beauty | tarte cosmetics

the tarte collection has had such incredible buzz that I found myself having a. high expectations and b. childlike excitement to test it.

I took some of the 12 hour range out on a day trip to cambridge to test it's staying power.. can I be really honest? I totally loved it.

after a full day of travel, shopping, meetings, lunch and dinner my make up looked pretty much like it did when I left the house in the morning.. this doesn't happen often.

we grabbed a few snaps of my make up on arrival, then I dashed off to a meeting and met back up with james to drag him around every shop in a 2 mike radius.. well so he said.

pit stop for lunch and coffee, I was still really impressed with the lack of shine at this point... the only touch up was a dash of lip gloss.

tarte 12 hour collection c/o QVC*

and still going strong early evening when we grabbed dinner.. I fully expected that I'd have to touch up a shiny t- zone by this point.. no sir! the only oil to be seen was drizzled on my pizza.. mmm.

I'm so impressed with how I got on with the whole collection but I have to say there are a few stand out products for me..

the amazonian clay full coverage foundation gave me brilliant coverage without looking caked. I've been using mineral foundation for the last few months so I was expecting to find this heavy.. nope. not only is does it feel pretty light, it doesn't slip, didn't dry out my skin and I didn't touch it up once while I was on my day out in cambridge (for someone with oily skin on a sunny day this was a revelation) I'm wearing the fair sand shade in the pictures above which is perfect for my pale skin (although I think once I've caught some sun I'll have to switch up to a darker shade!) this foundation I'd repurchase again in a heartbeat.

the 12 hour blush is a really pretty, the flush colour is exactly the shade I wear on a day to day basis so it fits right into my make up routine. once again the staying power of this was pretty incredible, no touch ups despite a day of running about, shopping, eating, drinking and napping on journeys home. the only downside is that it's quite expensive for a blusher.. however if you're prepared to invest in something with great pigmentation and quality this is well worth a look.

the lights, camera, lashes 4 in 1 mascara is my last stand out item. this had exactly the same big wide eyed lash effect of my go- to benefit mascara but I found the wand on this one easier to use (does anyone else find the benefit they're real mascara brush a little too bulky?) it lasted all day and wasn't a pain to remove either. 

the other items I tried were the waterproof liner (in bronze) which was a nice alternative to my usual black, once again it didn't smudge which is a pet hate of mine as I tend to rub my eyes a lot. I loved how natural this looked on the day.. but I have a suspicion I'll be back to wearing black again soon (old habits die hard)

my brows came courtesy of the waterproof brow mousse which has a handy double ended brush too shape and groom again another lovely product but one I wouldn't repurchase as I think I could source a cheaper alternative.

overall I'm a big fan, BIG.  it's not often I'm such a fan of a hyped products but I've genuinely loved the results I've seen with one. the collection goes on sale again this week on the 19/20th on QVC..if you do tune in be warned last time it sold out in minutes!

have you tried any of the tarte collection yet? I'd love to hear your thoughts! caroline x