October 1, 2015

Tarte Home for the Holidaze Collector’s Set & Portable Palette Review & Swatches

This was provided to me by a brand for review and I receive a small commission if you shop using the links in this post but all opinions are my own.

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Tarte Home for the Holidaze Collector’s Set & Portable Palette ($49) is a another larger cheek, eye, and lip palettes that arrives with the Tarte Holiday 2015 Collection. The Tarte Home for the Holidaze Collector’s Set & Portable Palette actually takes things back to days of old with a more traditional look to the eyeshadows that are available in this set. I don’t know how long you’ve been using or collecting Tarte but the square shape of the shadows in this set are reminiscent of older sets like old Tarte The Royal Collection, Tarte the Big Thrill Color Collection, and the Tarte Jewelry Box.

You know it’s a funny thing about those sets. I brought them up for a reason because the Tarte Home for the Holidaze Collector’s Set & Portable Palette, although nearly the same price ($49 versus the $48 price tag on most of these past sets), there’s actually a lot less product in this set. For example, The Big Thrill Set contained four blushes at 0.16 oz each where as the Home for the Holidaze Set also contains four blushes but at 0.158 oz each. There’s still a lot of product in this set but I find it interesting how although the price has stayed the same, but the amount of product has dramatically changed.

Let’s take a look at the Tarte Home for the Holidaze Collector’s Set & Portable Palette.

The Tarte Home for the Holidaze Collector’s Set & Portable Palette arrives in a chevron printed box which flips open to reveal two compartments one of which holds a full size Tarte Lipsurgernce Lip Creme in Ravishing (rose), a deluxe size Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara, and a palette with a mirror that can be used to tote around any of the four cheek and eyeshadow quads in the palette. I’m not going to go into great detail about the lip pencil or mascara since I’ve reviewed both these formulas numerous times. Just check my archives if you’d like to hear more details about either one.

Tarte Home for the Holidaze Collector's Set & Portable Palette

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Tarte Home for the Holidaze Palette

Tarte Lipsurgence Ravishing

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Tarte Lights, Camera, Flashes Statement Mascara

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The second panel of the palette includes 4 Amazonian Clay Eye & Cheek Palettes each of which have four eyeshadows and one blush each. Each of these can be popped out and popped into the cardboard palette which makes it easier to tote a look with you or easier to do up your makeup as you don’t have to lug the complete palette around but just the single quad to do your look.

Apparently both the eyeshadows and blushes are exclusive and limited edition to this set. But of course, many of the shades are reruns and rehashes from Tarte palettes past. In particular there’s a range of purple and taupe-y mauve shades here that can be easily duplicated from past palettes like the Tarte Rainforest After Dark Eye & Cheek Palette, Tarte Tartelette Amazonian Matte Eyeshadow Palette, and the Tarte Energy Noir Clay Palette. Plus many of the shades are a lot like the colors in the Tarte Bon Voyage Collector�s Set & Travel Bag.

It’s a little hard with these sets sometimes if you’re a big Tarte fan and collector because you’re torn about wanting to purchase it but also being scared of running into a ton of dupes you have in past palettes. The fear is real people, I understand. I’d honestly be here all day if I compared and ran through every single shade for you and I’m sorry I don’t have time to do that but I do want to say that many of these shades although very similar to shades you might already own aren’t spot on dupes of past shades. There’s always some MINOR variation from shade to shade. This doesn’t mean I think you should run out and grab the Tarte Home for the Holidaze Collector’s Set & Portable Palette but it’s just food for thought if you’re planning a purchase!

Out of the four shades of blushes I didn’t feel like any of these shades were exactly duplicates of any shades from the permanent range. But Jolly and Swanky do feel like shades I’ve seen in palettes before and Inviting looks a little like Tarte Epic Amazonian Clay Blush from the Tarte At First Blush Set but it’s a little brighter.

The eyeshadows in this set are a hit and a miss. I think the mattes are almost all a miss. They are fairly dense, chalky, and not as silky as I’m used to from Tarte. This is crushingly disappointing because although I’m not a matte girl, I am a Tarte matte girl and I love their matte eyeshadow formula. But these unfortunately reminded me what I dislike most about mattes and that would be the dryness and the patchy application issues. They are workable if you’re using a sponge eyeshadow applicator to apply however, I was surprised as Tarte’s matte formula is typically very silky and almost powdery in nature but never chalky and definitely not dry or patchy. The satins are also hit and miss as some are velvety and easy to apply where as others were a little dry, patchy, and dense too. Although they showed signs of better application than the mattes in this set.

Tarte Home for the Holidaze Set

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Tarte Home for the Holidaze Collector's Set & Portable Palette swatches

Tarte Home for the Holidaze Collector’s Set & Portable Palette Swatches (Inviting Blush, Sparkling Decor, Feeling Fizzy, Pop the Cork, Chocolate Fountain)

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Tarte Home for the Holidaze swatches

Tarte Home for the Holidaze Collector’s Set & Portable Palette Swatches (Jolly Blush, Plum Pudding, Tinsel & Tulle, Merry Mocktail, Vintage Cuff)

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Tarte Home for the Holidaze Palette swatches

Tarte Home for the Holidaze Collector’s Set & Portable Palette Swatches (Cozy Blush, Paper Snowflakem Up on the Rooftaupe, Light My Fire, Sweater Weather)

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Tarte Home for the Holidaze Collector’s Set & Portable Palette Swatches (Swanky Blush, LBD, Sequin Centerpiece, Suit and Tie, Platinum Bauble)

The blushes were fairly dense as well but they blended easily onto my cheeks. But they aren’t quite the Amazonian Blush formula I know from the permanent range and they do fade a lot faster as well at around seven to eight hours of wear.

