Product Review Roundup -- Tarte Hamptons Weekend Contour Palette, Park Avenue Princess Chisel Palette, Clay Play Volume II, Shape Your Moneymaker Eye & Cheek Palette, and Foil Finger Paints Shadow Palette

I've purchased quite a few Tarte palettes in recent months, and instead of doing separate reviews on each and every one, I figured a product review roundup was a more efficient way to share my thoughts.

The first palette -- and the smallest -- is the Hamptons Weekender Contour Palette. It's only a little bit larger than a credit card, though considerably thicker, and it contains a blush, bronzer, and highlighter.  The packaging is made of sturdy cardboard, and its convenient size definitely makes it ideal for traveling.

Product Review -- Makeup Revolution Conceal and Define Full Coverage Concealer

I'm a pretty big fan of the Tarte Shape Tape Concealer.

It's a full coverage concealer that somehow manages to look natural and not at all cakey or dry under the eyes.

But it is $24, so it's not exactly the most budget-friendly concealer on the market.

That's why I was excited to hear that Makeup Revolution was coming out with their own answer to Shape Tape -- the Conceal and Define Full Coverage Concealer is certainly inspired by Shape Tape, though I don't personally find them to be identical.

Product Review -- The Balm Take Home The Bronze Anti-Orange Bronzer

Being as fair as I am, bronzer is always a tricky product for me.

Nine times out of ten, the bronzer is either too dark or too orange to work with my skin tone, so it's not a product that I necessarily wear every day.

Sure, there are some days when I like a little extra warmth in my face or want to give it a little more shape without hardcore contouring, and I reach for one my favorite bronzers (the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Milk Chocolate Bronzer, Benefit Hoola Light, and a limited edition MAC bronzer that's no longer available anymore are my usual go-to's), but in general, bronzer just isn't a makeup item that I get excited about.

But I was pretty interested in trying out The Balm's new Take Home The Bronze because not only is it available in three shades, so there would likely be an option light enough for me, but the bronzer's mission statement is right in its product description -- it's designed to be an anti-orange bronzer.

Sign me up!

Product Review -- Tarte Be a Mermaid and Make Waves Eyeshadow Palette

I'm always (at least) a little resentful of gimmicky makeup products.

That's because I feel like a lot of brands put more thought into the gimmick, which usually means the packaging or marketing campaign, than they do into the products themselves, so you wind up with mediocre makeup that you can't do much with.

That's how I felt about a lot of the unicorn-themed makeup items that came out over the past year or two -- though I will admit that I've never been into unicorns, even when I was a kid.

Now, mermaids, on the other hand, well, I've always been pretty into them. As a kid, I was obsessed with these little mermaid dolls that came with a foam float so you could bring them into the tub with you (I googled them, and at the risk of dating myself, they were apparently called See Wees). The Little Mermaid is at the top of my favorite Disney movies list too. I was even a mermaid for Halloween one year.

I've always been pretty into them.

So I can't say that I wasn't tempted by Tarte's mermaid collection as soon as I saw it -- but I worked hard to talk myself out of it. The Be a Mermaid and Make Waves Eyeshadow Palette was the item that called to me most, and while the packaging is certainly striking, I looked at it and thought it would be difficult to store because it was an unconventional shape and kind of bulky.

Product Review Roundup -- PUR Soiree Diaries, Pur PRO x Etienne, PUR x Boxycharm, Visionary, and Creator Eyeshadow Palettes

Note: My apologies for the lack of posts last week. I was swamped with work and feeling a bit under the weather, so I needed quite a few naps... which ate into my blogging time. ;)

A few years ago, I bought a PUR Minerals eyeshadow palette on a whim, though I'd never tried any products from the brand before.

I quite liked the palette, and actually still use it to this day.

But despite a pretty positive experience with the brand, I never tried any more PUR products ... until recently.

Over the past several months, I went on a little bit of a binge and picked up not one, not two, but five PUR eyeshadow palettes since the end of last year. Instead of doing individual palettes for each of them, I figured I'd group them all together just to make it a little easier.