Since October, my best friend and fellow makeup junkie was obsessed with trying one of these. We would go back and forth every weekend, contemplating whether or not to break down and buy one. Unfortunately, she moved away before we could try one together. About a month ago, I swapped for one, totally psyched that I would finally get a chance to try it; but I was sad she wouldn’t be able to try it with me. I especially felt bad because she had wanted to try it more than me. However, after trying the Tarte Cheek Stain, I am extremely glad that we held back, because I wouldn’t have wanted to see the look of disappointment on her face.
COLOR
I got the cheek stain in flush, the classic, always featured color. When I swatched it, I was disappointed. The color was beautiful in the tube, but on my skin, I couldn’t really see it. I’m not a huge fan of dark cheeks on me, but I’m also not a huge fan of blonde cheeks either. After applying a lot of the color, I finally saw some results. It was a pretty shade and looked good on my skin tone. If I liked the color, why is this going to be a negative review? I absolutely despise the formula.
FORMULA
When I opened the tube, I was happy to find that this wasn’t a gel, as I find them unusually hard to blend. Yes, this is a cream blush. However, I feel almost silly comparing this to a Stila Convertible Color. Putting it on my cheek, it was a weird consistency. It didn’t feel extremely gooey, but I found it really hard to blend. It got all over my face and my hands and I looked like a clown. Besides looking like the newest employee at a county fair, I touched my face after a few minutes, and my fingers almost stuck. It was disgusting! Dog hair from my dogs was stuck in it and it made my face feel coated with something utterly gross. However, I decided I would give it some time to dry and settle into my skin. After about an hour, the stickiness was not as bad, but it still felt like there was a weird film on my face. After a few more hours, I touched my face again and it was dry, but it felt tight on my face. That was when I decided it was time to take it off. It took about five minutes to scrub off, if not more, and just taking it off made my skin hurt. Yes. Tarte is an environmentally friendly company, but I question how skin friendly they are.
FUNCTIONALITY
I really can’t tell you how to use this, as I don’t know. When I tried, I failed miserably. However, I feel like the company is responsible for making their products user-friendly. This is the first blush I have had trouble using, and it truly surprised me how horrible it was to use.
PRICE
This cheek stain retails for $30 on sephora.com and in Sephora stores. I don’t know if Ulta carries Tarte, but it would be a good place to look. When it comes to buying these, I say, save $5 and buy a NARS blush. Or some other blush. Seriously, I don’t think they could be worse than this one.
PACKAGING
The packaging of this product is fine. It’s not that cool, not that ugly, etc. However, when you have a collection of blushes, this one is inconvenient to store with the others, because it is not in compact form. Another problem I have is that with these roll-up tubes, the edges of the product tend to dry out. This makes them even harder to blend, so I’ve heard.
FINAL OPINIONS
Personally, I loathe this blush. If you can get it to work for you, that’s wonderful! You are a true makeup miracle worker. However, I don’t have the time to be reapplying and cleaning my face every hour on the hour. I will definitely never buy these again unless they completely redo the formula. Everyone else seems to love this product, so maybe I’m an anomaly- I’m not sure. I do not want to write Tarte off as a company, because I really admire them for being environmentally friendly, but so far, my experience with their products when averaged out has been sub-par at best. I have not tried their eyeshadows, but have heard wonderful things, so I’ll probably try those next. Hopefully, I’ll like them. Or I might end up writing a review just like this one. Let’s hope not! When it comes to my Tarte Cheek Stain, let’s just say it went right back up on my swap list as soon as I finished scrubbing it off my circus face. Sorry, Tarte! I hope I can be a happy consumer in the future!
