Good morning class,

Alleluia!   Alleluia!  Alleluia! ALLELUIA! (Jeez, you know when you type a word too much or look at a word for too long and it just does NOT look right? Yeah that totally happened with Alleluia. It is such a strange word…).

This palette is the best thing that’s ever happened to me and it’s changed my life. I PROMISE YOU. Out of all my palettes this is by far the most life-changing. I know this sounds cliched coming from a “beauty blogger” but hand-on-heart, I swear to God, this is life.

When I first saw the palette I thought “meh”. Mattes, they just don’t do it for me. I know they’re vital in the composition of a perfect eye makeup look, but they’re so BORING! I definitely prefer sparkle, metallic, duo-chrome, highlighty shades. However… the more I thought about it, the more I wanted it. I don’t have THAT many matte shades, especially none that veer from the classic ‘medium brown’ found in most palettes. I really liked the look of the packaging and I’d never tried anything by the brand Tarte so I asked my friend Olivia’s boyfriend to pick it up for me during a trip to the states.

WELL, the damn thing was sold out! After all of that umming and ahhing, it was blimmen’ sold out! I was disappointed, but the other goodies I got sort of relieved the pain for a while. A week later I was scrolling Instagram (as you do) and came across one of my favourite Beauty Guru’s on YouTube (Crystal Conte) reposting a photo by Tarte for a competition to win a Tartelette palette signed by Samantha from Batalash Beauty (If you don’t know her, you’ve been living under a rock and for goodness sake click her name now and watch!). Now, I don’t usually repost on Instagram because I like my feed to have a certain “look”, and I certainly don’t go around entering international giveways because I know I have no chance of winning…. however, I woke up one morning to a tonne of Insta notifics and BEHOLD – I won it!

I SWEAR TO YOU. I simply could not believe it. I honestly felt like I had won a million dollars – no joke. 

Anyway, long story short. Finally it arrived, The lady from Tarte was amazing. Samantha commented on my photo on Instagram. I died a little bit. I looked at the palette. I died a little bit more. And here we are.

Let’s just take a moment to look at some Tartelette porn.

 

 

Huhhhhhhhhhhh. Sorry, was I drooling? I got a little over excited.

Honestly though, it is so ridiculously beautiful. And on that note, lets start with the…

Packaging

First of all, you’ve got eyes. You can see it. It’s uber pretty. What you can’t see is exactly how luxurious it feels. It’s sturdy. I could imagine the design could easily be replicated with lighter, cheaper plastic. However this is thicker. high quality and everything about it is perfect. I feel like if I dropped it on the floor it wouldn’t break (as opposed to something like the NAKED palette). It’s got a HUGE mirror which is just a delight. It’s exterior is either an elegant ombre purple or mirrored gold. The interior is filled with enormous eye shadow pans. What’s not to like?

Formula

The texture of these shadows is smooth and silky. I’ve swatched high end brands like Chanel and YSL and these shadows compare. They brush on like a breeze, and blend wonderfully. You know with mattes they’re never pigmented enough (except the damn black shade!) and you have to violently smush the brush around about 50 million times before you get enough product for a nice crease. Or you have to keep dipping back for more, and more, and more and it gets really annoying? Well, these shadows are not like that! They’re super pigmented, but in a good way. They’re pigmented, but they blend so well you don’t end up like a panda. You touch the shadow with you brush and you’re good to go. These would definitely be my favourite matte formula I’ve ever used (and I have quite the collection of high end palettes!)

Swatches

Although they’re pigmented, I had to swatch these on paper because the light shades are basically the same colour as my arm so you couldn’t see them as well as I liked. You know it’s not easy to swatch matte shades, so this is as good as it’s gonna get.

My favourite shade so far is natural beauty as it’s like a mauve-brown shade and looks stunning in the crease with just about anything. I also love best friend which is a nice muted purple shade and power player which is a gorgeous taupe (reminds me of Trap by Colourpop).

I love having a matte shade for every occasion without having to search among various palettes to find it. The palette itself is actually growing my love for mattes rapidly, and you know i love sparkles!

Usually I have a couple of cons to talk about as I like to keep my reviews balanced and honest. However, I can honestly not think of one bad thing about this palette, aside from the fact that it’s annoying and expensive to get in New Zealand (HELP us Tarte godesses!)

Overall, no jokes, I think this palette is a must-have. Honestly, I would recommend it 110% to anyone. It’s so versatile, exquisite, buttery and pigmented. It’s the best formula of eye shadow I’ve ever tried, and I’ve tried plenty. It’s kind of expensive at US$44, with the current exchange rate to NZ, plus shipping, it’s not a great time. However if you have a friend going to the states anytime soon, I’d suggest you call in a favor!

Have you tried this beauty before? Are you as obsessed as I am? Are there any other palettes to try that you’re obsessed with? Let me know!