Tarte Treasure Chest Limited Edition Holiday Palette Review

Feeling housebound for three weeks, I just HAD to get out.

I looked desparingly at my eyeshadow drawer.  There sat a beautiful eyeshadow trio that I loved to look at, but I just could not wear on my eyes.  I figured since I had to go out somewhere, I might as well return it where I got it at Sephora and have some store credit to have fun with.

I had been saving up my Sephora gift cards and store credits, for the last year for such a time as this.  I really wanted to get something special but could not come up with a lot of extra cash to do so.

Some people had told me that I needed to get the Urban Decay Book of Shadows Volume II.  I did not have time to do much playing so I went into Sephora, grabbed the BOOK OF SHADOWS VOLUME II from URBAN DECAY and then I went up to the counter to exchange and pay for this new acquisition.

When the sales associate began to ring up the whole transaction suddenly we both jumped up when someone said loudly, "NO!  DON'T BUY THAT!"

Now a little intuition told me that I would not be happy with the URBAN DECAY SET, but I wanted so badly to have something fun to play with that I had ignored it.

Was that litle intuition shouting at me???

I looked over startled at the source of the protest and this other person at the counter was so intent on warning me that she stopped what she was in the middle of and shook her head again- "Don't get that.  I am telling you, you have to look at something else."

I was intrigued.  The Sales Associate ringing me up was a bit frustrated, but she stopped and did not know quite what to do.  My "Guardian Angel" told her to go in the back and get the new Tarte Treasure Chest and bring it out.

When she brought it out after some digging in the back room, my eyes popped out of my head.  There was a ton more makeup in this kit than the URBAN DECAY KIT and the colors looked GORGEOUS.

It was only $4 more than the URBAN DECAY kit, so I decided to trust the wisdom of the interloper and buy the TARTE TREASURE CHEST, having never tried out TARTE products before- I was never attracted to them.

WHAT IS THE TARTE TREASURE CHEST LIKE?

This is going to be a difficult review to write beause there is SO much in this kit that I am not sure I can put a good detailed review in this small space.  I will do my best.

The TARTE TREASURE CHEST COMES WITH

• 16 shimmer eyeshadows
• 16 matte eyeshadows
• 16 lipglosses
• 4 blushes
• 1 highlighter
• 1 bronzer

Sounds like not a big deal, right?  Well, if you look at the photos, you will understand why most people who see this get very excited.

The box that all of this comes in is terrible.  I hate the box- it has a magnetic closure on the front that does not hold at all, this means that when you tilt the box the drawers of product come flying out- this can cause damage to the products which I do not like.

However, because the makeup in this kit is so nice, I am willing to put a rubberband on this box and maybe even make a case for it to keep it safe.

EYESHADOWS

I have labeled the photos with numbers so that you can match the swatches with the correct shadow colors.  I will attempt to describe the shadows for the most part with exceptions where necessary.

All of the shimmer shadows which open up like wings on each side of the box are creamy and beautiful.  When using them over a base, they sheer out nicely and blend beautifully.  The texture is creamy and well pigmented.  The only two that need a bit more work to apply are numbers 4 & 7 (look at the photos of swatches and palettes to see which these are).

The matte eyeshadows are very creamy and velvety.  They apply beautifully OVER A GOOD EYESHADOW BASE.

The photos that I took were on bare skin with no eyeshadow base so they did not stay on overly well when I was moving around taking photos for you.  On an eyeshadow base, they stay on much better.  4m and 2m are a bit more difficult to get to show up on my skin but that might not be the case for other skincolors.

The longevity of the matte shadows is not quite as good as the shimmery ones, but I put them on my daughter with no eyeshadow base and they looked glowy and beautiful.

I will update this review with notes about these shadows over time if I find that they do not last on me like they should or if I have any other additional observations to share with you all.

BLUSH and HIGHLIGHTER

Wow, these are gorgeous. Despite being deceptively tame looking in the pan, don't be fooled- these are PIGMENTED.  The pink blushes are a nice warm pink- nothing too cool here, yet they look pretty on cool skintones.  The peach and coral blushes are deceiving.  They go on VERY intensely so a light swipe is all you need.

There are a few sparkles in one of the pinks which are not a huge problem- some people may not like that.

