Wearing Tarte Maracuja Blush & Glow in Sunlight on my cheeks
Aha! I knew I’d seen this unusual suspect before…
Tarte’s new Maracuja Blush & Glow line of tint and highlighter duos has been giving me major déjà vu. They look and feel awfully similar to a couple of my tried-and-true loves from NARS, namely the Multiples ($39) and Illuminators ($29).
Available now at Sephora stores and online for $32, each Blush & Glow comes with a Tarte Tint at the tip and a Luminizer in the tube.
Maracujá oil comes from passion fruit seeds, and Tarte added it to the Maracuja Blush & Glows. They say it delivers a high dose of essential fatty acids and vitamin C to the skin when applied.
As similar as I think these are to the Multiples and Illuminators, I wouldn’t call them dupes. Their counterparts over at NARS do seem to pack a little more pigment and feel a tad smoother to me, but after giving all three Blush & Glow shades a try, I will say this: they’ve got game.
The Tint tip performs like a cream blush on bare skin or atop foundation, while the illuminating Luminizer, aka a liquid highlighter, bestows a shimmery glow to the tops of cheekbones, along brow bones or when added to foundation.
Shimmery champagne Candlelight appears to be the neutral babe in the bunch; cool-toned shimmery pink Moonlight should work well for gals who like the way they look in cool-toned pinks; and Sunlight, a warm shimmery peach, is just begging to play with warmer skin tones and tans.
I gave each of them a try on bare skin and then atop foundation, and I thought they did much better with foundation. On bare skin, the colors skipped town after about an hour, but they held their grown for 5 hours on top of foundation.
Part of me loves natural-looking cheeks, and that’s the part that adores the subtle glow I get from these duos. I also like how I can apply and blend them with my fingers. It’s just nice not having to use a brush, and it saves time for more important things, like emergency trips to See’s Candy, Target, Trader Joe’s and Petco (Tabs has been all about dried catnip lately) — or other times when I need to look presentable in a rush.
Tarte Maracuja Blush & Glow from the left: Sunlight, Candlelight and Moonlight
From the left: Sunlight, Candlelight and Moonlight
Moonlight’s tip broke off when I first opened it… wah!
Swatches from the left: Candlelight (two on far left), Sunlight (two in center) and Moonlight (far right)
Wearing Candlelight
Wearing Moonlight
I do have a few concerns with the packaging, which I do think is cute…but cute isn’t the same as sturdy or practical. All three of the Tints snapped off the first time I opened them, so I’ve had to stick them back in/on a few times since then. And, like Humpty Dumpty, they aren’t the easiest things to put back together again. Since they don’t retract, I keep accidentally gouging the sides of them with the caps.
The tubes also tend to dispense more Luminizer than I need, wouldn’t ya know it? It gets a little frustrating, and I think a precision pump would have been less wasteful.
Maybe it’s by design, though, as these seem to contain much more Luminizer than Tint. If I were to use them every day, I could see myself running out of the 0.06-ounces of Tint way before the much larger 1-ounce Luminizer.
I think I’d like these much more if Tarte reevaluated the packaging (and included a bit more of the Tint). They have so much potential to speed up my makeup workflow, but not if/when they fall apart in my hands.
PRICE: $32 each
AVAILABILITY: Available now at Sephora stores and also online
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Hmm, sounds like something to pass on – I really don’t like it when things break. That said, Sunlight sure is a pretty color!
Sunlight is pretty, but I can’t stand makeup packaging that falls apart. 🙁
That is so odd…it doesn’t make any sense for there to be so much more glow than tint. One seems much more likely to use more tint than glow!
Very pretty! But I don’t wanna buy something that will break on its first use.
casual-beauty.blogspot.com
For $32, breaking really isn’t acceptable. I got in a huff when my $20 UD shadow pencil broke on me, so for $12 more I don’t see myself being able to deal with it. I like the color of Candlelight in your swatch, though!
I tried these out at Seventeen magazine HQ but we didn’t have any of the blushes pop off, although I was worried about that! The packaging is cute but I definitely agree I got too much luminizier out of the tube.
Seems more of a problem opening & getting the product out than actual using it. Think I shall pass.
These look very cute but they seem very filmsy, the concept is an okay design but perhaps packaging wise they could do sort of a double decker thing in a jar with the luminizer down the bottom and tint on top? Apart from that they have gorgeous colours!
Oh they look so pretty (though it was an illuminator) but shame about the packaging… agree with Cassy – for that price, it breaking is pretty bad. :/
Sounds like a defective package design.
Karen you look divine!
All three of them look very natural on you! But yeah, redo the packaging and give us more blush please! I don’t systematically highlight my face, so the blush will run out too much faster for my liking!
These are pretty. They remind me of Pixi beauty…
I was wondering what is your favourite Tarte product, Karen? Their blushes?
Even though glow is nice, I definitely need more color. So that, paired with the breaking, makes these some of the few Tarte products I’m not prepared to love. 🙂
PS Wouldn’t you know that after saying things should be settling down a bit, I have a surprise trip to Denver this week. Sigh.
i thought the same thing when i saw these — too much glowwww! 😀
they are lovely on you though … 😀
Oh man, that is a bummer! These look so cute. I’m glad I waited for your reviews before buying anything though!
Usually its the other way round, more blush and less of the luminizer and that makes sense too. The packaging is cute though!
The lady at Sephora was trying to convince me to try these when I was last there… I won’t be purchasing, the packaging looks like a pain!
The swatches look so pretty! But there is so little blush in there…..I really wish they had done it the other way round.