Review & swatches of Tarte Natural Cheek Stain

Ever since I started with my natural/organic/paraben-free makeup and skincare resolution I've been a huge fan of Tarte Cosmetics. Their products are formulated to be free of parabens, synthetic fragrances and GMOs.

My favorite Tarte products are probably their lipglosses, but I also adore their Natural Cheek Stain. These smell great, give a pretty color to my cheeks, are easy to blend and non-drying.

They all contain various skin invigorating ingredients such as t5 super fruit complex (5 super fruit extracts - acai, acerola, goji berry, maracuja and pomegranate, all are great antioxidants), various vitamins and natural fruit & plant extracts.

Left to right - blissful, flush, dollface

blissful
Pretty warm peachy pink, smells a little fruity. Looks great in the summer especially if you have a tan, but personally I prefer dollface & flush over this one.

flush
Raspberry pink and gives a healthy glow, scented like raspberries. Gives me a healthy rosy glow when used sparingly, but if applied with a heavy hand it makes me look like I've been out in the sun for too long - beetroot colored cheeks do not look good.

dollface 
Very sheer candy pink with microshimmer, smells like strawberries & cream (mmmm....) My favorite cheek stain, gives a very flattering soft candy pink glow and perks up my skin making it look brighter.

I usually use these straight from the tube and wipe them clean with a tissue afterward, but you can also use fingers to apply. They feel a little sticky to begin with but last a good 6-8 hours on me.

Each cheek stain comes in a push up tube containing 28.4g, and retails at $30. Very reasonable price considering only a small amount is needed so they'll last forever.

Unfortunately Tarte is not available in the UK, so I have to get my fix through an US parcel forwarding service.

Product review - Tarte Celebutante Moisturizing Dry Oil Shimmer Spray

I've been hauling quite a few products from Tarte Cosmetics, a brand that uses only high performance natural ingredients with recyclable packaging and none of their products are tested on animals.

In my most recent order I picked up 2 bottles of Celebutante Moisturizing Dry Oil Spray, which is exactly what it says, a shimmery colored liquid in a glass spray bottle. It contains apricot & avocado oils (rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, D & E) to moisturize & sooth the skin, as well as vitamin E to protect the skin against free radical damage.

It's free from parabens, petrochemicals, preservatives, dyes, talcs and other artificial nasty stuff.

Despite looking somewhat pigmented in the bottle, it comes out a sheer champagne color and once massaged in, gives my skin a pretty shimmery glow without looking too fake or over the top, so it's great if you're pale/pasty but don't want or can't get a tan.

Once massaged into my skin

It's rather moisturizing too and keeps my skin feeling soft, which is always a nice bonus. I like to use it on my arms & legs on top of my regular moisturizer.
The smell is sweet like coconuts and very summery. Although I'm one of those people who does not like coconuts, I don't mind their smell too much so I can take this. The scent isn't too overpowering and doesn't last throughout the day, and I don't put on any perfume before the scent wears off in case they clash horribly.

Obsessed with paraben free products

In the past few months I've been purchasing nothing but organic/natural skincare & makeup products. Although I've found no concrete evidence that parabens and other artificial ingredients are bad for the skin (surely they have to be "safe" if regulated by beauty industry standards), I decided to remove them - or as much as possible - from my daily skincare routine.

These are what I got...

Nude Skincare
Range of all natural skincare products with probiotic technology to help activate cellular renewal, reduce & prevent cellular damage and rebalance the skin. I especially love their Smoothing Body Refiner and Deep Cleansing Mask.
From left to right:
- Advanced Multivitamin (to be taken once daily with food)
- Smoothing Body Refiner
- Clarifying Water
- Replenishing Night Oil
- Nude Lips (can never resist throwing in a lip balm)
- Deep Cleansing Mask

Order from Sephora, Tarte Cosmetics & boscia via a parcel forwarding service in the USA. Got some samples from Sephora & a freebie eyeshadow from Tarte too. These were from about 4-5 months ago, can't remember when exactly...
- Tarte Cheek Stain in Flush
- Tarte Eye Couture Day to Night Eye Palette
- Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes!
- Tarte 4 Day Stay Lash Stain
- Tarte Double Dose Berry Boost & Bloss in Acai Boost
- Juice Beauty Organics To Go (gift for my mum)
- Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Serum
- Juice Beauty Organic Lip Moisturizer
- boscia Illuminating UVA/UVB SPF 30
- boscia Vital Daily Moisture SPF 15
- boscia Clear Complexion Treatment With Botanical Blast
- boscia Enlivening Amino AG Eye Treatment
- boscia Clear Complexion Tonic With Botanical Blast
- boscia Jujube Salve Stick (best.lip.balm.ever. - I've since stocked up on 2 more)
- Carol's Daughter Scar Butter
- Carol's Daughter Lip Butter

Another Sephora & Tarte Cosmetics order from the States, arrived about 3 weeks ago. This time I used a different parcel forwarding service, Parcel It On. Uber fast communication and Lyka, the lady who runs it, is always very friendly & professional. The forwarding fees are very reasonable too. I've purchased through PIO twice so far and have been extremely impressed with the service both times.

Got a bunch of samples from my new favorite beauty store Sephora, and a free Korres 24-hour Moisturising Cream as part of their Skincare Challenge offer, where for every four $20+ skincare product purchased you can choose a free full sized product.
- Tarte Celebutante Moisturizing Dry-Oil Shimmer Spray x 2 (love this stuff!)
- Tarte Cheek Stain in Dollface
- Tarte Vitamin Infused Lipgloss in Om
- Tarte Double Dose Berry Boost & Gloss in Go Go Goji
- boscia Clear Complexion Cleanser With Botanical Blast (to go with the rest of my boscia skincare stuff)
- boscia Recharging Night Moisture
- boscia Enlivening Amino-AG Eye Treatment (such an awesome eye cream I got a backup)
- Tarte Multipleye Natural Lash Enhancer
- Tarte Multipleye Natural Lash Enhancing Mascara x 3 (love their mascaras)
- Clarisonic Skincare System & Spot Therapy Kit (contains a 3 speed Clarisonic brush with sensitive brush head, body brush, 3 trial size cleansers and 1 trial size refining body polish)
- Cake Beauty Citrus Squeeze Better Bod Rub

I think those were the main hauls; I also added some Jurlique, Mama Mio, Trilogy, Mavala to my collection but didn't take photos of those as they were only a few items in separate purchases.

Now that I (pretty much) only use paraben free products I don't know what to do with a lot of items in my stash, a lot of them haven't even been opened lol...