Product Review -- Tarte Make Believe In Yourself Eye and Cheek Palette

Over the past couple of years, Tarte seems to be putting out new eye shadow palettes (and eye and cheek palettes) every other day.

As much as I love the brand, it's started to get a little overwhelming for me, so I've tried to make an effort not to pick up every one that just sort of catches my eye.

But I am weak when it comes to pretty makeup things, so there was no way that I could resist Tarte's new Make Believe in Yourself Eye and Cheek Palette.

I mainly wear neutral eye shadows, and when I do dip my toe into the more colorful end of the spectrum, it's almost always pink and purple tones that I gravitate towards.

What really drew me to the Make Believe in Yourself Palette is that while it contains some beautiful colors, they are more muted so even someone like me who's a little self-conscious about wearing colorful shadows can feel comfortable with them.

The palette comes in a round compact like Tarte's Rainforest of the Sea Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 Palettes. The lid features a colorful blue, pink, and purple kaleidoscope-type design, and there is a decent size mirror inside that would work to do your makeup if you're traveling.

Tarte Makeup Believe in Yourself Eye and Cheek Palette

The palette includes 10 eye shadows and 1 highlighter in the center.

The shadows are: Myth, a matte pinky beige; Magic, a metallic bronze; Wings, a metallic copper; Marvel, a metallic sage; Trance, a metallic taupe slate; Fairy, a metallic lavender; Mystic, a metallic blue pearl; Dream, a metallic turquoise; Crystal, a metallic champagne; and Pixie, a metallic peachy pink.

The highlighter shade is called Believe, which is a metallic-y white gold.

Tarte Makeup Believe in Yourself Eye and Cheek Palette

The shadows in this palette are quite nice -- I don't think the metallics are exactly the same formula as the Metallic Shadows that Tarte is selling individually, but they're smooth, creamy, and well pigmented (though not quite as creamy and pigmented as the individual Metallic Shadows).

The one matte shadow is fairly creamy and pigmented, so it's easy to work with as well.

From l. to r.: Myth, Magic, Wings, Marvel, Trance

From l. to r.: Fairy, Mystic, Dream, Crystal, Pixie

I love all of the shadow shades in the palette, which include both cool and warm tones. As I mentioned previously, despite being colorful, the shades are somewhat muted so I find the green, purple, and blue tones in the palette to be very wearable.

(As a result, I've been feeling a little more comfortable experimenting with the shades in the palette. The other day, I even did a look with Pixie in the center of the lid and Mystic on the outer and inner corners, which is pretty crazy and out there for me.)

Pixie is probably my favorite shade, because I love those peachy pink tones, but Wings, Marvel, Trance, and Crystal are also faves.

The one problem that I see with the palette is that there's only one matte shade -- Myth is a nice transition shade for my fair skin, but it isn't really dark enough to add much definition to the crease. There is no matte highlight shade either, and because the other shadows are so metallic, I feel like you really need a matte highlight to ground the look.

I've had to pull out some of my matte only palettes to use with this palette, which isn't a big deal for me, but if you like a palette that contains everything you need for an eye look, you might be a little disappointed with this one.

When I first swatched the highlighter shade, Believe, I was fairly disappointed because it has a fairly dry, stiff texture. However, when applied to the cheeks and other high points of the face with a brush, it's a pretty nice highlighter.

Believe

The white, slightly golden shade is fairly versatile, and while it's metallic, it doesn't contain any chunky or obvious glitter. It's not an especially intense highlighter but it's not that subtle either. You definitely get major glow when you're wearing it.

All in all, I am a big fan of this palette and feel like I will get a ton of use out of it this spring and summer.

The palette retails for $40 on the Tarte website, at Sephora, and at Ulta.

Have you tried the Tarte Make Believe In Yourself Eye and Cheek Palette? Are you a fan?