tarte haul !

Hi guys!

I hope you all had excellent weekends. Mine was fantastic, the weather was amazing and I was able to squeeze in one last trip to the beach for the year. That being said, I think it’s no secret at this point that I am counting down the moments until it officially feels like fall.

I took the plunge last week and stocked up again on my favorite fall foundation from tarte! I also picked up a few other items that are new to me, but I’ve heard great reviews on:

• tarte amazonian clay 12-hour full coverage foundation – This 100% is my holy grail foundation. It has amazing full coverage with a beautiful matte finish. I use the shade fair-light honey which has peach undertones. Sadly, I don’t use this product in the summer because my skin tone changes so drastically (and unpredictably) in the sun.
• tarte maracuja creaseless concealer – This is a brand new product to me, and I’m so excited to try it! It won an Allure Reader’s choice award this year, and Nikki Phillippi always speaks so highly of it. Also I’m essentially obsessed with tarte and trust absolutely everything from this brand.
• tarte amazonian clay 12-hour blush in exposed – I LOVE this blush. I’m slowly but surely building up my collection of this product because it really just is amazing and has great staying power. The only other shade I have right now is Natural Beauty which I admittedly purchased because it was referred to as a “Snow White” blush. Exposed has been raved about by Estee (Essiebutton) and is completely different from any shade I own, so I just needed to have it.
• tarte to go deluxe cheek stain in energy – This is a beautiful cheek stain stick. From tarte’s website: Impart a natural-looking flush that’s all your own with this deluxe cheek stain that’s formulated with skintuitive™ technology. This unique blush works with your skin’s natural pH to impart a customized shade of pink. I love this technology and have been obsessed since I purchased my LipSurgence skintuitive lip tint.

I’m so excited to work these products into my fall looks!

xo.

july favorites !

Hi guys!

I cannot believe July has already come and gone – but you know what that means, Fall is right around the corner! Ugh, so excited to be over this excessive City heat. I pulled together some of my favesies for this month to share with you, so let’s check em out :]

Make Up

• L’Oreal Infallible Pro-Matte foundation – I love this foundation. Read my full review on it here !
• Urban Decay Naked Flushed (Streak) – I’ve hit pan SO HARD on this product. I literally use it every single day, and I can’t imagine my life without it. Read my full review on it here !
• L’Oreal Butterfly Intenza mascara – I fell in love with the original Voluminous Butterfly Mascara, so I had to pick up the Intenza. It gives my lashes so much lift, length, and volume that it’s almost unbelievable. (But really, people ask me if my lashes are fake all the time).

TV Series

• GREYS. Guys, I’m literally obsessed. I started the series on May 1st and I’m already done with season 5 – I really don’t know how this is possible. If you’re super behind (like me) and haven’t seen this series DO IT NOW.

Book

• White Girl Problems series – Yes this is the same @whitegrlproblem that we know and love on twitter. Babe Walker is absolutely hilarious in a neurotic, chic kind of way. At first, she seems a little bit intense, but throughout the series you learn to love her & proceed to become obsessed with her.

So, what were your favorites this month!?

xo.

exciting news !

Hi guys !

I’ve officially made it back from Vegas in one piece. I’ll post all about the trip
this week, but in the meantime I have some exciting news! I’ve started an Instagram account specifically for this blog – go check it out, pretty please :]

@sparkleandchampagne

Share your Instagrams in the comments below!

xo,
J

tarte haul & first impressions.

HelloOo!

This amazing thing happened the other day: my friend discovered that if you signed up for Tarte’s mailing list you receive 20% off your first order. Naturally we decided to split our first order and save a 20% for later. Since I’ve used Tarte in the past and I recommended many products to her, we purchased a lot of products and ended up saving a lot of money; it was fabulous!

So here’s a look at what I got:

Amazonian Clay Airbrush Foundation in Light-Medium Neutral
This is by far my favorite foundation & is actually a repurchase! It goes on so nicely, and you can use it on its own or over a tinted moisturizer or other type of base! But honestly guys, you don’t even need a base. My skin has hyper pigmentation and all I need is this foundation and a bit of concealer and I am so good to go!

Airbuki Brush
I’m so happy I finally talked myself in to purchasing this little brush. It seriously makes applying your airbrush foundation so easy! If you haven’t heard yet, the Airbrushed foundation has the most amazing packaging – the powder actually gets caught up in a net so it won’t fly all over the place and be wasted – and when combined with this brush the application is absolutely flawless.

Amazonian Clay Blush in Natural Beauty
After reading countless reviews and searching for many swatches of all of the Tarte blushes, I finally decided on this one. Essiebutton actually referred to this as the perfect Snow White/ Disney Princess blush which obviously caught my attention – and I’m oh so glad it did. This blush is so beautiful and looks like a natural flush, and a little bit of product goes such a long way!

Lights, Camera, Flashes Mascara
First let’s talk about the packaging, it’s just so unique and I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s almost as if the tube is sewn into a beautiful little pouch. Second, I must say I was confused about the name of the mascara. If you didn’t know Tarte currently has (1) Lights Camera Splashes {waterproof} (2) Lights Camera Lashes {regular} (3) Lights Camera Flashes {extra glam}. Before perusing the website I didn’t realize there were three versions of the mascara and would have simply bought -Lashes. My eyelashes are super long and I’m frequently asked if they’re fake, so waterproof is not for me. However, the more glam the better so I went for -Flashes. I really do like this mascara, however I find I get greater volume from my L’Oreal Voluminous Butterfly I’m also currently using. The -Flashes also has a duel-sided brush which I find a bit tricky. First you are supposed to use the shorter bristles to add volume, then the longer bristles to add length. I find it very challenging to distinguish between the two sides of the brush and the only way I can really tell is because the longer bristles actually pain me. I’ve been using the mascara for a little over a week, so many I’ll love it more with time, stay tuned for that!

What are your favorite Tarte products?

xo, J