Tarte Carried Away Collector’s Set Review & Swatches
Ahhh Tarte’s Carried Away Collector’s Set is a huge selection of Tarte products all rolled into a very large travel roll makeup bag. Tarte introduction of the set with their Holiday 2012 Collection is a refreshing change from their typical Jewelry Box themed palettes from years past.
The Carried Away Set is more about travel friendly options and a selection of products that can be broken up and either toted away with you or used on their own. This is a more versatile selection of products that doesn’t confine you to a bulky palette. No question, Tarte’s past Jewelry Box Palettes are absolutely gorgeous. However, these types of palettes are a bit bulky and aren’t travel friendly.
Carried Away gives you the option to easily tote your makeup with you or remove it from the makeup bag it comes with and take only one or two pieces of the collection with you. As I said the Jewelery Box Palettes are gorgeous but I do like the option of removing the eyeshadow palette or the blush or the lipglosses and just taking those with me….where as with the larger palette I have to tote it ALL with me.
The Carried Away Set definitely proves easier to travel with.
Let’s take a look!
As you know Tarte has launched two larger palette sets for Holiday 2012. The Big Thrill is an Ulta Exclusive where as the Carried Away Collector’s Set is a Sephora one. The Big Thrill is more of the traditional Jewelry Box style Tarte releases for Holiday and Carried Away is more of a unique, newer design. Big Thrill is cheaper by $6 at $48 where as Carried Away is $54. I want to say both contain the same amount of product but that wouldn’t be quite right. Carried Away has considerably more eyeshadow, lipgloss, and a few other bits and bobs versus Big Thrill which has more face powder products.
Broken down you’re looking at 24 Eyeshadows in Carried Away versus Big Thrill’s 16. 8 Mini Lipglosses in Carried Away versus 3 full size in Big Thrill. Four facial powders/blush/highlighter/bronzer in Carried Away versus a single mini blush in Carried Away. Plus Carried Always come with a reusable makeup bag, full size brush, mini mascara, and mini facial powder. So broken down both have an array of product but Carried Away does have more for that mere $6 dollars extra.
I think it terms of color you might like Big Thrill if you want lighter looks. Big Thrill has some very nice light sparkling shades versus Carried Away which has some more natural, warmer colors.
Both palettes feature full size eyeshadows in Tarte’s traditional formula. These are soft, silky thinner eyeshadows with sheer to medium color payoff. They blend very easily, have a smooth, buttery texture that varies from shadow to shadow as you will across a velvet-y shade or two. Carried Away has an array of finishes including sparkles and mattes. Tarte’s eyeshadows are not on par with the likes of MAC or Urban Decay so if you’re used to those bolder, heavily pigmented formula you may be a bit disappointed. I find their shadows are a lovely silky texture that produce just the right amount of color. They do need a bit of primer under them less they fade a bit during wear so be sure to prep well prior to application.
(Used in my look below)
(Used in my look below)
This set comes in a makeup roll style bag which has a snap closure. It opens to reveal a full size mirror in the center and two plastic zippered compartments on either side. The zippered compartments hold mini glosses on one side and a mini Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara on the other including a Smooth Operator Loose Powder to set makeup and finally a small Amazonian Blush in Adventurous. Where’s the eyeshadow? Housed in a thin palette that slips out of a stealthy little pocket behind the mirror. There’s also a loop that holds a full size facial brush the set comes with.
See what I mean when I said the products are all travel friendly? You can just remove what you need and easily take it with you.
The makeup bag roll itself can easily be emptied out and you can put your favorite products inside. The pocket behind the mirror can hold other compacts, smaller palettes, etc….It’s a nice travel pouch overall.
Dare I say the entire kit is worth getting just to get your hands on the Adventurous Blush (I’m wearing the shade in both my pictures below)? This is a mini (half the size of a normal Tarte Blush) blush the size of which you’d find in the new Fantastic Four Blush Set I recently reviewed. The shade is a warm rusty bronze that gives a rich peach glow on my cheeks. It’s not like any shade in the catalog at the moment and quite unique to this set.
I didn’t check but the eight glosses might be duped in the the For Love Of Lipgloss Set however, I see at least three to four shades that are unique to this kit. The glosses themselves are a bit drier and lack shine but they build up easily with a semi-opaque finish depending on the shade you use. You get a variety of shimmers, creams, and metallic finishes.
The palette itself is arranged in six, four shade quads. This makes it easy to create looks using a single quad. I’m kinda dopey when it comes to deciding which colors go best together so this is great for me. But of course, you can mix and match the shades anyway you want. The colors are individually named and I’ve listed them below for your reference in case you want to go back and look over your other Tarte palettes for any potential dupes.
Shades:
- Snowfall in Paris
- Golden Gate Bridge
- Volcanic Ash
- Pyramid Gold
- Pearl River
- Seychelles Sand
- Touchdown in London Town
- Martha’s Vineyard
- Pebble Beach
- Boston Brick
- Spanish Sangria
- Napa Grapes
- Georgia Peach
- Tuscan Sun
- Acia Jungle
- Coral Reef
- Iceland Air
- Mystic Seaport
- Concrete Jungle
- Hampton Waves
- Sunshine State
- Hawaiian Palm
- Olive Grove
- Sin City
Overall, Tarte’s Carried Away Collector’s Set offers a ton of great products to try out from the brand. If you’re new to Tarte this is a great kit to further your collection with more products from the brand. If you’re considering it as a gift, well, any makeup fan would be overjoyed to receive it. At $54, it’s a steal considering each eyeshadow is full size. It’ll be all the sweeter during Sephora’s Friends and Family Event as it’ll cut the cost down dramatically and make it an even bigger steal than it already is.
Own it?
Planning on buying it?
Available now at Sephora and Sephora.com