Archived Post
Rant & Rave: Tarte
Tell us what you love and hate about...
Tarte
I like that they have started to branch out a bit more–at least we’re seeing some deeper lip colors–but I’d like to see them do that across products, like eyeshadow, blush, concealer ranges, etc. I do feel like they are trying to respond to customers, as they had a pretty quick turnaround of additional shades of Shape Tape, after it got popular. I wish they’d put out less mega sets and curate higher quality sets that are smaller but better and more functional.
— Christine
Please make those LE Metallic single shadows permanent. I have 7 of them, and they are SO awesome! Way, way better than the regular shadows in their palettes
I came here to say this! Love the two I have: Pin-Up and Poker Face. I’m a sucker for a white satin/metallic eyeshadow. Poker Face is stunning and despite being packed with glitter and shine, has no fallout for me. It’s magic. (Bonus: I sing Lady Gaga every time I use it. Lol)
Yay to the formula but boo to it being LE. I’d love to get more shades but am not falling for another LE release.
I’ll be interested in reading the responses here as I have limited experience with the line.
I really, really like their BB Cream. I use it alone sometimes, but mostly under my foundation, whether it be powder or liquid.
I LOVE their Tarteist Lash Paint and LOVE, LOVE their Lights, Camera, Lashes mascaras.
I used their blurring primer to the bottom of the jar, but it was just too thick and unpleasant feeling. I did not repurchase.
I am very drawn to their Tartlette in Bloom palatte, but do I really need another full range of neutrals. Nooooo, I don’t. But women I know who have it love it. If you have it, do you like yours?
Oh, I’m glad you mentioned the BB cream. I did really like their BB cream when I tried it, but I had so many tubes of other brands laying around that I completely forgot about it by the time I needed to grab some more.
Hi Jenna!
I forgot to mention I use Tarte eyeshadow primer too, and like it a lot. Will repurchase as I am almost out. Looking at that list, I have more Tarte than I thought I had! Yes, BB Cream is really, really nice.
So I remember seeing the swatches for Tartelette in Bloom on here and I decided against getting it. Then my S/O’s mom bought it for me for Christmas. I put on a happy face and said thank you even though I had already dismissed the palette….I regret feeling that way. Once I started playing with it, I fell in love! For reference, I’m about NW20.
I find the colors easy to work with and blendable (Funny Girl is the only dud in my eyes – too sheer). The other shimmers are so pretty and pigmented. I wish the dark colors (far right column) had more variety, but I do use almost every color in the palette. It’s by far my most used palette and I have UD Naked 1 and 2, Lorac Unzipped, and the Sonia Kashuk neutral matte palette (also excellent albeit a little powdery).
Hope that helps!
For me it is helpfull anyway! Thanks! I recently got the color wheel blush set and now I am interested in more Tarte products. I am not drowning in neutrals just yet, so that’s good.
Rant: Too many of the same shades, especially for eyeshadow.
Rave: Their blush formula is great, and I love Rainforest of the Sea foundation. I like that they are bringing in a wider variety of shades in their lip products. And despite the repetitive shade range, Tarte can do eyeshadow well when they want to. The metallic shadows (which they need to make permanent) and Rainforest of the Sea eyeshadow palette are great from what I’ve seen, and my Tartelette palettes get a lot of love.
I hate that I haven’t had a chance to try Tarte yet! 😉
me too…
Fifty (thousand) shades of brown. ‘Nuff said.
Yes, too many earthy shades.
I haven’t tried much from Tarte, so I don’t have enough experience for love/hate views. I have tried only its concealer (worked only ok) and Amazon clay foundation (broke me out). I wanted to several of the recent LE shimmer eyeshadows but they weren’t available in local stores and I didn’t need any shade enough to chance online order. To me recent palettes are only so-so in quality and interest-factor. I guess I’m just not being pulled in by anything yet.
