Tarte Beauty Resolutions Eyeshadow Quad & Slate Amazonian Clay Liner Review and Swatches

Disclaimer:  I purchased these and links to Tarte are for convenience only.

A while back I picked up the This Year Eye Will 4 piece eye essentials set, which includes an eyeshadow quad called Beauty Resolutions , an Amazonian clay eye liner pencil in Slate, mascara primer, and mascara.  This set is currently on sale for $29 at Tarte, so I thought it way high past time I posted a review of the shadows and eye pencil! 

First, let me start by saying I'm not a huge fan of Tarte's eyeshadows - or at least the ones I've tried in the past.  If I had to articulate why, I'd say it's because they tend to go muddy on me and are not as vibrant as I would like.  However, formula's change so I though I'd give the Amazonian clay shadows a try.

The individual colors in Beauty Resolutions are not named, but you get a champagne beige, dark olive, blueish purple, and plum with shimmer finishes.  They apply smoothly and the above is over bare skin.  My favorite is the dark olive, a color I'm always drawn to.  There is a complexity to it that is more evident if you click to enlarge the picture.  I still find these to be a bit muddy on the eye, however.  I'm not sure if it's a lack of vibrancy or clarity or what, but I do not find myself reaching for these.

The Amazonian Clay eye liner pencil in Slate is actually the standout for me, however!  It is not just a flat dark gray, but has different color shimmer particles in direct light.  The pencil applies effortlessly, but once Slate sets, it does not budge and wears very well on my oily lids.  The pencil comes with a smudger on one end, although in my experience smudging too much led to bald patches.

Overall, I'd say if you do like Tarte eyeshadow, this is a good deal.  I'm still not a convert to them, although I'm happy to have the pencil and mascaras.

Tarte's Glow Your Way to Gorgeous Best of the Amazon Set

The Glow Your Way to Gorgeous Best of the Amazon set was originally a QVC offering, but it is now available in the sale section at Tarte.com.  I love sets like these, as it's a great way to try a variety of products at a fraction of what they cost.  Since I already know I like the majority of items included in the set and have none of these colors already, it really was a no brainer to pick this up!

This set also comes with a Marajuca concealer, which I got in medium.  The concealer is nicely pigmented and surprisingly worked well under my eyes, as it did not settle into fine lines.  Throw in 2 brushes, a lights, cameras, lashes! mascara, a sharpener, a bonus bronzer and a maracuja serum oil,  and you've got quite the haul.  With the exception of the maracuja oil and deluxe sized bronzer, all of the items are full sized. 

Amazonian clay 12-hour blush in peaceful

Park Avenue Princess bronzer

Amazonian clay cream eyeshadow in shimmering taupe

smolderEYES™ Amazonian clay waterproof liner in fig

LipSurgence™ lip luster in sweet (peachy pink)

The taupe eye cream is very smooth and made for a really easy eye look.   The lights, cameras, lashes! mascara seemed a little bit clumpy to me, but the finished look is really pretty decent.  It's not my favorite mascara, but I'll use it.

The Amazonian clay 12-hour blush in peaceful is a peachy pink with a slight shimmer and nicely complements the similarly tone lipsurgence pencil in sweet.  Valued at over $200, this 8 piece set (10 with the bonus items) is currently $49 at Tarte.com.  Grab it while you can!

Disclosure:  I purchased this.

Tarte emphaEYES Amazonian Clay Waterproof Liners in Black & Green

As part of it's Amazonian clay range of products, Tarte offers these potted liners in six different shades.  I've got black and green to show you today, and I received both of these liners are part of sets that I purchased.  They are billed as both a liner or a shadow and come with a double-ended brush for either liner or shadow application.  

I tend to prefer eye pencils over liquid or potted liners, but I've got to say that these are pretty easy to use in that capacity.  They are soft enough to pick up pigment and spread smoothly, but it does take several swipes to get an opaque line.  The problem I had attempting to use these as a shadow is that they are so pigmented and just thick enough to make them hard to blend or sheer out, which gives a darker look than I'm comfortable with.  So, liners they will be for me.

These do indeed hold up to the waterproof claim and once set, they are smudge proof.  The black is matte, whereas the green has a lovely coppery gold shimmer.  Black liners are a bit to harsh for my coloring, so I doubt mine will get much use.  The green, however, is gorgeous!  I did receive a purple clay liner in another collection a while back, and I have to say that when I went to use it had completely dried up.  Like a rock.  I had opened it maybe once or twice, so it wasn't getting exposed to air on a regular basis.  I'm hoping that's not the case with these, but if they do dry out I'll update this review.

The Amazonian Clay Waterproof Liners retail for $22 and that includes the brush.  Tarte does have a trio called Jewels of the Amazon that includes both of these shades along with a bronze for $39, so if these colors appeal to you, that would be the better deal.