Tarte The Miracle of Maracuja Eight Piece Skin Smart Collection Swatches and Review

The Tarte Miracle of Maracuja Skin Smart Collection was a QVC Today's Special Value a couple weeks ago. I've been wanting to try more of Tarte's new items after falling in love with the Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Illuminating Serum, and this was the perfect way to do that since it includes eight full-sized items for nearly the price of one (the Maracuja oil alone is $46, the entire kit cost $60). The set includes:

• 1.7-fl-oz pure maracuja oil with dropper
• 0.28-oz Maracuja Creaseless Concealer in Light
• 0.24-fl oz Lights, Camera, Lashes! Volumizing Mascara in Black
• 0.20-oz Envoke the Smoke Eye Shadow Quad with four eye shadows in Pink Cloud, Silver Mist, Purple Fog, and Dark Ash
• 0.19-oz Air Blush Bouncy Blush in Amused, a shimmering poppy
• 0.12-fl-oz Maracuja Divine Shine Lip Gloss in Peaceful, a nude pink
• 0.01-oz Cashmere Waterproof Eyeliner in Black
• Blush Brush

Tarte 100% Pure Cold Pressed Maracuja Oil.

This is pure oil and has a thin and light but slippery texture. It's not as runny as pure mineral oil, not as thick as jojoba. It feels and smells a lot like canola oil to me, actually.

Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer in Light.

This has an extremely thick texture that's nearly impossible to squeeze out of the tube. It must be warmed on the back of the hand in order for it to spread. It's very similar feeling to the IT Cosmetics concealer.

Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! Volumizing Mascara in Black.

It's refreshing to use a mascara with a normal, plain, old-fashioned brush since every mascara I'm used to has either a massively huge brush or some spiky rubber monstrosity. I've used this mascara before and liked it; it feels and applies the way I remember it. It's on the dry side but has very good coverage, even application and it doesn't clump my lashes together.

Tarte Beauty & The Box Eyeshadow Quad in Envoke the Smoke (Pink Cloud, Silver Mist, Purple Fog, Dark Ash).

The three dark shades feel very soft, smooth and powdery while the light pink has a hard, chalky texture. The pink also has extremely poor pigmentation; it's basically invisible on me, only leaving behind traces of slightly shimmery, chalky reside. The dark shades have good pigmentation but are very muddy. The purple turns grey when blended. Shades are swatched over a layer of Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Eye Base.

Tarte Airblush Maracuja Bouncy Blush in Amused.

This has a very interesting texture. It looks like powder but it's actually a cream. Despite the "bouncy" descriptor in the name, it's not one of those airy, bouncy mousse blushes. It feels light with a lot of glide, a little oily even. The color looks extremely bold in the pan but it actually goes on surprisingly sheer and you really have to build it to get it to show up.

Tarte Maracuja Divine Shine Lip Gloss in Peaceful.

This is a click pen style gloss and you have to click it a lot to get any product to come out. The first use took me over one hundred clicks to get the product into the brush. Once applied, it has a smooth but slightly sticky texture and a very mild mint scent. It lasts for a reasonable amount of time, but it's so sheer that it doesn't provide any color, only shine.

Tarte Cashmere Waterproof Gliding Liner in Black Magic.

This is a pretty standard black liner. Goes on smooth, but not as smooth as it could be. Reminds me a whole heck of a lot of a Stila Smudge Stick, right down to the terrible non-retractable twist up tube. The liner itself is very good but I'm not fond of that style of tube at all.

Tarte Airbrush Finish Bamboo Blush Brush.

Soft, fluffy, not as dense as it looks. Similar in feel to a MAC 187 (soft white tips, firmer black bristles at the base), but it's domed. I've only used this for applying blush twice. It felt nice but it's a little too big for me. I have better luck applying blush or bronzer with a smaller, more precise brush.

And as a surprise, the kit also came with these little extras:

Tarte Brazilliance Skin Rejuvenating Maracuja Self Tanner and Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Eye Base.

I don't plan on using the self tanner, so I can't comment on that other than noticing that it's tinted and has a gel texture. I have used the eye base and found it to provide great color correction (it applies as a light beige pink), but it had an unusual texture and didn't grab onto or intensify the shadows like my usual primers do.

Here's a look I did using products from the kit. This was:

Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Eye Base
Tarte Pink Cloud on lid and browbone
Tarte Silver Mist on outer third of lid
Tarte Purple Fog in crease and on lower lashline
Tarte Dark Ash to deepen crease color
Tarte Cashmere Waterproof Gliding Liner in Black Magic, smudged
Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! Mascara
Tarte Silver Mist on brows.

What I liked:

• Gorgeous packaging. I love the regal purple and gold tubes and the floral motif on the palette and gloss. Everything in here looks so pretty, even the sample tube of self tanner.
• The mascara gives me a really full, fringe-like, defined lash look with pretty decent length and volume.
• The gloss feels nice on the lips and is good for a little shine and a natural look.
• The stripes of shadow in the palette are wide enough to get a brush into without picking up the color next to it.
• The darker shadow shades in the palette are pretty nice for doing a smoky eye and the soft black is a nice staple color.
  
• The black liner is nice.
• The brush feels really soft and good, I'll probably end up using it for powder after I wash the blush out of it.
• The kit is an amazing deal. $60 for eight full sized items, most of which retail for over $20 each.
• This kit is available as an auto delivery with two more shipments of different products... Of course I signed up.
  

What I didn't like:

• I hate the lipgloss click pen. It's even more annoying to use than a Stila Lip Glaze because you have to click it SO MUCH every single time.
• The gloss is basically colorless on the lips. I wouldn't pay $21 for it by itself, but I like it enough to use the one I have.
  
• Why doesn't the eyeliner retract? Maybe it's more sanitary that way? Come on, though. Terrible design.
• The blush color is pretty awful on me. It's really orangey and ruddy, but not in a way I can pull off. I'm normally a fan of red and orange blushes (MAC Primpin'/Golden Kitty, Nars Exhibit A) but this looks like a rusty bruise on me.
• The Maracuja oil is a mystery to me. It smells like old fried food. I used it on my skin as a night serum for a few days and all it did was make me break out pretty bad. Seems expensive for me to just use it as cuticle oil.
  
• The pink shadow in the palette felt like chalk and had very poor payoff.
• The concealer creates (or highlights) the appearance wrinkles under my eyes. I never noticed that I had wrinkles under my eyes until I used this, and I don't see them when I'm not using it.
• The concealer creates a rough texture wherever I've used it on my face, and when I set it with powder, it looks very obvious.
  
• The concealer is so thick that it's very hard to get out of the tube, I feel like it's going to explode every time I try to use it.
• For some reason, my tube of concealer won't sit flat. It always rolls to the left. Huh?
• The concealer tube also feels like it's half empty, which is odd.
  
• The mascara flakes if I touch my eyes too much.

So far there's nothing in here that I really love, but it's not a bad kit overall. I was able to try a lot of things I've been curious about without having to spend a lot. I would like to try different shades of the gloss, liner and shadow for sure. I'd be interested in trying the blush again if there was a better color for my skintone, but I'm more curious about the Amazonian Clay ones everyone has been raving about, so I hope they include one of those in a kit soon. Definitely looking forward to seeing what's in the July auto delivery.

The Tarte Miracle of Maracuja Eight Piece Skin Smart Set is a QVC exclusive.