Product Review -- Tarte Clay Play Face Shaping Palette

Is it just me or has Tarte been putting out a bunch of new products practically everyday lately?

It's been hell on my bank account because I can't resist picking up at least 75% of the stuff that they put out -- but the good news is that they've been hitting a lot of home runs lately, so at least I haven't experienced too much buyer's remorse.

One of the items that instantly caught my eye was the Clay Play Face Shaping Palette. I love multi-use products that can save a little space in your vanity or travel makeup bag so I was pretty excited to give this one a try.

The shades in the palette are designed to be used as eye shadows, brow colors, and contour powders so they're nearly all matte and fit a pretty natural, earthy color range.

The palette comes in sturdy cardboard packaging that features a pretty metallic chevron design. Inside, there's a decent size mirror but the palette doesn't stay open by itself so you'll need to prop it up against something if you want to use it to do your makeup.

Tarte Clay Play Face Shaping Palette

Tarte Clay Play Face Shaping Palette

There are 12 total shades in the palette -- they are divided into 3 trios, with three larger pans of traditional contour powders at the bottom.

The shades include: Journey, a matte rosy buff; Stone, a matte rosy brown; Solstice, an ivory with silver microshimmer; Terracotta, a matte warm taupe; Dunes, a matte slate brown; Smoke, a matte coffee; Sand, a peachy cream with silver microshimmer; Desert, a matte cool taupe; Ember, a matte amber brown; Onyx, a matte black; Instinct, a buff with silver microshimmer; and Timber, a matte chestnut.

Tarte Clay Play Face Shaping Palette

From l. to r.: Journey, Stone, Solistice, Dunes, Smoke, Sand

From l. to r.: Ember, Onyx, Instinct, Terracotta, Desert, Timber

The shades in the palette are the same top notch formula that Tarte's been using for a couple of years now -- they're smooth, creamy, and nicely pigmented. The mattes are especially impressive because it's always tough to get those right.

The color range fits Tarte's description of the palette pretty well -- the large pans at the bottom work well for contouring and/or bronzing most skin tones, and there are enough shades that could be used to fill in most brow colors.

In terms of using the palette to do your eyes, you can get plenty of pretty natural looks from the palette. It's not the most exciting eye palette, though, so if you're looking for something out of the ordinary, you're not going to get it here.

Tarte includes a brochure with some look ideas.

I guess that's my overall impression of the palettte -- it's perfectly nice and pretty convenient to have a bunch of multi-purpose products in one place, but if you have a large collection like I do, you probably have similar shades, which may make this palette seem kind of unnecessary and maybe even a little uninspiring.

If you're in the market for a contour palette and a natural shadow palette, though, I don't think you can go wrong with this one. It performs really well -- and smells great to boot!

It retails for $46, and is available on the Tarte website and at Ulta.

Have you tried the Tarte Clay Play Face Shaping Palette? Are you a fan?