Tarte Showstopper Palette Review
Heyyyy Guysss! I just recently got the Tarte Showstopper Palette and I thought I'd give a review on it cause this is a beauty blog and that's what people do here! I'm gonna break it down a little for you right... here.
Packaging
I kind of love how fancy this looks... but it might not be for everyone. It is compact... but also hard to store. Its gold on the sides with a purple reptile type print on the front. All Gold on the back and has the tarte logo on the front. And when you open it up its all gold, has a big beautiful mirror and then all the colors inside. It looks like a super luxurious palette. I feel like it looks like it could be like a Tom Ford- fancy level of palette and its only $38... and I'll get to the value of this in a little bit... but I always make a good point to point out when there is amazing packaging for a less expensive item because a lot of brands like Tom Ford do charge up the wazoo for packaging and idk if they're that great... but just saying, you can get something more affordable that still has fancy packaging.
Idk why I'm using Tom Ford as an example... I don't own any of his stuff... I just heard a Jay Z song that said Tom Ford in it and that gets me thinking about that. Lol.
So yeah, great fancyness of the packaging... but its also a little weird because it is a circular palette. I thought storing this was going to be really hard. It isn't really bulky like the Lorac Pro 2 Go Palette... but it isn't the sleekest palette like a regular Lorac palette or something along those lines.
I almost didn't get this because of the packaging... I thought it would be hard to store... but compared to some of Tarte's other new palettes... its packaged a little better. I've seen the Poppy palette and that has 6 matte shadows and a shimmery blush in the middle... the shimmer from the blush gets onto the matte shadows... so thats not good. And value wise... this has 6 shadows, a blush, a bronzer and a highlight... so there is that.
Theres another one at sephora that comes with 3 blushes and quite a few eyeshadows... but the eyeshadow sizes and blushes didn't seem great and that was like $42... so I didn't think that was a fantastic value. If you love their blushes and travel a lot, that one may be great... but so would this one lol.
It also doesn't say the names of the shadows on the package itself, it comes with an insert... which can be annoying if you blog or vlog or something... but it also looks really fancy.
Shadows
In some ways I look at this and think "mehhh that isn't too special. its just a bunch of neutrals." But, you can get tons of uses out of this. Like when I look at it I feel so inspired because I'm like "I have no idea what to do with this look! I want them all on my face!"
There are a lot of good all over the lid shades. I think I recently mentioned that I'm okay with just doing my basic look of light color all over lid, darker color on outer edges and dark matte color in crease. Here I feel like I have more options than just doing that. There is a copper, there's a gold, theres a matte light brown, a steel color, a rose gold and a dark matte brown. These are all super wearable colors... and ones that aren't necessarily unique... but I feel like its unique to find them in one palette. I usually use single palettes when I want to incorporate light champagne pink, gold and rose gold together, or go into different palettes... this one has them all in one. And its easy for me to just see this palette and start putting different colors together... and I love that. This is such a simple palette without even a lot of colors in it... but they're all unique colors that are really fantastic together.
I really like these warm shades, but I'm happy there's also this cool pewter color... it seems unexpected in here... but it works so well... especially with the rose gold. I also love a rose gold! This one is absolutely gorgeous and its dark enough to mix with lighter shades on the lid... but I also love it just all over the lid... I'm like obsessed with it!
These are also very pigmented. Tarte Shadows are kind of my favorites that exist, Other than Colourpop maybe... they're just so nice and longwearing. And I don't have a ton of Tarte products... but the few that I have I've gotten from the Bon Voyage Palette at Christmas time... and a the shadows from that palette are definitely Holy Grails for me... (so is the maricuja oil!)
