Tarte 2013 Holliday Blush Palette: Off The Cuff

Amazing, beautiful, elegant are the 3 words that I will use to describe this gift set. Let me show you what I mean:

It comes nicely package. The perfect size and shape for wrapping (if you are gifting it). This is important. I hate wrapping oddly shaped presents. Obviously, I'm greedy and this is for myself...so I don't care about shape particularly in this instance.

The palette itself comes wrapped with the cuff bracelet around it. I'm not a fan of thick (faux) leather bracelets, so I will be giving that way, but it does add a festive touch. I will say, I would have MUCH rather paid less for the palette if it DIDN'T come with a bracelet than if it did.

Now, the REAL DEAL...The blushes itself...

(L to R) Crave, Dazzled, Darling, Dollface and the bronzer Park Ave Princess

Listen up guys...Dazzled is the ONLY one in this set that has a slight hint of shimmer. The rest are all matte. So if you are a fan of matte blushes/bronzer. This is your calling!

Close up

The colors are great for leading up to Fall

Swatched in artificial light on NC 25 skintone

You can find this product at Sephora for $42

I give this product a 9.5/10

NYX Blushes

NYX is a company who's products that I absolutely adore. Not only are their products great in general, but they have a wide selection in color variety and their prices are very affordable.

Today's post will be about their blushes. I have mostly their powder blushes with a few of their cream blushes. Let's get started...for reference, my skintone is NC25.

Here's the whole picture. I have the powders on top (the squares) and also a mosaic powder blush on the bottom right corner.

 Let's break it down and review the powders first:

 Swatched in the same order:

Amber, Cinnamon, Pinched and Terra Cotta will be my go to colors for Fall. Cinnamon is a great burnt orange color (it looks bright in the pan, but as you can see, swatched, it's not so rough). Terra Cotta is a color that I will use to layer blush colors with. I will use it as a highlight on top of blush. Finally, one of the most talked about blushes: Taupe. This is a great contour color for those that are NC25 or lighter. If you are darker than NC25, this is not probably not for you (in my opinion) as it will probably not show up on you very well. Taupe is matte, so it's wonderful to contour with.

Cream Blushes:

Swatched below:

First off, let me just say, these are ONE swipe swatches. The colors are amazing. Pigmentation is out of the world on these. The best way to use these cream blushes is with a stippling blush. I can't imagine using my fingers applying this because I can't control how I apply it with my finger.

I will be using more of these cream blushes in the colder weather. I didn't use much of these cream blushes in the summer because I'm not a huge fan of too much cream on my face during the summer (I have combo skin and very oily t-zone), so I try to stay away from creams as it slides off  my face.

Cream blushes don't last as long on me as powder blushes. I noticed these NYX cream blushes had the same affect as well. To make them last longer, I will layer the blushes. I will put the cream blush on first (with the stippling blush) and then powder my face (set it) and then I will find the matching blush color (powder) and top it off and it will last ALL day/night.

NYX products can be found at NYX Cosmetics Ulta, Cherry Culture, Target

Mac Blushes 101

This post will be about Mac blushes. It will only be about the powder blushes. So no cremes, no mineralized, no pro longwear, and no limited editions blushes.

Let's get started. I am breaking the blushes up into 4 sections:

1. Warms/Peaches/Shimmers
2. Pinks
3. Bolds/Pro (you don't need a Pro card to buy Pro items, you can order online or from a Pro store)
4. Others/Contours/Highlights

WARMS/PEACHES/SHIMMERS

All colors are great alone by themselves, descriptions are taken from Mac Cosmetics directly 

 1.  Sunbasque: Peach with pearl (sheertone shimmer)

 2. Ambering Rose: Muted rose (sheertone shimmer)
 3. Margin: Peach with golden shimmer (frost)
 4. Melba: Soft coral peach (matte)
 5. Peaches: Pure peach (sheertone)
 6. Pinch Me: Medium dirty rose coral (sheertone)

PINKS

These colors are great alone as well, but I like to layer colors with these so that they show up more

 1. Well Dressed: Immaculate pink (satin)
 2. Pink Swoon: Clearly pink (sheertone)
 3. Fleur Power: Soft bright pinkish-coral (satin)

BOLDS/PRO

These colors on my NC25 skintone are a bit bold, I like to blend them out with another, less harsh color

 1. Devil (Pro): Bright coral orange (satin)
 2. Apple Red (Pro): Fire engine red (satin)
 3. Rhubarb (Pro): Bright magenta (satin)
 4. Dollymix: Pure candy pink (sheertone shimmer)
 5. Salsarose (Pro): Lightly iridescent coral (satin)
 6. Azalea (Pro): Bright iridescent blue pink (frost)

 OTHERS/CONTOURS/HIGHLIGHTS

For these particular ones, here's how I use them:

 1. Shadowy: Deep brown matte sculpting powder--I use this to contour
 2. Lightsweep: Warm beige with fine pearl shaping powder--I use this to powder
 3. Emphasize: Off white with fine pear shaping powder--I use this to set my under eye
 4. Trace Gold: Gold with shimmer (sheertone shimmer)--I use this as a summer highlight
 5. Cantaloupe: Rich warm cantaloupe (satin)--I use this as a base for my bold blushes sometimes
 6. Blushbaby: Beige-pink (sheertone)--I use this alone as a very subtle blush

I hope this has been helpful to you if you are searching for a Mac blush. Remember, this is just the tip of the iceberg. This is just the regular powder blushes. You can buy all of the blushes mentioned on Mac's website. Keep in mind that you have the option of buying them individually in the refill pan's for $17 each here or you can buy them by itself for $21 each normally here.

Lastly, the sculpting and shaping powders are not considered blushes, they are $16.50 each and are Pro items only. Pro items can only be bought via refills only.