“Energy Noir” = “Energy Night” or “Night Energy.” That’s the name of Tarte’s fall 2015 collection, which has been out for a while now. Thank you, high school French. Or, rather, merci beaucoup, high school French.
Geez…I could have sworn that “noir” meant “night.” Well, someone clearly wasn’t paying attention during vocab in high school French class… Guess who that someone was. 🙂
Energy Noir! You may have strolled by Tarte’s fall 2015 Energy Noir collection recently at Sephora. If it aroused your curiosity, but you’re wondering if it’s worth your time, here’s a closer look at three of the 12 pieces, including the $38 Energy Noir Clay Palette (thumbs up!). I’d even go so far as to call this eyeshadow and cheek palette one of my fall faves.
It’s kind of funny that I’m wearing something in this video review called Energy Noir, because when I filmed it — this was a couple weeks ago at the height of Baby Girl’s first trimester antics — I had absolutely NO energy at all, and as for energy at night? Forget about it. My mom called me one night at 7:15, and I was like, “I gotta go to bed now!”
Haha! It’s so true though.
Products mentioned
- Tarte Energy Noir Clay Palette ($38)
- Tarte Park Ave Princes Contour Palette Vol II ($38)
- Tarte Opening Act Lash Primer ($22)
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Tabs graciously granted me the afternoon off, so I’m heading into the city today (San Francisco, the city of dreams and sourdough bread!) for an optometry appointment and some shopping.
There are two big birthdays coming up in my family, so I’m going to look for a small, special gift for someone in The Land of Little Blue Boxes, aka Tiffany. I’ll also be stopping by H&M’s maternity section because, YARGH! — the clothing situation has been kind of a struggle lately. Even my stretchy Zellas are snug, which leads me to ask, “Is it possible to look cute in maternity clothing?”
I’ve probably been looking in all the wrong places, because apparently THAT’S MY SUPERHERO GIFT. Everything I’ve found seems, well…quite tent-like.
Anyway, I saw some prospects in the H&M maternity section online, but I’m hesitant to buy H&M online because their sizes have been inconsistent for me. I hope I can find something in the store that doesn’t make me want to crinkle my nose…
If you have any maternity clothing suggestions, please send them my way! My style is sort of J. Crew goes to a Jay-Z concert.
For both pregnancies, I did a lot of sales rack shopping with a few splurges. You can find great deals at Gap, but it’s sometimes better to go to the store than to order online as I found better deals that way. H&M had cute things but you are right, the sizing was off. I mixed a lot of maternity and regular clothing, like plain maternity dresses with leggings, and fun colored sweater, and bold jewelry. Old Navy had a lot of basic plain dresses. Jessica Simpson has a cute maternity line and I got a few of her items on sale from both Macy’s and Motherhood Maternity.
Hope this is helpful!
Thank you Jenn! I had no idea Jessica Simpson made maternity clothes. I’ve seen some of her clothes and they’re cute; I hope I can find some stuff on sale.
How old are you kids?
My girl (Amelia) is two, and my boy is due on October 4! I have also found soft jogger style pants (non-maternity) work, and maxi skirts, because you can wear hem low under your belly and wear a maternity shirt. That way, you can keep wearing them when not pregnant!
The eyeshadow palette looks pretty, I would totally wear all the shades!
But what’s on your lips, Karen? I was hoping you’d mention it when you were talking about lip colors but you didn’t, lol.
How did your day in SF go? Did you buy the gifts? Any luck shopping for maternity clothes??
Hi Agata!
I’m wearing NARS Janet on my lips. 🙂
SF was great. It was sunny and warm in the city, which is a rare thing. I’m glad I was able to go. And yup, I got my shopping done, and I found some maternity clothes too.
How was your day? Good I hope!
Actually, “noir” in French means black, night is “nuit” 😉
I bought it weeks ago during Tartes F&F’s sale, and I haven’t even swatched it, too hot! I’m glad you liked it, I was a little worried after reading other opinions on the shadows.
