WoooOOOwwww an actual FOTD!!!! It’s only been… an embarrassingly long time. Anyway, this is the makeup I did for my graduation ceremony for a university program. I could have done a totally respectable neutral smokey eye, but I do that every day and I wanted to use makeup products I haven’t used in awhile. It ended up being yet another version of my Lady Vengeance obsession. 

*Means these products were not purchased by me, but sent for editorial consideration. This doesn’t impact how I feel about the products though — honesty first!

Quick FOTD — I decided to mimic the eyeliner method Lisa Eldridge used in her latest video (she’s kind of the patron saint of powder doom, we both love her TO THE END OF TIME). I don’t really do makeup like this very often, but I think it came out quite nice.  Here’s what I used:  Nothing new here, really — I guess this is the first time I’ve worn Siren (the lipgloss) on PD though! It’s fantastic isn’t it?! I sprayed over everything with Mario Badescu’s Aloe Vera Spray and I’m in love, it really moisturizing and brightens up the face and makes it less…. ”done”. I’m a fan. My eyeshadow is just a mixture of Wet n’ Wild and Urban Decay shades from the previous Holiday collection and 50th anniversary palette, respectively, but the Naked palette should have similar colors.  High-res

Quick FOTD — I decided to mimic the eyeliner method Lisa Eldridge used in her latest video (she’s kind of the patron saint of powder doom, we both love her TO THE END OF TIME). I don’t really do makeup like this very often, but I think it came out quite nice. 

Here’s what I used: 

Nothing new here, really — I guess this is the first time I’ve worn Siren (the lipgloss) on PD though! It’s fantastic isn’t it?! I sprayed over everything with Mario Badescu’s Aloe Vera Spray and I’m in love, it really moisturizing and brightens up the face and makes it less…. ”done”. I’m a fan. My eyeshadow is just a mixture of Wet n’ Wild and Urban Decay shades from the previous Holiday collection and 50th anniversary palette, respectively, but the Naked palette should have similar colors. 

Hi lovely PD followers! o/ Just wanted to share with you my most recent haul, since both of us don’t really haul anymore. I think we’ve both pretty much reached a critical mass of collection and just want specific things instead of all the things. Anyway, most of these things are from Sephora since I hauled during their recent VIB 20% off sale - the two exclusions are the Shiseido foundation (purchased from Nordstrom) and the sea salt spray (purchased from Walmart). On to the products and first impressions!

  • Tarte Clean Slate Deluxe Primer Trio | $9 | link: I’ve been wanting to reincorporate primers into my makeup routine to see if I can keep my foundation looking smoother longer. Since the Hourglass primer is really expensive, I’m trying to see if I can find a comparable primer at a lower price point. I’m also running out of my NARS eye primer and I didn’t want to go over my budget. This set includes two face primers, 12-Hr Brightening and Perfecting, and the 12-Hr Smoothing Eye Primer.
  • Illamasqua Powder Blusher in Panic | $26 | link: Long story short, I wanted a red blush for the longest time and I couldn’t find any but then I found this so I bought it. Quickly swatched it and oh my gosh is this pigmented. I am so excited this is exactly what I was looking for.
  • Shiseido Perfect Refining Foundation in D20 Rich Brown | $38.50 | link: I must say, the Nordstrom website provides a much more accurate foundation swatch than the Sephora website. Which is why I bought it from there (and their customer service rocks). I do believe Shiseido reintroduced the darker colors of this foundation semi-recently, because I remember last year I was looking for a color match at a counter and these colors didn’t exist. Anyway, the color looks pretty good if it doesn’t oxidize too much. *crosses fingers* 
  • Dior Diorsnow D-NA Reverse White Reveal Night Concentrate | $145 | link: I have wanted to try this product for months since one of my friends who is a couple shades darker than me used it for her acne scars and saw such an amazing difference. The price hurts. I will be doing a full review on this because the price. …dat price. OTL
  • OCC Lip Tars in Vintage and Strumpet | $16 each | link: So proud I now own lip tars so pleased. I already tried Vintage and even though I was hoping it would read more dark burgundy it’s still really pretty. Layered Dior Addict Ultra Gloss in Flash (662) over it and I found my lip for Saturday night! *_*
  • Illamasqua Rubber Finish Nail Varnish in Vice | $14 | link: This formula works for my nails so I am very slowly purchasing colors I like. The next trim down area in my beauty collection is my nail polish, and I definitely have too many polishes that just chip in a day for me so those are going to be random gifts for people! The rubber finish is interesting, the polish dries down in between a matte and a gloss. 
  • Not Your Mother’s Beach Babe Texturizing Sea Salt Spray | $5.99 | link: I have some synthetic hair in right now and I needed a way to create looser waves in my hair than using a straightener on lowest heat setting for hours. This product is actually pretty nice, it doesn’t create waves out of nothing but it definitely makes them more…~*wavy*~. It also smells really good. Got compliments on my hair when I used it so…success!

And that’s it. As always, drop an ask for any picture, swatch or review requests. Toodles~

what are some of your favorite tarte products (for a first-timer)?

Asked by
jessicachu

My favorite Tarte Product is definitely the Amazonian Clay Blush range, particularly Exposed. I use it as blush and/or contour. I prefer the non-shimmering blushes over the shimmery ones. Their cheek stains are quite lovely as well, True Love in particular. I think LipSurgence Fever looks amazing on darker skin tones especially.