Tartelette Tease Review

Until last year, all of my makeup has been Mary Kay or drugstore brands. MaryKay changed their formulas over a decade ago, so I had to switch, and I think I went through every drugstore brand of eye shadow out there. Unfortunately, all of them were too powdery and bothered my eyes, or they outright caused allergic reactions. I started purchasing the MaryKay eye primer, and that helped me enough to be able to use the eye shadows, but by the end of the day, my eyes would be burning and sore. Honestly, I just assumed that makeup and I were no longer friends.

I was tired of being miserable at the end of every wedding, funeral, and job interview (the only times I wore make-up), so over the winter I went searching for something new. After Ladylike on Buzzfeed mentioned Sephora several times, I decided to check it out. After weeks of sticker shock, I purchased the the Tartlette Tease and some Too Faced Shadow Insurance Glitter Glue Glitter Bonding Eye Shadow Primer. I WAS SOLD.

My eyes didn't burn at all by the end of the day! The color pigment on the My eyes didn't burn once I figured out that I needed to tap off extra shadow so powder didn't get in my eyes. I thought it was absolutely adorable that the color names were printed on the palette.

I was upset that a $23 make-up palette was cardboard. The plastic drugstore palettes that snap open and closed are far superior to the packaging of the more expensive Tease! The graphic design on the cover of Tease is cute, and it's adorable that the name of each color is printed on the palette, but unless I slip the entire palette into a secondary container, or put a rubber band around it, I can't put it in my purse. That seems an odd design choice for something being marketed in some places as a travel palette. Being new to expensive makeup, I have no idea if this is standard for small palettes in this price range.
The Tease colors are lovely, and having the color names on the front of the palette was a fun new thing for me. The pigmentation on bff and heartbreaker provide bold eye looks, and I've also used a small amount of them at the lash line as a wide eyeliner when using the lighter colors. First kiss and crush are my favorites because of the shimmer, but all the colors build well and create a great look. One small issue - the two lightest colors, whisper and wink, do to tend crumble and look a bit tacky, so I use them very sparingly!

I had seen that makeup looked different, but I was using this palette and doing my makeup using the styles I learned in the 1980s. You know what? Even with makeup done up to look like these Madonna pictures, this palette is amazing!

This palette is a regular go-to for me, even though I've expanded my makeup (and how I do it - thanks youtube, especially Stephanie Lange and her hooded eye tutorials!). I'm comfortable with this, and I often use these mattes when working with my other palettes, too. It is easy to hold in my hand, and as long as I put a rubber band around it, I can pop it into a small bag without a problem. When this palette is used up, I won't replace it with the same palette. It's perfect for my needs and was a great introduction to Tarte eye shadows, but the inability to snap a small travel palette is a deal breaker for me. If I replace it with a Tarte palette, it will be the Tartelette Amazonian clay matte palette, an all matte palette that will be a great companion to the Tarte Make Believe in Yourself palette. However, I'm somewhat annoyed that I'll have to pay more to get more colors when a smaller selection would have been enough.