Tarte Cream Shadow in Slate - Review and Swatch

 Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

I don't know about all of you, but I tend to fall into makeup ruts. In particular, I automatically reach for my powder products when it comes to eyes and cheeks, so I creams tend to sit unloved. It's really a shame, since I have some nice ones in my collection.

Back on Black Friday, I picked up the Tarte Balanced & Beautiful Amazonian Kit, which came with a full size of the original Flush shade of their Amazonian clay blush, a cream shadow in Slate, and an eye shadow brush. It was a fantastic deal! Slate had been ignored because it is a bit darker than I normally use for a lid color. Thankfully, I got over my hesitation and tried it the other day.

Price: $19 for the Balanced & Beautiful Amazonian Kit or for the individual shadow (I told you the kit was a fantastic deal)

Packaging

Tarte's cream shadows come in sturdy glass jars. It looks like the individually sold ones have a square base instead of the round base like this one, but the actual opening for the product looks to be the same. I personally wish the opening was a bit bigger. It's a little hard to get a normal-sized shadow brush in there and run it across the product.

I really like the fact that the sticker on top of the jar indicates the shade in the jar, making it easy to identify what color it is without looking for an actual shade name. However, the shade name is printed on the bottom of the jar, and since the jar it clear, it is also easy to identify the shade if you store your cream shadows upside down, like I tend to do.

Product

Tarte describes Slate as a shimmering silver, but I would consider it more of a grey-taupe shade that makes a really pretty soft, smoky eye. 

I really like the formula of these cream shadows. They aren't too soft or too hard. It is easy to get opaque color with it, but it also blends out well along the edges. Work quickly though. It doesn't take too much time before this shadow sets and isn't going to budge.

I did a wear test the other day over Urban Decay Primer Potion, and it didn't crease at all. I had some fading around the center of my eyelids somewhere around the 8-10 hour mark, but it really wasn't anything that was obvious until I stared at myself closely in the mirror.

Final Thoughts

 I actually like this shade a lot more than I thought I would, and the formula is fantastic. If you like the look of it yourself, I would highly suggest the Balanced & Beautiful set, since you get two extra products for the same price as buying the individual shadow.

Have you tried any of Tarte's cream shadows? What do you think? Do you tend to ignore your cream shadows or blushes like I do?

Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Silk Naturals Spring Collection - Cream Shadow Swatches and First Impressions

Disclaimer: I purchased all items mentioned in this post with my own money. All opinions are my own.

Well...this week was a blogging fail. I didn't get up my Tuesday post, and I didn't even do That's Okay Thursday. I wasn't feeling well at the beginning of the week, and it turned into an awful week after that. Hopefully, this next week will be better for me.

The highlight of my week was the fact that Silk Naturals released their spring collection on Tuesday night. It's an amazing collection. They released 19 cream eye shadows, 2 cream cheek products (a cream blush and a cream bronzer), 5 lip glosses in a new formula, and a super shimmery clear gloss.

The other really exciting thing about their spring collection is the return of their Mystery Adventure Club. I'm going to go ahead and leave the explanation to Karen, Silk Naturals founder (taken from the listing for the MAC):

Every week I make a new gift with purchase.  When I make the GWP it's sort of my time to play.  I take a few minutes to just be grateful that we have customers, and try to think of something that would bring a smile to your face when you open your package.  GWP's can be pretty much anything- I'm not charging you for them, so I feel a lot more liberated to try new things.  In the past we've done sneak previews of new collections, glows, eye shadows, little bath/spa type things, skin care samples etc- pretty much whatever I'm feeling at the moment.  

We had a request for a GWP club...so people can get automatic shipments of the gift with purchase items without having to order.

Here's how the club works. 

Packages will be sent the third week of the month- on or about the 21st for a total of 3 months.  Your first shipment will go in the mail on May 21 ish, and will cover the GWP's from April 21 to May 21.  So for $37.95 plus the cart will charge you for shipping  you'll get a total of 12 GWP's in a total of three shipments (plus some other goodies- we make it fun).  We don't charge your card, or send you paypal invoices for anything else.  One price, three shipments.

They've done this program a few times before, and I've always signed up. I've done so this time too. Karens' shadows are gorgeous, and they always throw in really fun extras. It's a nice little pick-me-up every month. If this sounds like something you'd like to try, don't hesitate too long. Sign-ups end on April 21st, and they reserve the right to limit sign-ups. I don't think they've ever stopped accepting sign-ups prior to the cut-off date, but it's always possible.


Now that I've got that out of the way, I placed an order for a few of the new items. Today I'm going to show off the 4 cream shadows that I picked up. Each shadow retails for $4.99.

Packaging

 Each of the shadows comes in a skinny lip gloss looking tube. The label covered the entire circumference of the tube and does include the name of the color on the label (sorry they aren't pictured - I didn't think about that). The bad part about the large label is that you can't see the color from the side of the tube, but you can see it from the bottom.

The tube has a doe foot applicator. This actually works pretty well for applying these. When I've used them (I have two of their gumball - or trial - cream shadows), I just did a dab on the center of my lid and blended it out with my fingers. It gives a soft wash of color. Silk Naturals suggests doing two thin layers of these shadows to get the best result. 

Product

 I was thrilled with the range of colors that were released - there's everything from neutrals to pastels to brights. I would have loved to play with some of the brighter colors, but I knew I wouldn't use them much, so I showed restraint. I only picked up a few shades, and picked up ones that I could wear easily. I am already imagining myself wearing these all the time this summer as a one-color wash.

Left to right: Tribeca, Gramercy, Sunnyville, Penthouse

I'm going to go ahead and take the shade descriptions from Silk Naturals site because I find them to be accurate: Tribeca is a "pale gold highlight," Gramercy is a "coppery tan," Sunnyville is a "peach shimmer," and Penthouse is a "nude pearl."

One of the interesting things about these shadows is that they quickly dry down to a powder finish. These will not work as a base for a powder shadow for that reason. The gumball shadows that I have lasted well on my eyes when worn with a primer. I haven't tried out these new ones on my eyes yet. I did the rub test on the swatches (which had no primer underneath), and they stayed put pretty well with light rubbing. Some of the shimmer migrated, but the swatches stayed pretty well intact.

Did you pick up any of Silk Naturals's spring collection? Are you indulging in the Mystery Adventure Club too?

Disclaimer: I purchased all items mentioned in this post with my own money. All opinions are my own.