tarte Amazonian Clay Eye & Cheek Palette review, photos, swatches & looks

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Walk on the wild side any time of day or night!

photos: we heart this

When it comes to tarte cosmetics, you name it, and the we heart this team has both tried it and loved it. From mascara to blush to foundation to eyeliner, their products usually score close to perfect scores all across the board. The fashionable colors, perfect formulas, and quality ingredients impress us every time – and the company strives to be both eco-friendly and cruelty-free.

While I’ve tried a lot of tarte’s offerings (I totally heart their eye shadow primer and Maracuja glosses), I hadn’t gotten around to trying any of their palettes, although the True Blood palette was incredibly tempting. However, tarte’s newest palette, a Sephora exclusive, showed up on my doorstep and blew my mind.

The Amazonian Clay Eye & Cheek Palette is housed in an adorable deep purple textured clutch with a faux snakeskin accent. It’s mind blowingly awesome, sassy, and elegant at the same time, and I wouldn’t mind keeping it in my purse just so I could look at how pretty it is.

Inside, it’s equally fabulous. There’s a large mirror for easy application of product, two blushes and six eye shadows, all created with silky smooth Amazonian clay. Dug up from the banks if the Amazon river, this clay has nourishing properties that calm dry skin, but also keeps oil at bay when and if you need it.

top: tame, rope, canopy – bottom: rare, camo, tribal

free, exposed

Swatches from left to right:
blushes
free – dark coral with gold micro glitter
exposed – matte dark pink

eye shadows
tribal – matte blackened plum with a purple sheen
tame – champagne shimmer
rare – shimmery peach ivory
rope – matte nude
camo – golden bronze
canopy – dark shimmery coffee

free & exposed blush

Each blush in this palette is three quarters the size of a full blush, and each shadow is full sized, so the Amazon Escape palette ($44) gives you a LOT of bang for your buck in terms of quantity. But the quality is what really makes this palette exceptional.

The blushes are very pigmented and smooth, so I had to be careful to use a light hand, even with my medium tan completion. I really appreciate that they included a warm toned blush and a cool toned blush, although I would say they’re both pretty close to being universally flattering shades in my opinion.

tribal & tame

camo & canopy

The shadows are fairly good overall, although the matte shades are a teensy bit chalky, and the bronze and dark purple look different applied than they do in the pan. Both types of product survived all day wear, but there’s some fallout during application, especially with the eye shadows.

Lastly, this palette comes with directions for creating a day and night look. I tried both and thought they were both quite easy to follow, and I ended up with pretty good results. Let’s take a look:

day look

day look

day look

nighttime look

nighttime look

Another great thing about this palette is that the colors go together so well that it’s easy to come up with your own color combinations too. Here’s one of mine:

day/night hybrid – perfect for work…

…and rather pretty too!

Snatch up the Amazonian Clay Eye & Cheek Palette if you’ve been wanting to try tarte’s blushes and/or eyeshadows. You get a good sampling, plenty of product, all for just $44. And I’m totally going to keep the case even after I’ve used up all the products!

we heartsters – what are your favorite palettes from tarte?

Marilyn is a makeup maniac and slow but stubborn runner. She loves color coding her day planner, reading celebrity gossip and drinking good wine. Marilyn blogs about makeup and fitness over at her blog, Lipgloss and Spandex.

Disclosure: This review includes products that were provided by the manufacturer/PR firm for our consideration. It also contains an affiliate link, a link that gives us a small commission if you purchase the item. For more info, or any questions, please see our disclosure policy.