Each palette is broken down into four eyeshadows with one blush. There is a film that fits over the palettes so you can quickly glance at the names and the names are also printed on the back of each quad as well. I like this set up as it takes the guess work out of pairing shades.

Tarte Home for the Holidaze fotd

Tarte Home for the Holidaze Collector's Set fotd

Now I realize I ranted a little here but I just felt it wasn’t quite up to Tarte’s normal Holiday standard offerings. On the upside the palette does contain a variety of shades and you can totally do some great looks with it! I think my look above came out great! I used Inviting Blush, the Lipsurgence on my lips, and on my eyes I have Sparkling Decor as a highbrow highlighter, Feeling Fuzzing on my lid, Pop of Cork in my crease, and Chocolate Foundation at the outer v!

The Tarte Home for the Holidaze Collector’s Set & Portable Palette is available exclusively on Tarte’s website at tartecosmetics.com.

Did you haul it?

Do share!

This was provided to me by a brand for review and I receive a small commission if you shop using the links in this post but all opinions are my own.

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • Dee

    This was the set I was most likely to get…but I think I’m going to pass especially since the formula of the matte shadows aren’t so great.

  • Rachel R.

    I bought last year’s travel set, so I’ll be skipping this. The colors are similar. I like this black and gold chevron-like design much better than the messy sequin design the big palette and the brushes have.

  • Maria

    Hi Muse. I have the 2014 Ulta set from last year which has the 4 separate palettes that pop out. Looks similar to this. I also agree with you these shades are similar to the Tarte palettes I already have since I am tarte girl. I just bought the tarte 5 blush palette and full size 5 lip surgnce from Sephora. I have the last 2 tarte blush palette in fancy rectangle compact. Love them.

  • Jenn

    Great review! I work in retail and a lot of times manufacturers reduce the size of products rather than take a price increase because a lot of consumers won’t notice. It’s kind of sneaky, but either way the consumer loses out.

    I’m a little bummed that none of the Tarte holiday sets really interest me this year. I probably have too much makeup lol

    • Isabella Muse

      Mmm very sneaky 🙂 LOL yeah, I think I feel the same way lately!

  • Janessa

    I didn’t get the Away Oui Go set last year so this one is really starting to draw me in… I love the quad with blush idea… Great for grab and go weekends. I got the blush palette from Sephora and havent been been able to put it down!

  • Holly

    I’m confused, you said the Big Thrill set has blushes in it that were 16 oz each whereas the Home for the Holidaze set the blushes were only 0.158 oz. 16 oz is like a medium coffee sized container of blush. Are sure they aren’t more closely related in size? like 0.16 oz?

  • devon

    my heart says yes but my head says ‘dummy, you have the past 2 tarte kits exactly like this!!’ the good thing is that it’s only available online, so i won’t be able to visit it in the store and then be tempted. i’m a sucker for these bigs sets :-/

  • koolchicken

    You know I think it’s funny that you mention cost versus quantity. Because those of us who are serious about cosmetics are looking at this stuff. But I don’t think most people are. Most people will be like “Oh, don’t they usually charge about $50 for a set?” and just buy it. They may or may not have past years sets at home, and they definitely haven’t done the math! I am glad that you do though!

    I bought the set Ulta is offering, it’s actually sitting in the box by my front door (I’m waiting for my son to go to bed otherwise he’ll be trying to paint his face, lol). I don’t see the sense in buying from every store anymore. I used to be like that, want to collect them all. But it just seems like a waste these days. I only have so much stuff to house all these big holiday palettes even though I do depot nearly everything. So I figure if I’m not going to keep the packaging, then the shades need to be different. Otherwise I’m going to end up with ten of the same shade, by the same brand, in the same freedom palette. And that’s just a waste of money that could be spent experimenting on new brands.

    • Isabella Muse

      Yeah, I think sometimes people get excited about new releases and don’t take into account that these items are smaller in size at times even though there’s a lot of makeup in the set. Oh I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the Ulta one! 🙂 Do let me know!

  • Maeve

    Just wanted to let you know that this set is also available at Macy’s:)

  • Jessica

    Hi! I have a question for you. I just got the Tarte Ulta Holiday exclusive set and I feel like the quality of the eye shadows are not the same as other Tarte palettes I have. Out of curiosity, I looked on the back of each to see where they were made. My Tartlette, Energy Noir and Rainforest after Dark palettes are all made in the USA and I love the quality of those palettes. However, my holiday 2013 Tarte palette (16 shadows…peachy keen, blissful brown, etc) and this new Ulta exclusive set say Made in China and the quality seems lower than the other palettes I have. The color payoff isn’t that good and there seems to be more fallout. I am wondering if more money goes into the glitzy packaging and less is spent on the actual product, so to make it at a reasonable price point…the quality suffers? I don’t know, I’m just thinking out loud here. What are your thoughts?

  • Jean

    What is it about this brand that makes me want EVERYTHING they put out, regardless of bad reviews and I’m poor? I had so much trouble doing an exchange with my order with them and still I want to buy from them. Btw, it’s also being sold at Macy’s.com

  • Jessica

    Hi Muse! Would you say this set is better or worse than the Tarte Light of The Party set? I thought I would score with the above set because I thought at least the blushes would be nice. I have yet to try this set out but just wondering if this set seems better or worse than the Sephora option? Thanks!!!! =D