Tarte Gallery Gals Deluxe Tarteist™ Eyeliner Set ::: Review & Swatches ||| Holiday 2016

I have wanted to try this formula ever since Tarte released it some time ago. Now that they put 2 mini size of the liners in a cute little box with a liner brush for just $19, you have to grab it during the VIB Sale! Am I right?

Availibility: You can buy this from Sephora and Tarte Cosmetics. 

Price: For 19$ you get two of Tarte’s waterproof cream clay paint liners. The shades here are black and bronze each with 0.10 oz. It also comes with a mini angled liner brush! As you can see from the picture, it is housed in a cute, little box which is not really “holiday-themed” but I love it. I think it is more practical and you can use it as a birthday or any other type of gift as well! I am actually thinking about re-using it to store/display my beauty blender. I have a hope that it will work great. I personally think you get very little amount of product. But overall, I think it is still an ok price. “Bronze” is a limited-edition shade but the black matte shade is available permanently in full-size.

Pigmentation & Wear-time: The black shade is very, very pigmented. It’s very matte as well, I don’t have a matte black eyeliner so I am really liking it. It is creamy and blend-able enough for to use the brush it came with to apply this. I am more of a “liquid-eyeliner” pen kind-a girl! Obviously a gel-type black shade with tiny brush is a bit intimidating for me; I am still struggling to get a crisp edge for my winged liner. I guess I have to practice more! Staying power is very impressive as well; on my upper lash line, it stayed the entire time but it was kind of easy to wash off with a makeup remover. I appreciate that. However the thing that impressed me most was its wear time on my lower water line. I slept off with this for a quick nap and it was still intact :-)

The bronze shade is pigment-wise a tad bit weaker.

Shades:

Black- Matte and very black. I love it.

Bronze- It looks like it has a little bit of sheen but it doesn’t really show when applied on the lid. My favorite is the black one, obviously!

I have tried different eyeliner formulas from Tarte before and they has never let me down. I really like these as well! However, if you already have a lot of eyeliner I would not really encourage you to run out and buy these. Mainly because it comes with so little product. But if you already bought these, I am sure you will quite enjoy it!

Love

~Arrru

NYX Cosmetics Rouge Cream Blush in "ROSE PETAL"

NYX Cosmetics is overall a wonderful brand. They have a vast array of products at a very affordable price range and you are bound to find love for one or more products from them!

One such product for me is their Rouge Cream Blushes. I have it only in the shade "Rose Petal" and it's my "I-don't-know-what-goes-with-this-eye-look" blush. Yes, this little guy surely deserves that long a name :-) It was my first successful buy so far as blushes are concerned. It's a lovely natural shade and applies so easily! You can already tell, I LOVE it!

Let's start with the packaging. At first look, it appears to be a bit more voluminous than I prefer. The compact is black and of well-built plastic packaging, which is very typical of NYX. It's round in shape and strong enough to carry; I have travelled a lot with it. The lid opens up to 120 degrees and is clear, which makes it easier to find the exact shade from your collection. It does not have a mirror. This is not a deal breaker for me but being a girl who is constantly on the move for business and leisure trips, I have started to appreciate mirrored packaging for makeup products.  

One of the best aspects of NYX is their very affordable price range! This is also no exception. For a total of 0.12 oz. (3.5 g), this costs around 6$ to 7$. Such a deal for this wonderful product. Especially if you pick it up during 'Buy One Get one at 50%' or other sale offers which they offer quite regularly. Even though the price is very "drugstore-like", NYX is not available in all drugstores. I personally have seen them only in Ulta and select products in select Target stores. You can definitely access them in NYX website and of course there is Amazon (Personally, I prefer buying makeup products directly from the brand website, drugstore or from Beauty stores). By the way, I learnt that Sephora India offers NYX in their stores! I find it very interesting :-) I love online shopping but I like to explore makeup and beauty products before buying; so I really do wish more availability of NYX products in the future :-)

Anyway, this is one of my most favorite products from NYX :-) Some people are a not very comfortable with cream blushes but I started my 'blush journey' with this very product. The texture is very smooth and it’s a dream to blend. It made it extremely easy to wear "blush" for the naive beginner in me! I simply use my fingers for application and it glides on my skin within seconds. It does not emphasize the pores on my cheeks as well. You also need the tiniest bit for the color to show up; very pigmented product. 

