L-R: Clean slate flawless, Clean slate poreless and Clean slate 360 Creaseless
First of all - I love Tarte because I love the idea that it's supposed to be natural - the fewer chemicals there are, the better, right? My friend's mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer many years ago and survived after having surgery to remove all her female reproductive organs. My own grandmother had thyroid cancer 4 years ago, which luckily, was quickly treated. She is due for another full radioactive body scan beginning of October because you are not in the clear until 5 years has passed. My great-aunt (who wasn't that old due to the fact that my grandma had a large family AND was married early, thus me having "Aunts" and "Uncles", or what non-Asians would say, second cousins, being the same age as me) died of a tumor in her brain about two years ago. An uncle (mom's cousin), a man whom my brother looked up to greatly, died of a relapse of cancer (he originally had leukemia, which he defeated many many years ago) in his blood. Strange right? It happened nonetheless, around 5 years ago. My own grandfather on my dad's side, despite being a smoker, did not die of lung cancer, but of liver cancer instead (not even a heavy drinker).
Regardless as you may be able to tell, my run-ins with cancer near my family means that I prefer not exposing myself to too many chemicals, if possible. No, I am not a "hippie" who will go green and am an environmental purist. I just try and find ways to expose myself to fewer toxins. Why do I think that I just dug myself a hole here? -_-" Someone's going to have something to say about that, but you know what, that wasn't the point of this entry anyways.
So back to what this entry is supposed o be about: this product review! I never use primer (at least face primer) when I put on makeup. First of all, my face is fine - it's between combination oily to normal (I say combination oily only because on a really bad summer day my T-Zone goes into oil production mode...ew), and I've always felt that my moisturizer (La Roche Posay Toleriane line - I may review it another day) has always been good enough to get rid of the flaky dry skin I may have (haha). Plus, I usually use BB Cream rather than foundation because I find that foundation is really...icky. At least it was until I found the Neutrogena one I asked my friend to buy when she went to Boston for a business trip. Needless to say, when I have a big event happening, I'd like to wear a primer so that my BB cream doesn't fall off my face (and it also keeps the colour true - the current BB cream I have matches my skin perfect. Sadly, I have to ask my mom to buy it for me because I can only get it in Hong Kong)
To make a long story short - when I saw this product while browsing through Sephora, I jumped to get the smaller trial sizes. Afterall, a full tube would set me back around $30 so why not just test it at $9 (okay I think it was more because I bought it in Canada) and see what I like? I'm all for saving money...it's part of being an accountant!
What it's supposed to do:
Clean Slate Flawless: Aside from obviously making your makeup stay put, it's supposed to have some brightening agent ("BerryBright") that helps to brighten your dull skin. Note that all primers are supposed to last for 12 hours.
Clean Slate Poreless: Same thing as Flawless minus the brightening part, it's supposed to do, well, the obvious - minimize the look of pores. It has all this other natural goodness that's supposed to help with anti-aging and skin restoration. I never really buy into that and I don't use this regularly enough to know anyways!
Clean Slate 360 Creaseless: Help prevent smudging, creasing and fallout from your eyeshadows. Yes, that simple
First picture: Clean slate poreless on top, Clean slate flawless on bottom
Second picture: Clean slate 360 creaseless (I pushed out way too much...3/4 of it might be more than enough for both eyes)
Second picture: Clean slate 360 creaseless (I pushed out way too much...3/4 of it might be more than enough for both eyes)
A picture of both blended out a bit - poreless on top, flawless on bottom
I used my BB cream because, well...couldn't find the makeup sponges for my foundation. Enlarge photo would be better for reference
For the eye primer: without primer on top, with primer on bottom - the two colours I used were Humid from MAC (green) and some random colour in my Coastal Scents Warm Pallette (I think in the bottom right corner)
My thoughts:
Flawless: It's supposed to help brighten my complexion, but I honestly cannot tell the difference. When you put it on, you can definitely tell that it's supposed to brighten - it has some opalescent look to it (you see a bit of pinky-purple sheen amid the white primer). Did my makeup last 12 hours? Yes - I was sweating that day and only a minimal amount came off when I patted my forehead dry from sweatiness (FYI: I sweat a lot...yes gross, but I live with it. So does my bf)
Poreless: Tried it on when I went to a wedding last weekend - I'll be honest, I don't think primers do much of a difference in makeup application for me because my skin is already even, but it definitely let the BB cream slide on much better and blend nicer. I think with foundation it would be even better because BB cream itself is already pretty blendable, whereas I find foundation can get streaky if application is not done correctly without a good moisturizer or primer. My mom liked this one when I used it on her because she liked that "silicon-y" feeling (without silicone) - I liked that too, because it makes your face feel really soft and seemingly mattifies it. By the way - it does last, although I haven't put this one to the 12 hours test (at best it was around 8 hours), at least it did not rub off onto my boyfriend's suit (or his shirt for that matter) when I was tired pressed my cheek on his shoulder...
Verdict on the face primers: if I had to choose, I would definitely go with the poreless. But always moisturize well before putting primer - your primer will go on so much better. Also, poreless has to be closed really tight or you run the risk of it acting strange on you (ie: when I tested it - it rubbed into chunks on my hand when I was trying to blend it and I had to use circular motions to get it to work...no biggy, I think it was my fault too). The brightening primer doesn't really do anything IMO so I wouldn't spend $30 on it.
Does the poreless primer actually reduce the look of enlarged pores? I don't have large pores myself but I did think it made my skin look more matte (I won't say even because my skin is already pretty even...on a good day). If I ever have the chance to try it on my mom (who does have big pores) for a full face of makeup, and take a picture for comparison, I'll let you know.
360 creaseless: I'm used to using my MAC paint pot in Soft Ochre as a base, although I'll be honest on a bad day it creases like crazy. The last few times that I've been using the eye primer (I usually forego face primer when I'm doing everyday make up), the creaseless has lived up to its name. I do my makeup to go out for lunch on Saturdays, and I wash it off around 8/9pm at my boyfriend's place. The past few times, my eyeshadows (usually either MAC or Coastal Scents) haven't creased, and nor has my eyeliner (usually either my Bobbi Brown gel liner or UD 24/7 pencil). I have generally greasy lids, and I've creased with all primers I've used (yes, even the MAC paint pot, but at the time it was already a great improvement, and the Benefit one "Stay don't Stray", which I got in a sampling kit from Sephora) so for me it's safe to say that the Tarte one worked like a charm.
Word of advice though - use VERY little because this stuff FEELS greasy when you blend it out so you only need a light layer. I made that mistake the first time and it actually kind of counteracted what it was supposed to do and I thought the product flopped. Fail on my part.
Phew! So there's my first review! I have few other Tarte products to review...but seeing that I have to finish packing for my trip tomorrow (training all week out of town)...well I'll save it for another day.
Readers: Have you tried any Tarte products that you love? Or have you tried the primers that I tried? What are your thoughts?
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