Tarte Cosmetics—one of my favorite makeup brands—just turned seventeen, and to celebrate, they held several online sales. One day they offered 17% off most products on their site, so I took advantage and ordered myself a Limited-Edition Treasure Box Collector’s Set! My order arrived the other day in all its gorgeously designed glory:
This set normally costs $59 (already a great deal), but with the sale I was able to buy it for $51.78 including tax. The set includes an incredible array of products for the price:
- 24 Amazonian clay eyeshadows
- 2 Amazonian clay blushes
- 2 Amazonian clay bronzers
- 1 Amazonian clay highlighter
- 1 deluxe tarteist™ quick dry matte lip paint
- 1 deluxe lights, camera, lashes™ 4-in-1 mascara
- 1 full size kitten eyeliner
Behold the contents of the set…it truly feels like a treasure chest of wonder:
The above photo is a little washed out and doesn’t accurately capture the set’s colors, so I snapped some more to better show off its rich tones. The eyeshadows are arranged with three rows of warm shades on the top and three rows of cool shades on the bottom, with a mix of matte and metallic throughout. I will note that the cool tones look cooler IRL than they do on tarte.com—the photo of the set on their website has a warmer look overall.
A little bit closer now:
How pretty are these two blushes? That’s “perk,” a carnation pink on the left, and “wish,” a watermelon pink, on the right.
I’m also really digging the light champagne highlighter (shade: “wanderlust”). The two bronzers are pretty as well: “navigate” is the matte bronze on the left, and “excursion” is the bronze luster on the right.
I’ve received many deluxe samples of tarte’s lights, camera, lashes 4-in-1 mascara, and while it’s not my absolute favorite, it’s still good, and this small tube is perfect for travel. I’ve also tried samples of the tarteist quick dry matte lip paint in other colors but they haven’t been great on my skin tone. Plus, I don’t love just how dry the lip color feels on my lips. I’m still looking forward to trying the pretty rose shade (called “grand”) from this set, though—if the color is good enough I can slap some lip balm over the top. I have yet to try tarte’s kitten eyeliner, so I’m stoked about that as well!
I swatched everything on my arm so that I could share pics here. I started from the top left of the eyeshadow palette and worked my way from left to right across each row. Though each row holds four shadows, I swatched six at a time on each arm so that I wouldn’t have to post a zillion photos. So each pic includes swatches from one and a half rows of eyeshadow, all from left to right in the palette but top to bottom on my arm. I hope that makes sense. 🙂
The shadows, particularly the mattes, are super smooth. I would even say some of them are almost buttery! There is some fallout, which I’ve experienced with other Tarte eyeshadows, but it’s not awful. We’ll see how the fallout is when I use these on my actual face.
I am SO excited to play around with the eyeshadows. The colors are stunning, and they’re a great mix of everyday and special occasion. What I love about this set is that it doesn’t have any crazy shades that I just won’t use (you know, like palettes that contain yellow and orange). It definitely contains colors that I don’t see myself using that often—”palace” and “awe” in particular don’t feel like very “me” shades—but I’m willing to give them a shot and see what kind of looks I can pull off with them. I already have an idea of how I can use some of these shadows for my Halloween makeup, too! The metallics are very shiny and will be so awesome for holiday parties or special events (“lantern” and “odyssey,” I’m looking at you).
Purely from swatching the shadows, I think my favorite color is “souvenir” because it’s just so mermaid-y! I tend to stick to neutral colors on my eyes with the occasional purple or blue, but this palette will encourage me to step out of my comfort zone now and then.
Below I swatched the blushes, highlighter, and bronzers:
“Excursion” might be a little dark for my skin tone, but I think I’ll get plenty of use out of the others.
Finally, I swatched the lip paint and eyeliner. The eyeliner is a waterproof vegan gel liner with a smudger on the other end, so I swatched two lines with it: one unsmudged, one smudged. The smudger dragged some on my arm—you can see the swatch is a bit of a mess—but maybe it’ll fare better on my eyelids?
A couple final observations:
- The set comes with a mirror, but it’s mounted underneath the flap on the left compartment that houses the eyeliner, mascara, and lip paint. The mirror is in a very awkward spot from a usability standpoint, so if you plan to travel with the set you may want to bring another mirror that’s easier to handle.
- The set’s contents have a vanilla scent. I can’t tell if it’s just the eyeshadows or if it’s the face makeup products too, but the box gives off a definite vanilla odor when you open it. So be forewarned if you’re sensitive to scented makeup or if you hate vanilla. I do like vanilla and there’s something about this particular scent that makes me think of my Strawberry Shortcake dolls from the 80s, so I’m not mad at it.
With a grand total of 32 items in this set, the average cost per item that I paid after the discount is $1.62. How incredible is that for a Sephora-level makeup brand?!
I think the Tarte Treasure Box Collector’s Set would be an excellent holiday gift for anyone in your life who’s a fan of the brand or just loves playing around with makeup. Or treat yo self and add one to your own makeup collection! Even at full price this set is an amazing value. Because it’s limited-edition, I don’t know how long it’ll be around…though I imagine they’ll probably try to make it available through the holiday gift season. You can get yours now at tarte.com or on Sephora.com.
