed because this was a splurge and I didn't get that many choices in colors.

I do however really like the turquoise #11 because it is a fun, vibrant color that pops when you do a smokey eye. The golden color # 6 did not come out as strong as it does in the pictures. Most of the lighter shades were not as well pigmented as it could have been which meant I needed to pack on more and/or use other shadows.

Second Level: Lip glosses



The glosses here are also a bit sheer, but I do find they wear well. I am hesitant to wear some of the colors alone but I can mix and match some of the shades together to get a wearable look. My favorite nude color is #8 and nude frosted lip color #4. Since they are mostly sheer, I usually mix a bit of my other lipsticks and use these to top my lip color. Lip gloss color #16 is one of my favorites because it is a nice deep wine shade which is great for special occasions. For the everyday look, I stick with my neutral shades.

Third Level: Blush Colors/Etc.



I haven't used the bronzer/luminizer, the two colors on the left, yet but I have used the third blush from top. I used it as a contour and it works pretty well. The first blush color reminds me of.. to find out-

Smashbox's O color- so pink!!

Overall, I found the powders to be very loose even after my first use, so it was a bit messy. But I do like the colors and it is a compact, so it is convenient to take it somewhere. It also comes with a mirror, but there is no back support so you can't apply your makeup while looking at the mirror without holding on to the case. (Inconvenient)

This palette is exclusively sold at Sephora for $52.