Review -- Tarte Showstopper Clay Palette

To round out my collection of Tarte spring palettes, I couldn't resist picking up the Showstopper Clay Palette.

Like the Rainforest After Dark Palette, it is a circular palette that contains eye shadows, a bronzer, highlighter, and blush, so you have everything you need to do a full face.

That's mainly the reason I was drawn to this palette -- I figured it would be another good one for travel but like the Empower Flower Amazonian Clay Collector's Palette that I reviewed last week, it's a little bit of a disappointment in that regard.


The palette features a purple sort of faux leather cover with a snakeskin-like print. The rest of the compact has a shiny gold finish, so it's definitely very attractive, the kind of palette that you wouldn't mind leaving out on your vanity.

There is a decent size mirror inside, and the lid stays open by itself, so you can definitely use it to do your makeup when you're traveling.

The palette contains the Park Avenue Princess Bronzer, a medium bronze with a matte finish; Champagne Pink Highlighter, an icy, shimmery pink; and an Amazonian Clay Blush in the shade Fame, a warm matte peach.

It also includes six eye shadows: Showstopper Copper, a shimmery bronze-y copper; Go for the Gold, a shimmery true gold; You're a Natural, a matte tan; Steel the Scene, a shimmery gray-ish taupe; Rose to the Top, a shimmery rose gold; and Dim the Lights, a dark black brown with gold micro-glitter.

Tarte Showstopper Clay Palette

Tarte Showstopper Clay Palette

From l. to r.: Tarte Park Avenue Princess Bronzer, Pink Champagne Highlighter, Fame Amazonian Clay Blush

From l. to r.: Showstopper Copper, Go for the Gold, You're a Natural, Steel the Scene, Rose to the Top, Dim the Lights

As with all of the Tarte palettes I've purchased this spring, I have no complaints about the formula for the bronzer, highlighter, blush, and eye shadows in the Showstopper. They are all nicely pigmented, smooth, and easy to blend into the skin.

So my issues with the palette have to do with the shades themselves.

The Park Avenue Princess Bronzer is nice, without too many orange undertones, but it's just a bit too dark for my extremely fair skin. For medium and darker skin tones, though, I think it would be quite nice.

I absolutely love the Pink Champagne highlighter and the bright peach color of the Fame blush (especially for summer), but the shades don't really seem to go well together because Pink Champagne is has cool undertones, while Fame is undeniably warm.

When it comes to the shadows, I like all of the shades on an individual basis (Showstopper Copper, Steel the Scene, and Rose to the Top are my favorites) but I feel like the palette is missing a lighter highlight or lid shade. All of the shadows are somewhat similar in color depth too, so there doesn't seem to be enough contrast among them.

Tarte Showstopper Clay Palette (l.) vs. Tarte Rainforest After Dark Palette (r.)

So at the end of the day, I can use all of the products in the palette (even Park Avenue Princess, which I like as a shadow), but I don't particularly like to use them all together -- and that's really the point of a palette, isn't it? That the colors all work together to create multiple looks? With this one, I feel like I need another shadow palette to bring some lighter shades into the look and a separate blush or highlighter depending on which one from the palette I choose to use so the undertones match up.

All in all, I think that while the products in the palette are quite nice, there are better options out there.

It retails for $38 and you can purchase it Sephora, Ulta, or the Tarte website.

Have you tried the Tarte Showstopper Palette? Are you a fan?