Tarte

Tarte’s new cruelty-free Colored Clay Tinted Brow Gel ($21) comes in three shades, and the one we’re looking at today, Taupe, is actually nowhere near my natural brow color. It’s the lightest of the three shades, and the one best suited for blondes.

Buuut, I thought I might be able to use it for the inner part of my brows to do that whole ombre brow thing, or when I just feel like wearing my Lil’ Kim/Nicki Minaj wig to scare the UPS guy.

Good times, my friend… Good times. 🙂

Just to see how it would look, I also pulled the color all the way through my brown to the outer tail, and HOLY WOW MAMA! — this stuff is unbelievably pigmented.

Despite it being way too light for me to use as my primary brow gel, Taupe still completely covers Raul, also known as “the bald spot in my left brow.”

Taupe also keeps my stray hairs from flapping in the wind and has so much pigment that it even lightens the overall color of my dark brunette brows by several shades (only while I wear it, of course).

Kind of shocking, considering that the tiny brush, which doesn’t look like much, has bristles so small that they look like they wouldn’t be able to hold much product at all.

“No frickin’ way,” I thought the first time I saw it, but it works, both the brush and the gel. Together, they fill in all the sparse spots, lay down plenty of color (on the hairs and the skin), and corral those wayward hairs into place.

It’s a firm, yet manageable hold, and I can still run a brush through my brows when the gel dries down if I want to, so the hold isn’t as firm or stiff as, say, Anastasia’s Clear Brow Gel, which could hold those hairs down through a category 5 storm, I kid you not.

But it is firm enough to hold the hairs in place when I dance in front of my Beyonce fan. #truestory #dontjudge 🙂

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For lids so smooth that people might think you sold your soul AND your cat to a sketchy character in a shady back-alley deal, there’s Tarte’s new cruelty-free Colored Clay CC Eye Primer Stick ($21).

I swear, this primer makes my lids, which are usually a hotbed of fine line action, look 10 years younger.

As it is in several of Tarte’s new fall products, Colored Clay is the star ingredient. It’s supposed to color correct itself on the skin, absorb oil, smooth the skin and, over time, reduce redness.

When I apply eyeshadows on top of it, I get about 8-10 hours of wear with very little creasing, and whatever I layer on top looks great — smooth, elegant, refined, and not heavy at all.

I just draw a bit of the creamy pinkish beige on my lids (twist up the pencil, and swipe directly on your skin), blend it out with a finger from lash line to brow bone, and that’s it. Products layered on top look exceptionally smooth, and I really do think my lids look younger.

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I originally intended to test the waterproof-ness of Tarte’s new limited edition Amazonian Clay Dual Liner ($28) by doing cannonballs at the pool today, but check it — that is not happening.

It’s drizzling and overcast outside and kinda cold actually, which is very unusual for us this time of year.

Weird.

Even so, in the interest of science (goooooo, science!), I did perform an improv waterproof experiment this morning while I exercised instead.

I popped the shimmery bronze shade on one eye and the matte black on the other…and then ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes like I was chasing Ryan Gosling. 🙂

Interestingly, this liner has a cream formula of the kind I’d typically use for softer, more diffused lines, but because of how pigmented and smooth it is, the edges turn out extremely sharp, and about as defined as the crisp lines I’d expect from a liquid liner.

And the velvety finish, while not as shiny as most liquid liners, has more oomph than a flat matte. I like to wear it with a shimmery eyeshadow on my lids because I love the way the two contrast — the velvety finish of the liner and the shiny eyeshadow.

Just adds another interesting visual element to yo’ makeup. 🙂

As Tabs is fond of pointing out, Tarte is a cruelty-free line, and they have mad love for Amazonian clay. It’s often up in the mix with their products, as it is in this liner.

The purpose is twofold. First, they say it makes for richer pigments that are intense enough to draw an opaque line in a single pass. Second, it’s supposed to be good for your skin by absorbing oil and smoothing out the texture.

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