The shade "Rose Petal" is a very natural rose hued warmer pink. It does not have any shimmer but the end finish definitely gives you a glossy-glowy finish. Because the shade is subtle in nature, it can be worn with absolutely minimal makeup as well as with very glam smokey eye makeup. Like I said, whenever I can't decide what blush color will work well with my overall makeup look, or whenever I don't have enough spare time to spend on make-up, this is what I pick up. It does not have crazy long staying power though. It does not last more than 4 to 5 hrs. if you are out and about in hot humid weather. But it has lasted for around 6 to 7 hrs. on me during indoor events. The shade will suit almost all skin tones although it can come off a bit ashy if you have a very deep skin-tone. It is also non-scented and has never broken me out. But then, I don't have sensitive skin.

Pros:

• Beautiful texture.
• Easy-to-apply; easier to blend. Excellent for beginner.
• Very affordable.
• NYX is a cruelty free brand which is always an added advantage for me.
• Excellent for girls with dry skin (me, me!!)

Cons:

• The compact does not have a mirror.
• I wished it would have a little more staying power.
• Not readily available in all drugstores.

I will always have a special place in my heart for this blush as this one was my first ;-) But because I have recently gone through a major blush-kick, I have forced myself into a "restricted-buyer" mode for now. I would definitely love to check out other shades in future though :-)

If you are looking for a natural cheek color, I would surely recommend this particular shade. Hope it was helpful :-) Enjoy....

Love,

~Arrru 

Products I've Used Up/Empties Vol. 1

When I first started reading blogs, watching YouTube videos as well as writing my experiences here in my blog, I would feel weird about "Empties" article. It seems strange to me as to why I would like to know about what products somebody uses I was not able to understand the point on reading about someone's bath products :-) But now I truly understand the point of these empties posts :-) When you use a product and like it enough to use it up (especially cosmetics products...they take forever to finish) and then you feel inspired or still impressed enough to jot down your feelings regarding the product, that really makes sense. And it is a great way to find out about "really good" products :-)

So here it goes, my first ever empty products...

1. Matrix Biolage Root Nourishing Oil: This is a blend of 3 nourishing oil including coconut, almond and sunflower seed oil. It is meant for scalp as well as root-to-tip hair care. I actually got this as a gift from my hair salon back home in India when I got my hair chemically smoothened last October. But now that it's finished, I cannot find it anywhere to buy :-( I TRIED really hard to find it...but my hard luck! :-( But I thoroughly ENJOYED it when it lasted. I love me some deep massage before I wash my hair. I had been regularly using this in combination with my "Old and Faithful" coconut oil to deeply massage my hair and scalp and keep it overnight before washing it off the next day! I strongly believe it has helped me a lot in keeping my hair healthy and straight enough even after almost a year from the smoothening treatment. I just LOVED using this stuff and now only if I could find it somewhere. Please let me know if you all have any clue :-)

2.Schwarzkopf Professional Bonacure Hair Therapy (Repair Rescue) Shampoo and Conditioner: Phew...that was a long name! It was suggested to me by my hairstylist after the smoothening treatment mentined above. Both the shampoo and conditioner are very good to use. I feared that my hair will go back to its fizzy natural wavy self, but I am glad that it is still smooth and healthy enough and more importantly 'Straight' :-) 

I bought this from the same hair saloon @600 INR per bottle and then I ordered it from Beautybay.com but Ulta has recently started to carry this line..I think it costs $. I will definitely keep repurchasing it. :-)

3. Topcare nail polish Remover: Very basic and must-have product right? This is affordable (around 3$), easily available in most of the drugstores and gets the work done. I, of course, need a little more work to remove glitter polishes with this remover. But if you use the "aluminium foil" trick, it works wonders. I am definitely repurchasing it.

4. Lakme nine-to-five Intense Volume Mascara: If you are from India you know all about "Lakme" as a brand. It is an Indian brand which has been in the beauty market for a long long time now. When I was in India, Lakme was one of the relatively higher end brands that was easily available in my place (key word--> relatively, available etc.) 

This was my first ever mascara. I loved using it. The formula is really nice and "wet enough"! I never had any problem with smudging or flaking. And it stays for a long time. I love the short and simple bristles. Perfect for my small eyes :-) I also love the simple compact packaging; it takes a real tiny place in your bag or vanity. And it really lasted for a long time without drying. I will definitely repurchase it; as a matter if fact, I already have a back-up!

5. Neutregena Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes: I traditionally don't completely rely ONLY on makeup remover wipes to  remove my makeup. But they definitely are very useful in removing the first layer which means less stress for my clarisonic brush head which eventually prolongs its life. I do not have experiences with many different wipes. But keeping that aside, I love these. They are effective in removing chunk of the makeup. I have stopped using wipes for my eyes at all, but when I did, it did work good enough for simple eye-looks! I am definitely going to repurchase it.