Is this super unique? Yes and no... I mean like I said I usually have to pull out a lot of different colors for this look... but just looking at it, its similar to the L'oreal La Palette Nude 1... which I liked but they didn't have great staying power for me... Its not unlike the Revealed palette (supposedly a dupe for Naked+Naked 2... but I don't have those, so idk if they truly are... but it seems that way! I've seen them swatched next to each other, and the quality is just as good as the Naked 3 palette in my opinion... so.) There is a newer palette from Pur Minerals that it looks similar too... so maybe this isn't for you. If you're a fan of luxe packaging without luxe prices, this is for you. If you travel a lot, this is for you... if you like an all in one palette... this is for you. Plus the mirror is huge and amazing! If you like Tarte a lot, this is also on par with other shadows I've tried! I kind of want to collect some of these tarte things.
Cheek Products
This blush is pretty amazing. Universally flattering, easy to put on... I like it better than the Tarte blush I got in the Sephora inside JCpenny Summer palette (which is in Fearless... not sure if this is a better formula cause it is full size and in a palette instead of just a sephora favorites set... but yeah.)
The bronzer... everyone loves this... I'm not big on bronzers... this is nice and I can see just wearing this with a highlight and being totally good to go... but this isn't a fool proof bronzer. I'd say Hula by Benefit is a little more fool proof and easy to blend... I wore this and didn't blend it super well cause it wasn't as blendable. I'm still really happy I have it and I'll use it a lot more and learn how to work with it better... but right now if I were to pay $35 just for this... its not my favorite.
The highlight... ohhh the highlight. This is really unique really glowy and in your face... and just really easy to work with and it looks quite amazing. Its really pigmented. It does not take much and you will look super glowy! I don't think its totally disco ball... but girl people will see your glow! Lol. Or boy. Whoever reads this, no judgement, lots of people love make up... and highlight is kind of my fave. I'd say this highlight is worth the price.
Cons
This may be a con but the only matte shades in this are a really light brown and a really dark brown... there's no like in between matte brown color, except for the bronzer... which you could use as an eyeshadow... the formula is a little different for me for the bronzer and highlight vs. the eyeshadow. I don't really see this as a con because I like the shades that are in this together perfectly. I think the Rose Gold is always something that gets forgotten easily and this is a nice dark true rose gold that I really love. And the Steel shade I wouldn't have thought of putting in their either.
There is also no matte white shade or matte cream shade for a highlight. I usually use shimmery highlights, and the highlight in this powder is shimmery... but its a little too white and sparkly for it to be my favorite inner corner or browbone highlight... I have so many single shadows that I like highlighting my brownbone and inner corner with anyway that this doesn't even matter. When I went away I just packed Milani's Bella Champagne with it and I was set! And again, I wouldn't change the colors they have at all.
The bronzer was light enough for pale skintones like mine, but it probably wouldn't work on deeper skintones. I think the highlight and all these colors would look gorgeous on deeper skintones and would work well with all skintones. Same with the blush probably. I'm not an expert on what looks good on my pale skin, let alone what looks good on other people's skin.
Packaging. I've said, its not the easiest to store.
Bronzer isn't my favorite and it isn't really a contour, but its matte so it can sculpt a little.
Not super unique. If you have the L'oreal Nude 1 and you like it, you don't need this. If you like rose gold, you could totally just pick up a rose gold single like L'oreal's Amber Rush... which is gorgeous. Its a little like the Maybeline Nudes also, which I liked a little better just because I thought the staying power was a lot better for the Maybeline. These Tarte eyeshadows feel like a better version of the L'oreal ones and these actually last forever on my lids. I never have problems with Tarte staying on my face.
Pros
Good For Travel.
CRUELTY FREE :)
Made in the USA!
Good value for $38 you get a ton of great products. There is a full sized blush in here, which are $26 usually I believe and this has wayyy more stuff for $12 more.... plus when I got this I got 5x the Ulta points... so that made it 190 points which is more than $3... so thats kind of cool. Plus it came with a free self tanner that was a good size for what it was... so that is even better really.
Great quality
And for me, I knew I'd reach for this a lot even though I have a lot of palettes. Enough to justify $38! Tarte is one of my favorite brands I think... I've tried an array of products from them and I've liked most of them... so that makes me feel good. Plus I love a cruelty free product.
