Now the Tarte Park Ave Princess Contour Palette isn’t a new product on the market, it’s new to me, and in fact I did almost purchase it once before more than two years ago on a spree in Sephora NYC but decided at the last minute that I didn’t need it. Ironic because I probably don’t need 90% of the makeup I own but there you go. My reasoning for picking it up this time round was because I needed a bronzer/blush/highlight compact for on the go after getting rid of my disappointing Nars Narsissist Cheek Kit (the powders are nowhere near as pigmented at the individual bronzer, blush and highlight products).
After researching the palettes available out there, which surprisingly isn’t that many, I narrowed it down to two; the Tarte Park Ave Princess Contour Palette and the Urban Decay Naked Flushed palette. Despite the Urban Decay being available in four shade selections, I couldn’t quite settle on the one selection where all the bronzer, blush and highlight shades were perfect. I wanted a neutral to cool toned blush, a matte bronzer that wasn’t too warm and a champagne highlight. I mean, that’s not too much to ask for right? Yet all of these shades, despite being available, were split up amongst different palettes, and either mixed with warm, peach blushes, bronzers with a satin finish and highlighters that were either too pink or too deep. As a result, I settled for the palette from Tarte, and although it was only available in one shade selection, the shades within it were on point; a neutral to cool toned blush, check! A matte bronzer, check! And a champagne highlight, check!
Housed in a mirrored, rectangular gold compact, it’s super slim and light enough to just slip into your handbag for topping up on the go. Inside the compact, you have a large mirror on top, essential when touching up on the move, and two circular pans beneath it. The left pan is a mid tone matte bronzer whilst the right pan is split into two; a neutral verging on cool toned matte blush on the left and a pink infused champagne highlight on the right. As the blush and highlight are split into two half moon like crescents, they are just under half the size of the bronzer at 0.10 oz each (the bronzer is 0.23 oz).
The bronzer is called Park Ave Princess, same name as the palette itself and is a beautiful, golden matte, brown. It’s not too warm and orangey, which is a total no-no for me, and looks so soft and natural on the skin. If you’re ever afraid of going too heavy-handed with the bronzer then you will love the subtle glow that this bronzer imparts on the skin. It is easily blended and buildable to a certain extent. If you’re after a deeper, darker, bronzed tone then this probably isn’t the bronzer for you, unless you have a naturally fair to light complexion of course. If you’re darker than a medium skin tone then you may struggle to have it show up.
The blush, Posh, is definitely my kind of pink when it comes to blushes. I normally prefer either a dusky rose tone or a neutral to cool tone pink, which Posh certainly is. Again, I find that the colour is soft like with the bronzer, which is a personal preference as I don’t like to go in too hard with the blush, yet it’s still buildable. It’s a matte finish and just a pretty, girly kind of pink that just looks natural and fresh on the skin. Again, it’s not a shade for deeper skin tones and I even feel like any darker than my NC25 complexion, the colour will just get lost.
The name Champagne Gold sums this highlight down to a T, and although you might expect it to be warm with it being a gold, it is infused with an icy pink which I feel balances out the warmth of the gold and makes it more of a neutral tone that is simply stunning. The shimmer in this highlight is subtle, where the particles of glitter are really fine and catches the light just beautifully. This shade on the other hand will compliment a lot of skin tones.
The Tarte Park Ave Princess Contour Palette is now my handbag staple. Not only are the shades perfect for my skin tone, the packaging is just the perfect size, big enough that you can get your brush into the actual pans (unlike the Nars Narsissist Cheek Kit which was a huge pet peeve for me), but also slim enough so that it doesn’t bulk out your bag (it’s so slim that you can even slip it into your back pocket!) , and light enough not to weigh it down. The large mirror inside also gets a huge thumbs up from me as it is a necessity for all products on the go. The formula, although not the strongest in pigment, is buildable and very easy to work with. This makes a great palette for those who are new to makeup or not as confident as the formula is fool proof. My only qualm with this palette is that, unless you’re fair to a light/medium skin tone, the colours won’t work for you as they are simply too light. The palette retails for £29.50 (also comes with a double ended brush) and only available on QVC in the UK (I picked mine up in Sephora Oz so no brush included).