And, wait, you’re pregnant?! I must’ve missed the news when I was on vacation. Congratulations!! I’m really happy for you!
Ugh, apparently I was not paying attention in high school French. I can’t believe I got that wrong. In my defense, that was many decades ago.
Yup, I’m preggers! Baby Girl arrives in March. Very excited over here.
How was Kauai?
Kaua’i was amazing! Hot and mosquito-infested but the landscapes are incredible. And the snorkeling was fantastic!
Sounds wonderful! What was your favorite part of the trip?
Oh wows and awesome Karen, congrats on the baby! I’m sure Tabs will be an appropriate babysitter and take super good care of her! For maternity wear, honestly since you may not want to spend uber money on clothes you’ll only wear for a few months, I suggest going to Target and getting some of the Liz Lange maternity collection. They are generally made of cotton/spandex so it’s breathable and cute. You can always go online and get a guy’s XXL Jay-Z band tee to wear with some cute leggings and boots. Congrats again, you radiant makeup-momma! 🙂
PS I just popped by Target’s site to make sure I had the brand name correct and Target is having a BOGO 50% off sale on a lot of their maternity stuff. Potential deals!
Awesome, thank you Nicole! 🙂
Hope you had a nice day today. Any exciting plans for the weekend?
For maternity clothes – ask friends and borrow anything you can. It’s so worth it. Target has cute and cheap stuff too. Maternity yoga pants are da bomb dot com. Towards the end of my pregnancy I was wearing those to work every single day.
Thanks Tracy! Did you get your maternity yoga pants from Target?
Happy almost Friday!
I want to say I got most of my maternity yoga pants from Target and Motherhood Maternity. They were really nice and comfy to wear post partum too, without looking like maternity clothes. Happy Friday!
I can’t remember what clothes I wore almost 17 years ago when I had my little bundle of joy, but I do remember that my feet swelled up quite a bit and I needed to switch to wider shoes, almost 1 size bigger than my normal size. So be prepared for that 🙂
The Tarte palette looks great, are the two shades on the bottom left eyeliners?
Hi Broantza!
They’re both technically matte powder eyeshadows, although you could use them as a liner. In this video I layered the black shade top of a black kohl pencil, and it worked great as a liner.
Oh, and thanks for the heads up on the shoes. I wore a pair yesterday that are usually really comfy (a pair of Franco Sarto wedges that I used to be able to walk miles in, literally) but by the end of the day my feet felt a little funky. Looks like I’ll have to look into a wider shoes. Thank goodness boot season is just around the corner, since I usually go up a half a size with my boots (I like the extra room for thick socks).
TGIF!
Hi Karen. I am also pregnant and due in March! With my first pregnancy I found really great and affordable maternity clothes at Target. Also you may be able to wear your regular pants but leave them unbuttoned and put a belly bandeau over the top part. I did this with my work slacks thoughout my first pregnancy. Congrats on your pregnancy and I wish you all the best!!
I love the shades in the Energy Noir palette. Such pretty plums. I have the Park Ave Princess palette, and the bronzer works on me, so you’re right about it working for lighter skin tones. (I’m very fair with neutral undertones.) I love their mascara primer. I’ve almost used up my deluxe sample. It’s wonderful under bright colored mascaras I like to play with.
I haven’t been pregnant in 18 years, so I can’t help there. There are a lot more options, now I think. I know you’ll figure it out and look darn cute to boot. <3
Aw, you were close! Noir is black and Nuit is night. 🙂 It helps to live on the QC border. HAHA!
I was going to say that by the time I was 3 months along, I was busting out of everything, so you’re doing really well. I blame the 2 boys and 2 placentas (certainly not the overeating!). You know what my fashion is like now so, unless you only want sweatpants recs, I’m probably not your gal. HAHA! My stylish friend used to get cute stuff at A Pea in the Pod but it’s probably pretty spendy. 🙂
Wanting to go to sleep at 7:15pm will become a new life-long desire for you.