I'd say its definitely worth checking out this palette! I am in love with it and... yeah! Under $40 is pretty inexpensive... and I'm good with that.
Byeeee!
-Shannon
Packaging
I kind of love how fancy this looks... but it might not be for everyone. It is compact... but also hard to store. Its gold on the sides with a purple reptile type print on the front. All Gold on the back and has the tarte logo on the front. And when you open it up its all gold, has a big beautiful mirror and then all the colors inside. It looks like a super luxurious palette. I feel like it looks like it could be like a Tom Ford- fancy level of palette and its only $38... and I'll get to the value of this in a little bit... but I always make a good point to point out when there is amazing packaging for a less expensive item because a lot of brands like Tom Ford do charge up the wazoo for packaging and idk if they're that great... but just saying, you can get something more affordable that still has fancy packaging.
Idk why I'm using Tom Ford as an example... I don't own any of his stuff... I just heard a Jay Z song that said Tom Ford in it and that gets me thinking about that. Lol.
So yeah, great fancyness of the packaging... but its also a little weird because it is a circular palette. I thought storing this was going to be really hard. It isn't really bulky like the Lorac Pro 2 Go Palette... but it isn't the sleekest palette like a regular Lorac palette or something along those lines.
I almost didn't get this because of the packaging... I thought it would be hard to store... but compared to some of Tarte's other new palettes... its packaged a little better. I've seen the Poppy palette and that has 6 matte shadows and a shimmery blush in the middle... the shimmer from the blush gets onto the matte shadows... so thats not good. And value wise... this has 6 shadows, a blush, a bronzer and a highlight... so there is that.
Theres another one at sephora that comes with 3 blushes and quite a few eyeshadows... but the eyeshadow sizes and blushes didn't seem great and that was like $42... so I didn't think that was a fantastic value. If you love their blushes and travel a lot, that one may be great... but so would this one lol.
It also doesn't say the names of the shadows on the package itself, it comes with an insert... which can be annoying if you blog or vlog or something... but it also looks really fancy.
Shadows
In some ways I look at this and think "mehhh that isn't too special. its just a bunch of neutrals." But, you can get tons of uses out of this. Like when I look at it I feel so inspired because I'm like "I have no idea what to do with this look! I want them all on my face!"
There are a lot of good all over the lid shades. I think I recently mentioned that I'm okay with just doing my basic look of light color all over lid, darker color on outer edges and dark matte color in crease. Here I feel like I have more options than just doing that. There is a copper, there's a gold, theres a matte light brown, a steel color, a rose gold and a dark matte brown. These are all super wearable colors... and ones that aren't necessarily unique... but I feel like its unique to find them in one palette. I usually use single palettes when I want to incorporate light champagne pink, gold and rose gold together, or go into different palettes... this one has them all in one. And its easy for me to just see this palette and start putting different colors together... and I love that. This is such a simple palette without even a lot of colors in it... but they're all unique colors that are really fantastic together.
I really like these warm shades, but I'm happy there's also this cool pewter color... it seems unexpected in here... but it works so well... especially with the rose gold. I also love a rose gold! This one is absolutely gorgeous and its dark enough to mix with lighter shades on the lid... but I also love it just all over the lid... I'm like obsessed with it!
These are also very pigmented. Tarte Shadows are kind of my favorites that exist, Other than Colourpop maybe... they're just so nice and longwearing. And I don't have a ton of Tarte products... but the few that I have I've gotten from the Bon Voyage Palette at Christmas time... and a the shadows from that palette are definitely Holy Grails for me... (so is the maricuja oil!)
Is this super unique? Yes and no... I mean like I said I usually have to pull out a lot of different colors for this look... but just looking at it, its similar to the L'oreal La Palette Nude 1... which I liked but they didn't have great staying power for me... Its not unlike the Revealed palette (supposedly a dupe for Naked+Naked 2... but I don't have those, so idk if they truly are... but it seems that way! I've seen them swatched next to each other, and the quality is just as good as the Naked 3 palette in my opinion... so.) There is a newer palette from Pur Minerals that it looks similar too... so maybe this isn't for you. If you're a fan of luxe packaging without luxe prices, this is for you. If you travel a lot, this is for you... if you like an all in one palette... this is for you. Plus the mirror is huge and amazing! If you like Tarte a lot, this is also on par with other shadows I've tried! I kind of want to collect some of these tarte things.