Rave: They have a lot of really nice products and they’re cruelty free. I adore their blushes. They have a good shade range, the quality is high, and the shades last a really long time on my oily skin. Their Clay Pot Waterproof Liner is the best gel liner I’ve ever used, and is my HG. I’m not allergic to their mascaras, including the waterproof stuff. My oily eyelids get along with their eyeshadow formulas really well, as well. The Tartelette eyeshadow palettes are wonderful, as is Rainforest of the Sea. They have pretty packaging for the most part. It seems Tarte is trying to expand it’s range lately, and it’s promising that one of the holiday palettes had some blues, greens, and purples in it.
Rant: How the last couple of years they’ve done nothing but neutral eyeshadows, and their palettes shade range has gotten very repetitive. Their foundations shade ranges almost never have a shade light enough for me (the Maracuja Miracle Foundcealer is the only one I remember being light enough, and it wasn’t a permanent item). Their lipsticks aren’t terribly long-lasting, and I don’t find the shade range very exciting. I also hate that the last few years has seen a huge drop in the quality of their holiday palettes, particularly in the eyeshadows. The holiday packaging is really bulky now, too.
Rave: What Tarte does well, they excel at. Foundation, concealer, blush, Tartiest Lip Paints, Tartlette and RFOTS palettes and this spring, those gorgeous eyeshadow singles!
Rant: But the quality on most of their holiday offerings tends to fall very short of the quality seen in their permanent eyeshadows. And they REALLY need to have a permanent line of eyeshadow singles! And not a truckload of neutrals, either!
Great comment, +1 to all that you said 🙂
Truthfully, I used to dismiss the brand because I found the packaging noisy and junky looking. I’ve growed up a bit since then and concern myself less with aesthetics of packaging. I think they have some solid products: Park Ave Princess was the very first bronzer I found that worked well with my skintone and owning a a couple of their respectably performing eyeshadow palettes has changed my attitude. Their blush has never been a winner on my complexion though. It disappears within a couple of hours. So mixed bag really. They are very repetitious with their colour palettes. I do rely heavily on reviews and feedback before purchasing; not a brand for a whim purchase.
Really? Park Ave princess works for your skin? I am going to have to swatch it then!
Hi Maggie: It’s more that the colour is respectable than great for my skintone. I say this as bronzers coming out around the same time as Tarte PP were very much orange based which is so terribly wrong for me. PP was saving me from Oompa Loompa face and up until that point, I have not purchased a single Tarte product. It helped to change my attitude about the brand.
I have light olive skin and can wear slight yellow toned bronzers (Tarte Park Ave Princess, Too Faced Milk Chocolate). I actually much prefer Too Faced Milk Chocolate as it also has a bit of red in the base. Hope this clarifies.
They need more variety in the palettes they put out. Not everyone likes warm-toned neutrals.
Their foundations don’t run light enough anymore for me. Plus they seems to have products come and go quickly and often things look the same.
I agree about the sets, Christine. Their holiday sets are often not the quality of the rest of their products and I think it dilutes the brand.
That being said, Rainforest After Dark is my absolute favorite travel palette (although I have to make sure I pack eye primer too).
I love their foundation, blushes, and other face products. I only had one palette with eyeshadow that worked really good. I also wish they would branch out in the eyeshadow range and add more bright colors. They might be slowly changing the eyeshadow formula for the better but still a weak part of their line.
Also love the mascaras and lip products too.
Rant: Limited shade selection for foundation and concealer, although the brand is attempting to improve.
Rave (and Rant explanation): I have enjoyed one of their earlier lip glosses but beyond that I haven’t felt a need to adventure into any of their other offerings. When brands have a limited foundation range which greatly favors lighter complexions, I don’t feel that comfortable buying anything from them as a whole.
While I’m intrigued by the Rainforest of the Sea palette, I’ve never tried Tarte and don’t know if the shadows are any good. The few times I’ve gone looking for it, it’s been sold out, so not sure if I’ll keep looking for it. I’m not sure it’s a must have for me rather than a “hey that looks pretty, so maybe.” I’ve heard raves over Shape Tape concealer, but it’s also dry from what I understand and that’s not appealing to me, nor do I need a full coverage concealer. Last, my eyes are finicky about mascara with most of them smudging. I have 3 that work for me, so I don’t tend to experiment. I stock up during Nordstroms three for two deal and stick with what works!
