Swatch & Review: Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Exposed, Peaceful

Hello everyone!

How is everybody feeling today? Are you more or less back to the work-day rhythm? Before I start today’s swatch and review, I’d like to share with you that my submission for Beautezine’s Weekly Challenge: Show Us Your New Year’s Eve Look has been accepted! You can see the link here. It’s a big pleasure and I also truly adore my fellow contestants’ looks! If you would like to see more picture of my New Year’s Eve look, here is the link to my FOTD.

Now let’s get down to business! After the entire online beauty community raved and raved about Tarte blushes, I felt I couldn’t be left out of the hype anymore! Technically speaking these are the first powder blushes I own, so I can’t really compare them to anything. However, even with my limited experience I can tell you I am pretty happy with them!

Peaceful is part of the QVC-exclusive Glow Your Way to Gorgeous set. From what I heard it would only be available till the 31st of December 2011, but I just checked their website and it’s still there. I got mine separately from eBay though, and I paid about 24 dollars (including shipping) so it is a pretty good deal!

Peaceful is described as a “soft rose,” but I respectfully beg to differ. To me it looks like a peach. When I swatched it on the back of my hands for the first time, I was a little apprehensive. The color seems so bold, and it is SHIMMERY! Call me ignorant, but this is the first shimmery blush I own, and I was a bit scared it would be over the top. As you will be able to see in the swatch pictures, the shimmer is almost silvery. To my utter relief however, once on my cheeks the shimmer is barely visible. This blush is very pigmented. Not SO pigmented that you need a duo-fiber brush not to look like a clown, but you might not want to go crazy with it right from the start since you can very easily build it up. The shimmer does not emphasize my pores. Instead, it makes my cheeks glow from within. I have worn it once for about 8 hours, and it held on just fine. I still have to experiment with longer hours to see if it is true to the 12-hour claim.

Let’s move on to the much-coveted Exposed. Exposed is described to be a nude, which seems like an elusive concept when it comes to a blush, but we’ll get to that later. The finish is matte, and at least on the back of my hand this is what I would call a soft rose. The pigmentation is there, but it is not as strong as Peaceful for example. However, it is also a blush you can build up. The texture is very soft, and when I swatch it with my finger it is a bit powdery. My MAC 168 also kicks a bit more powder loose than necessary, so I wouldn’t want to swirl it in the pan like crazy. You know how people say when you choose a blush, you should pick one that is close to the shade of your natural flush after a jog? Well, Exposed is more like the natural color of my cheeks without the jog, but that is why is is so impressive! I have not ventured that far into the blush world yet, so blushes play the supporting role in my looks. Exposed is definitely very good at just that! I am sure whatever else you choose to wear on your face, Exposed wouldn’t be the wrong blush to go with it. With that said however, the wear time is a bit less impressive. While Peaceful holds on strong for 8 hours, Exposed would look a little faded at that point.

Here are the swatch pictures. The two stripes on the left are Peaceful heavily swatched and blended out, and the other two on the right are Exposed heavily swatched and blended out.

If you want to see these two in action, please click on their tags. Just as an example, I have worn Peaceful here, and Exposed here.

I’m having a lot of fun with these blushes, not to the point that I’d want to collect them all, but definitely to the point that I’d like to try some more of them. I should receive Blissful at some point, and I will for sure swatch that for you guys as well. By the way, I just checked the Sephora website and found 4 new shades on offer! I believe that Adored was previously part of a Sephora-exclusive shade, while Glisten was a QVC-exclusive one. At the moment all four of them (Adored, Buff, Frisky, Glisten) are out of stock, but I am already looking forward to seeing some swatches and reviews!

What do you think? Have you jumped the Tarte blush bandwagon? What is your favorite shade? If you haven’t, what would you like to try first?

Sunny xx