Cheek Products
This blush is pretty amazing. Universally flattering, easy to put on... I like it better than the Tarte blush I got in the Sephora inside JCpenny Summer palette (which is in Fearless... not sure if this is a better formula cause it is full size and in a palette instead of just a sephora favorites set... but yeah.)
The bronzer... everyone loves this... I'm not big on bronzers... this is nice and I can see just wearing this with a highlight and being totally good to go... but this isn't a fool proof bronzer. I'd say Hula by Benefit is a little more fool proof and easy to blend... I wore this and didn't blend it super well cause it wasn't as blendable. I'm still really happy I have it and I'll use it a lot more and learn how to work with it better... but right now if I were to pay $35 just for this... its not my favorite.
The highlight... ohhh the highlight. This is really unique really glowy and in your face... and just really easy to work with and it looks quite amazing. Its really pigmented. It does not take much and you will look super glowy! I don't think its totally disco ball... but girl people will see your glow! Lol. Or boy. Whoever reads this, no judgement, lots of people love make up... and highlight is kind of my fave. I'd say this highlight is worth the price.
Cons
This may be a con but the only matte shades in this are a really light brown and a really dark brown... there's no like in between matte brown color, except for the bronzer... which you could use as an eyeshadow... the formula is a little different for me for the bronzer and highlight vs. the eyeshadow. I don't really see this as a con because I like the shades that are in this together perfectly. I think the Rose Gold is always something that gets forgotten easily and this is a nice dark true rose gold that I really love. And the Steel shade I wouldn't have thought of putting in their either.
There is also no matte white shade or matte cream shade for a highlight. I usually use shimmery highlights, and the highlight in this powder is shimmery... but its a little too white and sparkly for it to be my favorite inner corner or browbone highlight... I have so many single shadows that I like highlighting my brownbone and inner corner with anyway that this doesn't even matter. When I went away I just packed Milani's Bella Champagne with it and I was set! And again, I wouldn't change the colors they have at all.
The bronzer was light enough for pale skintones like mine, but it probably wouldn't work on deeper skintones. I think the highlight and all these colors would look gorgeous on deeper skintones and would work well with all skintones. Same with the blush probably. I'm not an expert on what looks good on my pale skin, let alone what looks good on other people's skin.
Packaging. I've said, its not the easiest to store.
Bronzer isn't my favorite and it isn't really a contour, but its matte so it can sculpt a little.
Not super unique. If you have the L'oreal Nude 1 and you like it, you don't need this. If you like rose gold, you could totally just pick up a rose gold single like L'oreal's Amber Rush... which is gorgeous. Its a little like the Maybeline Nudes also, which I liked a little better just because I thought the staying power was a lot better for the Maybeline. These Tarte eyeshadows feel like a better version of the L'oreal ones and these actually last forever on my lids. I never have problems with Tarte staying on my face.
Pros
Good For Travel.
CRUELTY FREE :)
Made in the USA!
Good value for $38 you get a ton of great products. There is a full sized blush in here, which are $26 usually I believe and this has wayyy more stuff for $12 more.... plus when I got this I got 5x the Ulta points... so that made it 190 points which is more than $3... so thats kind of cool. Plus it came with a free self tanner that was a good size for what it was... so that is even better really.
Great quality
And for me, I knew I'd reach for this a lot even though I have a lot of palettes. Enough to justify $38! Tarte is one of my favorite brands I think... I've tried an array of products from them and I've liked most of them... so that makes me feel good. Plus I love a cruelty free product.
I'd say its definitely worth checking out this palette! I am in love with it and... yeah! Under $40 is pretty inexpensive... and I'm good with that.
Byeeee!
-Shannon
Comments
Post a Comment