These were not a lot of products, but then again, I don't use makeup products on a day-to-day basis :-) But as I have started to really dip my toes into all sort of beauty products, I am pretty sure you will definitely see more empties in the months ahead :-) !! Thank you for stopping by and I hope it was a good read!!

Love,

~Arrru

The perfect CORAL :: Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hr Blush in "TIPSY"

Yup. Writing about another Tarte Product :-) I have been using this particular blush non-stop these days!! The sunny beautiful days of summer are here and “Tipsy” looks so bright and happy that I JUST have to wear it. In fact, there are days when I tweak my entire makeup look so that I can flaunt "Tipsy" :-) Yes, I am talking about the much-loved Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 hr. blushes.

Ever since I started to watch Marlena (A YouTube beauty vlogger, in case you are wondering) and Makeup Geek videos which encouraged me to do a little bit of research on that particular shade, I have been itching to try it. But I was also concerned about the price tag! When I finally gave in and decided to buy it, it seemed to be "out of stock" in every Ulta and Sephora store near me. In short, I have lusted over this for a long time before I finally ordered it online from ulta.com. The retail price for these blushes is $26 for 0.2 oz. (5.6 g) of product. I think I scored it at $20.8 during some sale (as you can tell, I hardly pass on any sales). This is a top-notch product and I will happily pay $26 for this!

The blush comes enclosed in a simple plastic packet which I think is good at times. I always have hard time throwing away the beautiful light-cardboard outer packaging that generally comes with beauty products. This one I can easily throw away without any guilt (yes, I am weird ;-)) Anyway, the actual container is very simple yet elegant and quite sturdy. The lid opens completely flat and has a nice big mirror. The best thing is that the color of the container completely matches the blush inside; uber convenient to pick up the exact color from your stash. In the older packaging, these blushes used to have nice adorable design embossed on the lid with a round circle raised on the circumference. I absolutely LOVED the overall design. Apparently they have a new look, hence now it’s only the word "Tarte", which is far less appealing to my eyes. I know “pretty” packaging is not something that defines a product, but if it is costing me 26 bucks, I want it to look pretty damn good on the outside too! :-) Apart from that, how charming is the intricate "river" design engraved in the blush itself? Isn’t it super adorable? The design will wear off with usage but let me appreciate it while it lasts :-) Also, I have read in many blog posts that it goes on much more smoother once the design wears off!

Well, packaging aside, can we just talk about the quality? It's a very pigmented blush; texture wise very smooth and extremely easy to apply as well as to blend. As the name suggests it's a VERY long wearing blush; I generally get 7-8 hrs. of wear. Also, recently, on one lucky day I had a total of 11 hrs. of wear without any horrible fading :-) :-) Tarte has two finishes for their Amazonian clay range of blushes; matte and shimmers. Tipsy is matte. However when I compared it with "Flush” (which is a complete matte, blogged here) I do see a very few micro mini speckles of shimmer when I observe the blush rather closely; don’t worry the shimmer does not transform at all to the cheeks! 

With "Flush (I have the older version)", the very LIGHTEST swipe on the pan is enough. However with "Tipsy", I do need at least two standard swipes to get the color show up on my cheeks. It looks very flattering if you have similar skin tone like mine or even deeper! If your skin tone is paler than mine, you will need to use a VERY light hand. But it will definitely suit almost every skin tone. Oh wait, I have not yet describe the shade in words yet :-) It's looks very orange and a bit scary on the pan, but it is actually a very nice bright orangey-coral color. I love how flattering it looks on my skin tone.

Pros: 

• Very pigmented and easy-to-blend.
• Extremely long-wearing.
• Tarte has a huge array of shades for this particular range of blushes!
• Adorable and very practical packaging.
• Tarte is a cruelty free brand and their products are made mostly from naturally-driven ingredients. I also appreciate that the products don't contain parabens, mineral oil, phthalates, triclosan, sodium lauryl sulphate and synthetic fragrance.

Cons:

• I can't think of one. However, I believe the pan is glued to the container. The pan on this blush started to move in the container. So I am a little concerned if it is weak or something. It's still intact though :-)

You can find Tarte blushes in Sephora, Ulta and at Tarte website. Tarte also offers their products in QVC from time to time. “Tipsy” is a wonderful shade, especially for medium olive-tan/Indian skin tone. And it’s just the perfect color for summer! I will surely use it throughout the year but I am pretty determined to make a big dent on my pan this summer :-) As you can tell, I am completely in love with these blushes and if I already don't have a dozen of blushes, I would try other shades!! :-) 

To be honest, I actually recently ordered one for my sister :-) (don't tell anybody ;-)) Thank you again for stopping by; I sincerely hope it was helpful :-)

Love

~Arrru