I have the Tartlette. It’s good for its purpose – being neutral mattes. Neutral seems like a good description of Tarte in general.
I’ve really enjoyed their Amazonian clay foundation during the winter months when I want something a little bit heavier. I know mileage seems to vary for a lot of people on that, but I’ve really enjoyed it. It actually does seem to adjust when my skin is oilier. It lasts longer, and I have to blot a lot less. The creaseless concealer has also been one of my HG products.
Rave: very earthy tones
Rant: all their eye palettes look the same.
My feelings on Tarte products are very mixed, as is their line. I have both the original Tartlette palette and the Tartlette in Bloom palette. The eye shadows in the Tartlette in Bloom palette are much better IMHO. They blend well, are smooth and buttery and do not run together creating a muddy mess. The original Tartlette palette wore well for me but the shadows do seem to become muddy on the lid. I cannot find a foundation fair enough for me in any of their lines. I have a couple of their lipsticks and do not care for the ones that come in the heavy cardboard packaging. I can’t remember the name but I don’t care for them. They accentuate my lip lines and are not very opaque. I thought that I had found my perfect non-drugstore mascara in the Tartiest mascara but after wearing it for about a week it started giving me raccoon eyes. I don’t know why it worked for a week then stopped but I cannot tolerate raccoon eyes. I do have hooded lids but it didn’t transfer to my lids but rather to my lower lash line. The biggest reason I don’t pay much attention to Tarte is their boring shadow color selection. Owning the two Tartlette palettes means I have all of their shadows, pretty much. If they ever put out a really WOW palette I might revisit but for now it is a big yawn.
I don’t like that those lovely single eyeshadows are only available online! They really need a collection of permanent shadows. I also find that their palettes all look pretty similar and as they don’t have a “permanent” line of shadows, I get the feeling that it’s all pretty much the same shadows as “before” but with different names. I seriously love some of the shadows in the Tarte for Aqualilies palette but have to wonder what to do if I finish up one or two of them.
I have tried very few Tarte products in fact.
Rave: The Sephora set including the Opening Act Lash Primer Set + Lights, camera, lashes 4-in-1 mascara (deluxe size). I love them ! It was a very nice discovery as I’m used to Lancôme eye primers and to Helena Rubinstein or Lancôme mascaras.
Rant: The Tarte Shape Tape Contour concealer in the shades Fair and Fair Neutral is out of stock on their website since… forever !!!
Tarte has been quite hit and miss lately for me and for a lot of people, it seems. I’m a huge fan of their Amazonian Clay blushes, Tarteist Lip Paints, and many of their previous eyeshadow palettes, to name a few products. I remember getting very excited about their holiday collections in previous years and the amount of product you got, as well as the quality in them. I also like their Lights Camera Lashes mascara and many of their various lip products over the years. And as one reviewer said, when they want to do eyeshadows “right,” their eyeshadows can be really nice–buttery, pigmented, and easy to blend. I also really like their packaging, for the most part. As far as rants go, my two biggest rants are that they keep releasing the same shades over and over again in their eyeshadow palettes (neutral browns and some purples) and the decreased quality of their recent holiday releases, particularly the eyeshadows. What’s with that, Tarte? It’s a big disappointment and leaves a negative impression of the brand. I wish Tarte would do something different when it comes to their eyeshadows, like releasing more color and variety, not just the same thing all the time, and improving the quality of their holiday releases. I understand their image is more wearable looks–but eyeshadows can be wearable without being the same boring shades.
I am in the UK and the only places to buy Tarte are QVC UK or Ebay, the latter is very very very expensive. QVC have started doing more products but its mainly palettes. Strangely QVC US are now winding down on the Tarte shows. Yes, you can order from Tarte online, big problem is customs charges once it hits the UK totally wipes out any savings.
We have a TSV on Saturday 15th with the usual palette of nudes, but they (QVC UK) have finally expanded the foundation shades. Now we are get the neutral rather than every shade being yellow toned, I am lucky I can wear both. We are getting Rainforest of the Sea foundation and brush also in the TSV, this I am very excited about as I really want to try as you Christine love it so much.
What I read here in the UK is people want more colours in the eyeshadows not just the nudes, plums they always do in the palettes.
