Tarte Clay Shadow/Liner Review, Photos, Swatches
Tarte Clay Shadow/Liner
($22.00 for 0.08 oz.) is new for summer and available in five shades: Black (matte black), Bronze (deep bronze sheen), Brown (matte chocolate brown), Indigo (deep royal blue sheen), and Plum (eggplant purple sheen). Each shade also comes with a double-ended brush with a small eyeshadow brush on one end and a pointed end for lining.
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been testing the wear of four of the five shades, and they definitely hold up well as an eyeshadow or eyeshadow base. They’re a bit bold to wear alone, so I’ve found that I prefer layering eyeshadows on top of them instead. They have a creamy feel and apply with a very smooth finish.
- Brown is a matte chocolate brown–that’s the exact description I came up with before I read the officialy one–and it’s very, very opaque.
- Indigo is a midnight blue with a soft, frosted sheen. I found that it’s pigmented without being intense. It’s a noticeable color, but it isn’t too vibrant that it’s a bright.
- Plum is a red-based medium-dark purple with multi-colored shimmer and a frost sheen. I don’t think I’d call this Plum, though — it’s a bit brighter than that.
- Bronze is a coppered bronze with a frosted sheen .It has a definite warmth to it.
The shades themselves don’t reinvent the color wheel by any means, but the product itself is solid. I didn’t experience any creasing or fading when I used them as an eyeshadow base. Similar, when I wore them as eyeliner, they stayed put–no budging, migration, or fading. I found the Brown shade (the only one I tried, since the other three have shimmer) lasted a few hours on my waterline, as well. They’re definitely pool and summer-friendly products, though I definitely like them more as an eyeliner. I find such dark bases eat color rather than enhance it like lighter bases, so I just personally get more use out of these kinds of products by using them as an eyeliner.
I had a little issue with the packaging, as I often had to attempt to screw the cap on several times to catch the threading, and the cap itself felt a bit flimsy. It doesn’t make or break the product for me, but it was annoying, since you want to make sure to tightly close all of your cream/gel products to prevent them from drying out. The included brush is just so-so–I still reached for my trusty MAC brushes–just a little unrefined and not the softest brush I’ve used. Better than a sponge-tip applicator, though!
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- Product: 28/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation:Â For long-lasting, creamy eyeliner or eyeshadow, Tarte’s new Clay Shadow/Liners definitely get the job done.
Availability: Sephora
Brown, Indigo, Plum, Bronze
Brown, Indigo
Plum, Bronze
Wow, very pigmented!
I’m loving the Indigo. I’d be perfect to use as a base for the blue shadow from the Style Black collection. I’m planning on doing a look with that shadow for a concert I’m going to next month.
Could you tell me how long do they dry? Is there enough time to blend them properly if used alone?
Yes, you have enough time to blend! They don’t dry too fast, but they don’t take forever, either.
That plum is gorgeous! I hadn’t really looked at these because something about clay in the name puts me off, but these look really nice!
I want to expand my gel liner colors so I was wondering how do these compare to mac’s fluidline?
These are more like a cream eyeliner than a gel – they have a creamier consistency than MAC Fluidlines.
Oh. Thanks! Just wondering which do you prefer?
MAC Fluidline!
what do you personally use to apply them?
MAC 208.
the package is ok, but other than that, they dont really catch my eyes
Hi Christine,
Thx for the review. Do you know if plum compares at all to Stila Purple Pumps.
http://www.temptalia.com/barbie-loves-stila-cobalt-clutch-purple-pumps-smudge-pot-reviews-photos-swatches
It’s similar — I’d say Purple Pumps is lighter and brighter by a bit, but it also has noticeable glitter.
Man, these things get humongous raves on QVC and makeupalley.com. Sadly, I think the swatches disappoint me. I really don’t understand why companies think brighter purples are appropriate or attractive for normal eyeliners! Grr. But for only $20 *with* a brush and no horrible chemicals, I may have to try these anyway!
I love the purple shade for eyeliner 🙂
Love the purple I’ll have to check it out.
I love all the shimmery colors. But tarte is not a brand that I will usually purchase. I got a sample pack last time along with my sephora purchase. Nothing really “wow” me . .
Could you maybe post a picture of the brush?
You can check out a picture at http://www.sephora.com – I only say this because by the time I get around to taking a photo, it’ll be old news!
Doesn’t catch my eyes as well. Maybe if they ditched the brush and lower the price, after all the color selection is small and I don’t have much use for dark colors than just to use as liners and the colors aren’t special. I do like the metallic cap but I wondering about what you said about difficulty with the cap.
If I didn’t already have these colors by MUFE, i’d be all over these.
Hmmm…it seems to me that whenever a cosmetic line comes out with some sort of gel/cream liner, they always come out with similar colors (i.e. a black, brown, purple and blue)
“Clay”? Why clay? They aren’t made with clay, are they?
It contains Amazonian white clay!
Indigo, Plum, and Bronze all remind me of 3 of the 4 MES that MAC came out with Style Black.
I love them all! I only have a small number of gel/cream liners, so these might be a great product for me to try. The swatches are great. I rarely find a brown dark enough to show up as a liner for me, so this one just might do the trick.
CHRISTINE-are you going to be reviewing the Tarte clay foundation? Would love to have your opinion on it before trying!
I don’t have any plans to at the moment!
The gang on the qvc beauty forums love these! And now that I have actually seen great swatches of them, I need the blue and the plum! oh who am I kidding, I want the bronze as well. And on qvc they have it listed at an intro price for 19.97 (but you will have to pay shipping and tax) and it comes with a brush. And the brush is getting great reviews too.
I hate to be crude but that brown shade looks like you know what…
It would be an awesome base for a brown smokey eye though.
They look amazing! *drool*
Indigo, Plum and Bronze are beautiful. I’m sorry, but brown just comes off like mud in the picture, and I can’t see myself wearing something like that. Still, not particularly amazing. Just pretty.
I have a silly question. Can these be applied on the waterline? Is it safe?
THX 🙂
I am not sure – it does not say.
I love Plum and Indigo! They look so awesome! 🙂
These look like true-to-colour cream eyeliners. Are they?
Oftentimes companies will release a gel liner in blue or purple or some odd colour but it ends up looking like black or dark brown when worn.
They are 🙂
how are these compared to stila’s smudge pots?
Kind of similar, but these dry faster.
That brown looks fabulous!
ok thank you again very mach
Hi Christine, did you find that these dried out or cracked in the pot after a few weeks/months?
I haven’t had that problem!