Tarte Grav3yardgirl Swamp Queen Eye & Cheek Palette Review & Swatches
The limited edition Tarte Grav3yardgirl Swamp Queen Eye & Cheek Palette ($45) was briefly available early last week on Tarte’s website and quickly sold out. This is a new collaborated eyeshadow and cheek palette that Tarte and youTube personality, Grav3yardgirl, worked on together. Grav3yardgirl or as her fans know her, Bunny, is not simply a makeup and beauty guru but a unique youTube personality that covers a range of different, funny videos.
I’m not a great expert on Grav3yardgirl as I’ve only watched two of her videos (I’m not much of a youTube watcher). I can’t really speak about the references of the names of the eyeshadows in this palette nor can I say if the overall look of the palette is what Bunny tends to embrace. I was surprised to learn she was from Texas as the entire swamp and gator theme had me thinking Florida or New Orleans.
I’m hearing Jaclyn Hill’s Champagne Pop Palette has some incredible packaging and the same goes for Grav3yardgirl’s Swamp Queen Eye & Cheek Palette. This is a really, really nice packaging palette. It’s made from a very sturdy plastic that resembles wood and features a gator with wings on the front. Inside is a very generously sized mirror that’s imprinted with, “Believe in Yourself. Love Yourself. Embrace Your Individuality.” Oddly enough the look card they include is a little weird as both the Day and Night look the same. From what I can see that is indeed, Bunny’s eye they used to the look card. None the less it’s a very nice presentation and a well made palette overall.
Inside you’ll find bronzer, blush, highlighter, and nine eyeshadows as well as a get the look card and an eyeshadow brush for application. According to Tarte these are all limited edition shades but I believe many are easy enough to dupe from past palettes such as the range of purple eyeshadows. Although not exact dupes some shades are similar to past palette releases. There are some unique, stand out shades here though such as the Does This Thing Really Work? Blush, eyeshadow in Dogman and Sassy Bun as well as Sweet Tea Bronzer. If you’re looking for a palette with all unique shades that you haven’t seen from Tarte before I don’t think the Grav3yardgirl Swamp Queen Eye & Cheek Palette is exactly it. It is however, a really nice selection of both warmer (mostly warm) and cooler shades.
Overall, I actually liked this palette a lot but there are a few misses for me. According to the packaging the palette is made in the US for those interested in this
Here’s a look!
The shadows in the palette are all quite pigmented with excellent color pay off in a variety of finishes that include mattes, shimmers, and frosts. I thought Sippy Sippy was a very nice consistency but it was a shade that annoyed me due to the chunky glitter that caused major fall out issues. The other eight shades I had no issues with. All were soft, silky, and beautifully pigmented with an easy to blend formula. Since they are a little looser and thinner they tend to have some fall out but aside from that I experienced no issues with dryness or difficult applying or blending. I thought I smelled chocolate when I opened the palette but it wasn’t a scent that lingered but was worthy of a mention.
I think Sweet Tea Bronzer wasn’t really for me but I’m not much of a bronzer fan anyway. This is a orange-y brown with excellent pigmentation and a soft, silky texture with excellent pigmentation. I almost felt it was too pigmented to work as a bronzer and a bit too orange as well but I guess it really depends on your skin tone. Gator Wings Highlighter was not a particular fav of mine either as this was a bit too frosty for me. Funny, as I thought both of these shades would likely double up as an eyeshadow as well if you wanted to multitask with them.
Does this thing really work? is a really pretty plum rose with excellent pigmentation and a soft, easy to blend formula. It’s considerable more softer in texture than the original range of Amazonian Blushes but still wears for a solid 12 hours without fading. It’s very, very richly pigmented so, a little goes a very long way.
The Tarte Grav3yardgirl Swamp Queen Eye & Cheek Palette should be very appealing to fans of Bunny. You might want to buy it because you’re a fan of hers and want to support her. But if you don’t know who she is or maybe you don’t watch her videos I don’t think that’s an issue as this is very much still a Tarte palette. So, both fans of Bunny and Tarte ones will really enjoy this launch. But as I said above many shades might just be similar to palettes you already own from Tarte. I know I have almost every Tarte Palette that has launched since 2011 or so and I can easily see many of these shades having been done before in the past. You might wish to take that into consideration prior to a purchase.
Tarte Grav3yardgirl Swamp Queen Eye & Cheek Palette is out of stock now but will be available at Tarte.com starting June 6th. It’ll be launching as soon as June 13th at Ulta.com and June 21st at Sephora.com. and will be popping into stores the second week of July in stores.