Review of Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Blush in Dollface

Hello darlings!

I thought I'd pop in with a quick review of Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Dollface. In one sentence: "I love it but it's not as pigmented as I would like". Now, you know I can't leave it at that. :)

Shopping Experience: This is not part of the review but this might be interesting to someone out there in the vastness of the interwebs so I will include it. If you're a loyal reader, you know I picked this up during the Sephora Friends and Family sale. I always walk into Sephora with a vague goal that I may or may not abandon to just get more perfume samples. Anyway, this time I knew I wanted something from the F&F sale but after doing a few swatches, I got over my lust for the frequently-praised Urban Decay Naked Palette (though I'm totally drooling over the UD Naked 2 Palette) and I was left with no clear goal in mind. Since my blush collection is kind of pathetic in terms of pigmentation and range of color, I trekked on over to the Tarte section, since 20% off a $25 product seems a little more reasonable. Because I'm crazy. Anyway, I thought I wanted a stain since that was the product I fell in love with months ago but for some reason none of the swatches I did on my hand were working for me. Cautiously, I made my way over to the Amazonian Clay blush section and while I found some pretty colors, I wasn't really wowed. Then, a salesgirl suggested I try one of them on, and she picked out Dollface for me. A few brushstrokes later and I was convinced. I added it to my online shopping cart a few hours later and since it arrived in the mail, it has been my go-to everyday blush.

REVIEW

Color: I feel like this can best be conveyed with swatches so I'll keep this short. Doing a swatch out of the pan, the pink shade seems a little unnatural and almost a little too bright for the weird mix of cool, warm, and yellow, that is my Asian skin. However, applied to my cheeks with a light hand, it gives me the loveliest cool-toned, natural flush. The only thing that might be unnatural about it, is that it's called "Dollface" for a reason. It's a very girly pink and apply it more heavily and you look like a porcelain doll. It's not a big issue. You just need to take care in how you apply it and what colors you mix it with for the rest of your makeup.

Lightly applied for a "natural" look (only foundation used to cover up natural redness/blemishes)

Heavily applied for a "dollface" look

Pigmentation: I vacillate back and forth on this one. If I just touch my finger to the pan, I pick up very little color. If I rub my finger back and forth a few times, I pick up a very dusty layer of pink. The powder is picked up in very tiny, almost refined, particles. So, in my mind it seemed not pigmented. It wasn't as bad as an ELF blush, but it certainly wasn't even as good as my favorite Stila Coral blush. Because my Stila blush is so pigmented and is such a bright coral color, I've learned to apply blush with a very light hand. Doing so with this Tarte blush, I find myself having to build up the color. However, if I tapped the brush into the pan harder, I think this blush would be very pigmented. So I don't know what to think. I hope my rambling helps, but if it doesn't, I think this would be a good beginner blush. Using a light hand, you can build up the color, and using a heavier hand, it seems decently pigmented. I have swatches below with one side of my face with the blush applied lightly and one side with the blush applied more heavily.

Formula and Ease of Use: Again, I'm not sure how I feel about the formula. I like that the blush seems made up of refined particles. It's a little silky in finish and the lightness means I can brush it over my dry skin without worrying about it emphasizing the dryness. Despite the dry-on-dry it still looks fresh and youthful and not aging or cakey. I find this blush easy to use, but then I use a very light hand, and barely tap it and then build up the color. I think it might be a little more difficult depending on the quality of your brush, if you tried to pick up a lot of color and then blend it out. I would never do something like that anyway for fear of aggravating my dry skin and causing it to flake and peel by buffing it with a brush.

12 Hour Claim: I had to set up an experiment for this one since I usually don't check if my blush is present at the end of the day. I did not use any face primer but I did use . At the 6 hour mark (halfway point) it seemed just as pigmented as when I first applied it. However, it was also 8pm at night, so I couldn't take any natural light shots and the lighting in my bathroom + my temperamental camera wouldn't have accomplished anything. At the 8 hour mark, it seemed maybe a little faded but I was still clearly wearing blush. I also had to wash my face at this point. I'm comfortable saying the blush lasts at least 8 hours if you don't sweat or go swimming as it washes off pretty easily with soap and water.

CONCLUSION: Would I call you crazy for not running out and buying this blush (if you don't already have it) immediately? No. But I would feel comfortable recommending it.