The highlighter is a cool blue toned ice pink and it has a glowy shimmer.  The bronzer is an interesting color- in the pan it looks almost cool taupe, but on the skin it has a hint of warmth without being orange at all.

LIPGLOSSES

I have not had a chance to try on all of the lipglosses yet, nor have I swatched them for you, but I plan to try once the lighting is better in the future.  The texture is delightful of the lipglosses.  They are smooth, not sticky, and very emollient.  Moisturizing from these is long lasting, and although the colors look dark in the pan, they are quite sheer.  I like them.  There is just enough color to be pretty but not super great coverage.  I usually like very pigmented lipglosses, but these are a nice compromise for me.  Still have coverage but are sheer too.  The texture is reminiscent of the lip jellies that people often rave about from various lines of cosmetics.

This selection will be a good natural look for me- I would not wear most of it on dress up holiday evenings, however.  I do like these.  My daughter liked them as well as they moisturize very well.

FINAL COMMENTS

TARTE is supposed to be one of the more natural lines without harmful chemicals and preservatives that other lines have.  The ingredient list still looks rather chemical to me, but there is no talc in the shadows and I have had no bad reactions as of yet, so they must be doing something right.

There is a lot to work with in this set.  The colors are very rich and appropriate for the holidays.  Lots of the colors have gold shimmer in them which does not show up well in the photos I took.  They are very sophisticated looking and I know that I will wear them often if they turn out to work well for me in the long run.

TARTE TREASURE CHEST HOLIDAY SET from SEPHORA is also an excellent set to give as a gift to someone older- the texture looks good on aging skin as well as younger skin.  That makes it great for Christmas presents and other holiday gifts.

Despite using good eyeshadow bases, some brands of eyeshadows over time don't wear well on me.  They will disappear from my eyelids within a half hour or hour.  I have not had a chance to try out every color in this kit for longevity yet, but what I have used has been very impressive so far.

I will update this review as I have a chance to work more with the TARTE TREASURE CHEST HOLIDAY KIT.  For $52, this is an excellent value.

The blushses are so pigmented that I can see me using every one of them for different looks that I do in the wintertime.  The lipglosses are so wearable and pleasant with no odor or stickiness, again, I can see me wearing these too.  The only drawback would be reapplication with this silly container.  I am not sure how I will remedy that yet.

The eyeshadows are so rich that I can see me using them often, but the only thing I am not sure of yet is how much I will use the matte shadows.  ALthough they are very pretty and not overly chalky, I don't tend to like mattes.  My trials of them so far have been glowy and pretty though, so I am open to experimenting with these.

I have done my best to take photos for you of swatches and the kit itself.  I have yet to swatch the lipglosses and hope to get to it soon.  I was just so overwhelmed to find such a wonderful set for a good price that I wanted to share it with all of you as soon as possible as I know these will sell out quickly.

WHERE TO FIND

I got this set at Sephora and the cost was $52.

Supposedly Sephora is the only place you can buy this kit, so if you don't have a store near you, you can visit

www.sephora.com

PHOTOS

Click on the tiny photos next to this review to enlarge them.  All photos were taken on bare skin with a single swipe in most cases.  That is how pigmented that this stuff is.  I did not use an eyeshadow base under any of the shadow swatches which greatly improves their performance.  The reason that some of the shadows look like they came off is because my cat jumped up on me as I was taking photos and wiped some of them off in the process.

Once again, I hope to add lipgloss swatches when I can.

WEARABILITY TESTING UPDATE!!!

I have been wearing and testing the eyeshadows constantly for a few days now and I am very excited to say that these eyeshadows- both matte and shimmer- stay on PERFECTLY ALL DAY without any touch ups at all when I use them over Too Faced Shadow Insurance.

I did not think that I would like the matte shadows on my eyes, but they are GORGEOUS.  The blendability is fabulous.  They look very beautiful on and my husband kept commenting all weekend that he really liked my eye makeup.  The shimmer shades are also beautiful and long wearing as well.

The blushes lasted beautifully as well with no changing of color and no need for touchups.

The lipglosses- I like wearing them around the house and for quick errand running into town, but they are impractical to wear out besides that.  Not sticky and very moisturizing.  I like them a lot quality wise