Friday 11 January 2013

Tarte - Natural Beauty

If the spring fashion runways are anything to go by, we are all to embrace our natural beauty in the upcoming season. For the lucky few this may mean washing their face in the morning and heading out the door with no more than lip balm, but for us peasants it means that the "no-makeup-but-really-at-least-twenty-minutes'-worth-of-makeup" makeup look is back on the cards. Either way, I can almost hear faces giving out sighs of relief - after the dark lips of autumn and the griller-rich holiday season, it is nice to practice the enhancing function of cosmetics, not just decorative.

And although I can't say that I am entirely committed to this recent trend, there is a particular product that I have been using almost exclusively since the day I got it, and it is the ideal cheat to a healthy looking face - Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Blush in the appropriately named Natural Beauty.




For this blush, it is all in the name. Firstly, the longevity claim, 12h. According to Tarte, the product owes its magical properties to the clay from the banks of the Amazon river, of which the blush is made and then dried in the sun ( o.O? ). And although it has been talked about high and low, I am here to tell you - it wears until you take it off. And this is coming from someone that can quite often assess makeup after 14+ h of wear.



It makes sense. Apart from the obvious mechanical wear factor, one of the main causes of makeup disappearing off the face is the oils in the skin. So thinking of all the clay-based skincare designed to tighten pores and regulate oil production, it sounds reasonable to believe the blusher's tale.




And secondly - the shade. Natural beauty is described simply as red. In the pan there is somewhat of a pinkish tone to it, but on the skin it mimics precisely the colour of a flush of the cheeks. The kind of attractive colour you get (cliché alert!) when you've just walked in from the cold. Which is why I love incorporating it in my bare-face imitations.





The finish of the blush is almost matte (there is certainly no glitter or shimmer in it), but in some lights, it appears just slightly radiant, which adds to the whole 'oh, look at me, I am so healthy, I eat berries for dinner and glow from within' kind of skin.



Another great use for this shade is to combine it with red lipstick. Traditional pink or peach cheeks and red lips can sometimes clash, but with this one, you can be sure to look organic.


Tarte is one of the few brands that still hasn't made it over to the UK. Someone should really sort that out. They seem like an interesting company, and most of their products generate some sort of positive hype. But if you happen to be within a swatching distance of a Tarte counter, I recommend you go and check out their range.





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