An impulse buy: The Tartelette in Bloom Eyeshadow palette
No matter how much makeup I have, I am still no match for the charms of a beautiful eyeshadow palette. The Tartelette In Bloom Amazonian Clay Palette (~P2,400 or $50 from Amazon) was an impulse buy mainly because I saw Sam, our resident photographer at Project Vanity, post hers on Instagram. I hadn't even googled reviews beforehand, I just wanted it! Something about the gold palette and the cover with purple floral watercolors just got to me. I consider myself very good at avoiding temptation (well at least when it comes to makeup, paper and paint do not count) but I fell off the rails with this one.
ANYWAY. Even though it was a barely thought-out purchase, the Tartelette ended up being a good buy. I've been using it regularly these last few weeks because the colors are exactly what I need to either create a complete neutral look, or be the supporting cast in a more intense #EOTD. I love how neatly the colors are categorized so I can easily pick out what I need to get harmonious eye makeup.
The quality of this palette makes up for the price tag. It's a little powdery than I would prefer, resulting in fallout, but the pigmentation and smooth application of each color are extremely satisfying. They are so easy to blend! Some of the colors have a sort of creamy texture, such as Firecracker and Funny Girl. They go on almost like a cream eyeshadow and sticks like one, too. Very little goes a long way with these shadows so I don't need to layer to get a solid color on my lids. The powders also have this pleasant mild vanilla smell that I enjoy.
The first row has cool, taupey colors. The second has warm sunny shades while the last row has reddish clay hues. It's predominantly warm so the palette works well with my skin tone. My top faves are Flower Child (for the brow bone), Smarty Pants (crease), Rebel (lid and crease), Funny Girl (the perfect intense pop of shimmer on the tear ducts and center of the lids. It can even be used as a face highlighter!), and Firecracker (a winning bronze). I also love the dark shades as they work great as a liner when applied with a wet brush or as smoke-out colors. The shades stick on my lids well with or without primer, though of course I would still recommend using a primer to get max pigmentation and adherence.
Actually I adore everything in here, bar one: Charmer, a matte white. I personally have little use for a flat white shade since I'm medium toned; it looks off on my lids and brow bone.
It bears mentioning that each pan has 1.5 grams of eyeshadow, which is A LOT. For reference a full pot of MAC eyeshadow has 1.3 grams and I have never finished one of those in my life.
Overall, I highly recommend the Tartelette In Bloom Amazonian Clay Palette if you need a basic neutral palette that is pigmented, easy to blend, and can play well with others. It can be that "bridge" palette that connects your difficult-to-use eyeshadows (bright colors, metallics, name it) and make them look more modern and well-blended.
To be honest, I wouldn't say the colors are particularly unique as I probably already have them in my other palettes, but I like that I have everything I need in one place. If you're looking for unforgettable shades - well, the Tartelette can't provide. I'd say these are the equivalent of perfect fitting jeans or comfortable black pumps. It looks great but it's boring unless you pair it with more exciting things.
I had my friend buy this from the US but if you don't have anyone coming home soon, I'm sure online resellers would have this fairly popular palette.
Thoughts? Which eyeshadow palette are you trying very, very hard to look away from? I'm crushing on the Victoria Beckham x Estee Lauder palette but STOP ME PLS UGH!
