Tarte Create Your Own Beauty Box Review – May 2016

Tarte recently had a create-your-own beauty kit sale! It let you choose 5 full-size Tarte items (in your preferred shades) plus a makeup bag and brush of your choice for $59!

FYI – this offer sold out fast and is no longer available.

My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

Here’s the promo pic they sent out for the sale.

Liz initially got me very interested in the Tarte brand, and when I worked at Sephora I fell in love with it – I had to have this!

The Box: Tarte Cosmetics Create-Your-Own Makeup Kit

The Cost: $59 plus shipping

The Products: 5 full-sized products (1 per category of foundation, lip, eyeliner, mascara, and blush) in your choice of shades, plus a brush and makeup bag of your choosing!

Check out the Beauty Subscription Box Directory for more makeup boxes!

Here’s the packing slip that came with my box.

Lights, Camera, Flashes Mascara – value: $23

It looks like Tarte recently updated the packaging for this mascara and this is the older packaging, but I still love it so I don’t mind! Speaking of packaging, Tarte definitely has amazing packaging for everything! I have liked this mascara for quite some time, however I recently got a sample of their new Tartiest Mascara and I have to say I like that more. It wasn’t a selection otherwise I would have chosen it.

Lights, Camera, Lashes Precision Longwear Liquid Liner (in brown) – value: $20

With this kit, I tried to pick items I hadn’t tried from Tarte before. I love liquid liners so I was excited to try this – turns out I love it! More details below..

Here, you can see the head of the mascara (right) and the tip of the eyeliner (left). I like how the eyeliner is a felt tip! And a long one, too – I felt like it was very easy to control.

Here’s my swatch/doodle of the eyeliner. I was really impresses at the lack of bleeding and the amount of control I had here! One thing I will say, though, is that it seemed to have a slight issue when applying over my eyeshadow. On bare skin this works great, but it stopped applying much product on my lid after a number of strokes over my shadow. I could fix this by applying to my hand to get it to go again, but that was still a bit of a disappointment.

Amazonian Butter Lipstick in Tulip – value: $17

Oh, Tarte. Your packaging alone compels me to purchase your products. This lipstick is beautiful, and I like the cardboard tube it comes in. I chose the shade “tulip” – more photos below.

Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Glisten – value: $28

I adore Tarte’s blushes! (My favorite shade ever, on any skin tone, is “exposed.”) This color, Glisten, is described as a “shimmery peachy pink,” and that’s accurate. If you’re familiar with the cult-favorite NARS Orgasm blush, this is very similar. (more photos below)

Here’s a close up of the lipstick and blush.

And here are the swatches.  The blush blends well and is build-able. I like it quite a bit. And this lipstick is great! It’s not completely opaque but it still has good pigmentation to it, and is also build-able.

Tarte Pressed Powder Foundation Sample Card

I could have sworn I picked a different sample than this – I think they were even offering their sunscreen as a sample. This got changed in my cart, though, for some reason. I think some other people had commented that they had a similar experience. I’m a little bummed but this deal is still so good I’m not too disappointed.

Tarte Empowered Hybrid Gel Foundation – value: $39

This is another product I nabbed specifically because I wasn’t familiar with it and hadn’t tried it from them. I wear Tarte’s Amazonian Clay BB Tinted Moisturizer with SPF every day, but hadn’t heard of this gel formula…

I think this foundation is a newer release from Tarte. I really like the formula and the way it feels/performs, but unfortunately this shade isn’t light enough for me. Seems like even though the “fair” in the tinted moisturizer is light enough for me, this is formula is just a bit dark. I did love how hydrating and nice it felt on my skin, though!

I’m ghostly pale and it’s definitely not a new issue for me for foundations to be too dark. It’s the story of my life. I didn’t wear this on my face when doing my makeup look with these products because it’s the wrong shade, but here is a swatch on my arm.

Tarte Makeup Bag – value: $12?

I’m just guessing on the value of this bag – it feels really nice. It’s a soft faux-leather and the inside is lined. And it can fit more than I thought it could. I like this a lot. I think I’ll use this to toss makeup into my diaper bag or purse!

Swirl Power Contour & Bronzer Brush – value: $34

I’ve always loved Tarte’s brushes! The bamboo/wood handles are amazing and their newer, purple and gold designs are beautiful, too. I chose this brush because all of the other options seemed like something I already had.

Here’s a better look at the brush – it’s so unique and feels so fancy.

Here’s my look! I used everything but the foundation, so I’m wearing the mascara, eyeliner, lipstick, and blush here.

And here’s a closer look for you.

Verdict: As both a subscription box addict and a cosmetics junky, I just couldn’t pass this deal up (and I know I’m not alone in that)! I’m thrilled that they offered this deal. The total value adds up to $161 and that’s without any value for the bag. I’m sad the foundation won’t work for me but it’ll work for my sister, so that’s fine. I hope I can get the hang of a better performance with the eyeliner with a little practice. I’m not giving up on it!

What do you think about my Tarte Create-Your-Own Kit picks? What items did you get? Did you find any awesome new product discoveries?