Hi Karen! Congratulations. With all three of my pregnancies, I used something called a maternity band that is like a tube top, but is layered over your non-maternity pants/skirts. It allows you to wear your regular clothes longer. You basically unbutton/unzip your pants a bit and then layer the band over the pants (to hold it up and hide the unzipped part). Then, when you wear a loose top over the band, it just looks like a layered look.
http://www.target.com/p/bematernity-by-ingrid-isabel-beband/-/A-13742281
I had a lot of luck finding nice looking, inexpensive maternity clothes at Target and Old Navy. Loft stuff looks nice too, but I don’t know how returns work for that.
Good luck!
If anyone can make maternity looks chic, it’s you. And the Duchess of Cambridge. As a long-time and avid watcher, I can pinpoint that her strategy is too use normal clothes as maternity clothes, and to shop frugal, think Asos and Topshop.
I’m so glad you reviewed this palette — I’ve been thinking of buying it for weeks, and think I might take the plunge now!
I discovered H&M maternity WAY too late in my pregnancy and wish that I had learned about it sooner — their stuff is way cute and way comfy. Especially loungewear. They were really great about returns so I just ordered 2 sizes of everything and returned the rest.
I echo ingrid & isabel, although their stuff runs REALLY small and is kind of pricey. Keep an eye out on Gilt Groupe for Rosie Pope maternity and designer maternity jeans (and more expensive stuff like coats). I really liked Target’s tanks, old navy’s work pants and skinny jeans, and Gap’s tops (which run really small — I’m normally an XS, and was ordering mediums in everything maternity from Gap). I also just discovered that Beyond Yoga, which is amazingly comfy workout clothes, has maternity options, so if there’s ever a pregnancy #2, I would definitely splurge on some cute comfy yoga pants.
I also just bought a lot of flowy tops in a size up from Loft / Gap / Banana / Kohls — they were great to have post- baby when everything was still lumpy / smushy.
Best of luck with the pregnancy and the shopping!
I swore by ASOS for maternity wear. Those were the only dresses and shirts that fit at the very end! Super cute and very reasonable!
Hi Karen,
Congratulations again! I am so happy for you ! I would suggest Target also !
I stroll by their maternity isle on my way to shoes. And everything looks so nice. They have pretty tops, pants , underwear, and bathingsuits.
How is your husband taking the news and your mother ?
I bet they are all very excited ! Keep us posted on all your activites !
And every minute , you do anything.
But more importly, remember to rest with your legs up every night ! -Michele
I love the Energy Noir Palette but it’s kind of similar to the last palette I bought from them so I’m hesitant to shell out for it.
I like the colors in the contour palette but DAMN I HAVE PORES YOU CAN SEE FROM SPACE. I’ll have to skip 🙁
Karen, massive congrats! Hope you have a healthy, happy pregnancy!
And that Noir Clay Palette looks like something I could really go to town with- great for both neutral and smoky looks!
I was glad to hear the primer is good as I have been considring it. I have Vol 1 of the contour palette and two of the colours are the same so i will skip. As for the shadows I just bought the two new Smashbox palettes so thats it for me for a mbit.
Wrap dresses were my best friend thoughout pregnancy. To be honest I only bought two pairs of maternity jeans and some loose fitting tops I knew I´d keep on wearing afterwards, because I didn’t want to spend too much money on clothes I wouldn’t get much use out of.
Looooong time faithful fan, reader and fellow beauty addict. First time commenting. Congratulations!! I adore your blog, Tabs, and you. I am half filipino/italian, we share the same skintone, you have taken so much trouble out of me finding perfect foundation matches. Thank you, and best of luck! Xo
You’re pregnant?!? How did I miss this?? Huge congratulations to you and El Hub…that is joyful news!
Soooo happy to hear this baby news! Congratulations … this is wonderful.
xoxo