When the Sephora VIB sale rolled around last month, one of the products at the top of my list was Tarte’s Tartelette Amazonian Clay Matte Eyeshadow Palette. As a girl who loves a good shimmer shadow, mattes are far and few between in my collection. After many Sephora trips of walking back and forth to the display, swatching and swatching again, I decided to add it to my basket. I had dreams of busting it out of the box as soon as I got home and testing it out — and then it was sold out. Thankfully it was available online that day, so I ordered it right when I got home and patiently awaited its arrival at my doorstep. Eventually, it did come and I have been able to play with it for the better part of this month.
This palette comes with twelve matte shades ranging from light cream to brown to purple to black. There are warm tones, neutrals and cool, so there is something for everyone. It retails for $53 ($45 in the US) and each shadow is 0.053 oz (which is about the same as Urban Decay Naked Palettes and $11 cheaper). As far as texture goes, they are not buttery soft, but not so powdery that they fall off your brush. 
The first row has some really lovely neutral shades that are on the warmer side of tones. I find these are perfect for an everyday, basic look with ‘free spirit’ all over the lid and ‘force of nature’ in the crease for some definition. You can also create a beautiful brown smokey eye with this too. I really like using ‘dreamer’ in the crease and outer corner with ‘multi-tasker’ applied to the lash line for a soft liner.
The second row holds some pink and purple toned shades. These are not shades I would wear every day, but I do like to play around with them for something different. As you can see in the swatches, they aren’t bright purple or pink, so they are definitely wearable. I have only worn these together once, so I definitely have some more experimentation ahead of me. 
The last row features four beautiful shades that I tend to be more on the cool side. I think these are my favourite of the whole palette. The other night, I used ‘power player’ in the crease and in the outer corner over a cream base (and a bit on the lower lash line too), and I loved the final look. It was smokey, but not too dark. I find these shadows are the easiest to turn from day to night, especially with that dark black, ‘fashionista’.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this palette. The shades blend easily, but unlike some matte shades, they don’t blend into one blob of colour if you don’t want them to. I love the variety of shades, the pigmentation (especially in the darker ones) and the options are basically endless.
Have you tried this palette? What’s your favourite matte eyeshadow palette?
