Tarte emphasEYES Liquid Eyeliner (Brown Bronze)

Sometimes it's hard to find your way through the distribution maze of Tarte Cosmetics. The products are sold at Sephora, Henri Bendel, QVC and the company's own website (by the way, there's a 30% discount code on their front page that's valid until July 5th). Each venue seems to have a bunch of products that are not available anywhere else and following what to buy where takes more mental energy than I'm willing to spare for one brand. It's too bad, really, because Tarte offers some great items. My sister is a devoted fan of the Park Avenue Princess bronzer and I just sent her the Kabuki brush which she loves.

As an eyeliner addict, I've been very curious about Tarte's various formats and formulas. Once again, each venue seems to carry different items. The inner rim pencils come directly from Tarte's website, Sephora has the emphasEYES aqua-gel pencils, QVC mostly sells trios of colors and who knows what's available at Bendel- they don't have e-commerce. Seriously.

This arte emphasEYES Liquid Eyeliner is sold at Bendel and was part of a recent GWP there (QVC has this in a trio of colors- black, brown and navy). The color you see here is Brown Bronze and I like it a lot- it's perfect on a summer morning but still dark enough to provide good definition. The pen is small but easy to control and the tip is precise. Staying power is great- morning to night without smudging or flaking even in humid weather (I always use a primer).

Bottom Line: Next time I'm in Henri Bendel I'll probably get this in Navy.

Tarte emphasEYES Liquid Eyeliner ($21 for a single full size or $32.76 for a trio) can be found on QVC or in store at Henri Bendel.

Photos by me.

The total opposite of the mysterious Lorac palette is the Ready-to-Wear/ Pret-a-Porter Dual Look Palette from Tarte. It's another limited edition (did I just hear a groan in the audience?) combination of eye, cheek and lip colors, based around two looks (but, of course, could be mixed and matched). The difference here is not only in the detailed description of the colors and textures, but also in the option to zoom in and see every piece and color of the set up close.

(A note to the webmasters of Barney's, Bergdorf and all the other top-of-the-line stores: Do you really think I'm going to drop $75 for a Serge Lutens lipstick without being able to see each and every color in the highest resolution possible?)

I'm not sure that the two lightest lip colors are right for me, but I have a serious case of coveting nonetheless.

Another product that has been calling my name is bareMinerals 100% Natural Lipstick.  I might not buy the "natural" hype without some questioning, but I'm a huge fan of calming and moisturizing lip color, and this one sounds like a winner. The Ripe Fig color looks especially right, but there are also several mauves and plums which would work for me (the Duchess of Windsor might have been channeling Paris Hilton when she quipped about how one can never be too rich or too thin, but she got it all wrong. One can never have enough plum lip color, and I'm the walking proof of that).

After giving up on finding a self-tanner for face that would delight both me and my skin, I've been rocking the bronzers. I was always a fan and have several good ones at hand: There's my trusted Paula Dorf that I use year-round and is excellent in bringing color to sallow winter skin and keep me from looking like this:


There's Dallas for a nice, tanned look that is just right for summer days. It's not shimmery and is always appropriate. I also have a compact of Besame Cosmetics Boudoir Rouge in Sun Kissed, which gives a warm glow. I wore it for nights out during the winter, since it's a bit deeper than the Paula, but that's just me. It works just as well for summer days.

All that has left me in need for summer nights mega-watts bronzing action. Something that goes well with tropical makeup and a tuberose perfume. I found it in Tarte's Mineral Powder Bronzer in a color unfortunately named "Hotel Heiress". That's as bronze as you can get with a nice, subtle shimmer.

It requires a light hand and a good brush, goes nicely all over the face, cleavage and shoulders and looks fabulous. It never fails to get me compliments from men and women: Not on the makeup but on my lovely tan. This bronzer definitely lives up to the promise of making one look like she's just came back from an island vacation.

A couple of months ago I had my sister try it. Her skin tone is several degrees lighter than mine (no trace of olive in her complexion. She's quite pale, actually), but this same bronzer looked great on her. She looked like she's just spent a month in the Caribbeans, and came back very tanned and very happy. It's worth trying even if you're Snow White.