Tarte makes some awesome foundations and concealers! The Shape Tape concealer has quickly become my fave. It’s like MAC Pro Longwear. but with better packaging. I wish that deeper shades weren’t an after thought. Example…the Shape Tape concealer went up to “Deep”, which isn’t deep. When we complained about it, they launched a new shade called Mahagony, but marketed to lighter skintones as a contour shade…*le sigh*…I’m well aware that makeup does not have rules and you can use products how you like, but it’s the principal.
*gets down off soapbox*
My thoughts just generally on the brand
–I hate that they discontinued my favorite product, the Smoldereyes chubby pencil. I hoarded the bronze and fig, but when those run out I will be bummed. I fucking adore them, they’re the greatest. The closest thing I’ve found are the Charlotte Tilbury pencils but they don’t have the smudger thingy and they cost way more.
–their quality is inconsistent, ex: eyeshadows. The Metallics line are their best, IMO, and I’ve bought a couple backups of my favorites. But in some palettes the shadows are phenomenal, or at least some are, but others suck. They don’t seem to use the same formulas across the board, where all shimmers are the same, all mattes are the same. And consistency just needs to be addressed. Otherwise there are some serious standouts in the brand, ShapeTape obviously being one of them, which leads me to the next points:
–their stock issues are ridiculous, esp with the Shape Tape. But there’s been a few other products I’ve gone for and they’re consistently sold out–the lip scrub stick? Gone all the time. But the Shape Tape thing is just out of hand at this point. I’ve been ridiculously lucky to keep getting my hands on it but other people just can’t even try it and the brand has GOT to get that addressed. I get that they seem to have struck gold with that product, and they could never have predicted that, but that needs to be worked out since it’s a permanent product and demand is through the roof. Open another line, have another factory handle it, something. There’s no excuse for this product to still be out of stock the way it is unless this is a false supply issue to create hype.
–they need to work on shade ranges in concealers and foundations. While it’s amazing they expanded Shape Tape that quickly, they should’ve had those all available from the start. There’s simply no excuse for 1 dark shade being out at launch, and only 2 out at this stage. 10 shades is great, but 16 would be better, and more on the darker end, less in the middle, would be nice. I’d like more olive tones on the lighter end, a LIGHT with the exact same tone as the FAIR would rock my face off. Supply comes first.
–too many limited edition things, Metallic Shadows, Palettes, scrubby face things…whatever. That really is across the board with tons of brands. Enough with this limited edition shit.
You betta preach about that shade range! And that last line was amazing! Lol
Rave. I absolutely love their blushes. They are among my favorite formulas. I adore neutral eye shadows. The new Tarte hrush palette is my favorite.
Rant. I wish the formula of the holiday palettes would be the same as the other palettes. I research heavily on every product and without you and your efforts, Christine, making the hard decisions on what I spend my money on is easy as pie.
I wish they’d stop with the mega LE palettes of lower quality. I hate when I feel like I can’t trust a brand’s quality to be consistent. Too many LE collections in general. I’d rather see smaller, more cohesive collections.
I love the formulation of their foundations, but they are all too yellow in undertone, so I can’t get a good match. I really like the shimmery shades on the Rainforest of the Sea palette, but the mattes are throwaways.
Rsve: Tarte is one of my favorite brands! I love their lip paints and eyeshadows. The Double Duty Courage pallette is in my top five most used, and I really love Rainforest After Dark even though I don’t use it that often (now that I said that I think I’ll get it out and use it today). Rainforest of the Sea is pretty, too. The Tartelette in Bloom pallette is next on my wish list and then that blush wheel!! Rant: the lipsticks have an unexpected, disgusting minty taste/smell. That’s all.
I love Tarte! I LOVE their blushes! I LOVE their mascaras! I love their lippies! I LOVE their shadows! Do they usually stick to the same shades in shadows? Yes. Do they lack quality? No. Tarte is awesome. I’ve realized it’s the brand I purchase more from. I easily get people hooked on Tarte when they try their blushes! Specially Exposed, in my opinion, these are one of the highest quality blushes out there! LOVE LOVE LOVE!