Review & swatches of Tarte Natural Cheek Stain

Ever since I started with my natural/organic/paraben-free makeup and skincare resolution I've been a huge fan of Tarte Cosmetics. Their products are formulated to be free of parabens, synthetic fragrances and GMOs.

My favorite Tarte products are probably their lipglosses, but I also adore their Natural Cheek Stain. These smell great, give a pretty color to my cheeks, are easy to blend and non-drying.


They all contain various skin invigorating ingredients such as t5 super fruit complex (5 super fruit extracts - acai, acerola, goji berry, maracuja and pomegranate, all are great antioxidants), various vitamins and natural fruit & plant extracts.

Left to right - blissful, flush, dollface
blissful
Pretty warm peachy pink, smells a little fruity. Looks great in the summer especially if you have a tan, but personally I prefer dollface & flush over this one.


flush
Raspberry pink and gives a healthy glow, scented like raspberries. Gives me a healthy rosy glow when used sparingly, but if applied with a heavy hand it makes me look like I've been out in the sun for too long - beetroot colored cheeks do not look good.


dollface 
Very sheer candy pink with microshimmer, smells like strawberries & cream (mmmm....) My favorite cheek stain, gives a very flattering soft candy pink glow and perks up my skin making it look brighter.

I usually use these straight from the tube and wipe them clean with a tissue afterward, but you can also use fingers to apply. They feel a little sticky to begin with but last a good 6-8 hours on me.

Each cheek stain comes in a push up tube containing 28.4g, and retails at $30. Very reasonable price considering only a small amount is needed so they'll last forever.

Unfortunately Tarte is not available in the UK, so I have to get my fix through an US parcel forwarding service.

Murad Firm and Tone Dietary Supplement Pack Review

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last update again >_<, have just been super busy in general. Will try shorter reviews from now on, and see if they take me a lot less time to write. At this rate it'll be near impossible keeping up with my purchases hehe. I did set myself a shopping ban (non essential makeup/skincare products) until around September but realized very quickly I just couldn't do it lol! It started off with buying the essentials - shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste etc, then I would just add in a random item on special offer, then one more... and it just went on from there :P

I wanted to start off with a review on some supplements I've been taking for the past 3 weeks, which is Murad Firm and Tone Dietary Supplement Pack.


I can't remember which site I purchased these from, as I've had them for about 3 months and didn't want to take too many different supplements at the same time, but they're readily available from several online stores.


These supplements claim to help improve the appearance of stretch marks and cellulite. Luckily I don't really have any cellulite unless I REALLY squeeze some skin together, thanks to my mum & grandmother, but I do have a few faint white stretch marks on one of my thighs and unfortunately they still haven't disappeared after all these years =( Admittedly they're not too visible from a distance but every time I look I can really notice them, so I purchased Murad after reading about how good it was for stretch marks.

The product comes in a big box, containing a 28 day supply. There's a tab that you pull off at the side which creates an opening for the daily packets to be pulled out.

The supplements - these look a little intimidating to start with, as there's a total of 11 you need to take per day, 6 in the morning and 5 in the evenings; they are also rather big as far as supplements go, but I've taken Nude Skincare multivitamins before which were even bigger so I didn't find these difficult to swallow. 

Day supplements (2 packs on the right) contains the following and what they claim to do:
  • 1 multivitamin (creamy) - blend of essential vitamins and trace minerals to help promote healthy skin function
  • 2 connective support complex (orange with brown spots) - encourages the appearance of smoother skin while helping improve skin elasticity
  • 2 essential fatty acids (yellow capsule) - help to hydrate the skin with water attracting ingredients
  • 1 cell energizer (black capsule) - help prevent skin cell damage while promoting cellular energy production
The night pack is exactly like the day pack except with only one essential fatty acids yellow capsule instead of two. I take them with a glass of water, except for the essential fatty acids which I think taste like cod liver oil (I like) so I bite into those and chew them.

For the first couple of days I didn't really notice a huge difference, but after about a week or so my skin everywhere definitely felt more toned, smoother and more glowy. I've used Nude Skincare Smoothing Body Refiner daily for over 2 months so my skin was already nice & smooth from it, but these supplements literally made the skin on my arms and legs baby soft (probably even softer than a baby's skin but I don't have a baby to compare with), unbelievably smooth and nicely moisturized too.

Haven't noticed any improvements in my stretch marks, though the box does recommend taking the supplements for 8 weeks to really see results, so I'll be keeping an eye on those. No change in weight either, but these do not aid with weight loss, only toning/firming and improving the appearance of stretch marks and cellulite.

Some reviewers have commented on how Firm and Tone made their skin clearer, which I was hoping for because in the summer my tzone goes into overdrive and I get these really irritating painful pimples that don't go away for days (maybe I should consider seeing a dermatologist) but I haven't seen any changes in my breakouts unfortunately.

I have already purchased a second box to take as soon as I've finished these for a total of 8 weeks, and hopefully I'll see an improvement in my stretch marks.