Tarte Maracuja Blush & Glow Highlighting Luminizer and Cheek Tint for Spring 2012
Ready for some more super cute and cool new spring products from Tarte?
Maracuja Blush & Glow Highlighting Luminizer and Cheek Tints come in three colors and are a two-in-one cheek products. Obviously.
They come in a tube that contains the luminizer inside it, and the cheek tint in a little capsule that screws into the lid.
Sidenote: A few people mentioned recently that my makeup swatches weren’t very good. While that didn’t thrill me to hear, I did take it to heart and am trying to improve the lighting situation and see what works best. It’s tricky because I use a lightbox since my house is extremely dark and outside lighting isn’t reliable. I hope that the swatches below are a bit better (less grey/dark perhaps?) and would like to know your (kind and helpful) thoughts. Also someone mentioned she liked the product photos but wanted to see more swatches. So I broke them each down by color and then did them all together. Hopefully this is helpful!
Moonlight, Candlelight, Sunlight
Moonlight, Candlelight, Sunlight
Moonlight, Candlelight, Sunlight
Moonlight
Candlelight
Sunlight
Moonlight, Candlelight, Sunlight
Moonlight is a shimmery pale pink combo. The cheek tint is more of a rose pink and the luminizer is an icy pink.
Candlelight is a champagne/gold combo. The cheek tiny is a orange/gold and the luminizer is a champagne/gold.
Sunlight is a coral peach combo. The cheek tint is a vivid coral and the luminizer is a peachy gold.
I like the concept of this tube, and of course think it’s a very cute design. The one thing I don’t love is the luminizer is 1 oz and the cheek tint is 0.06 oz. For me, I would be using the cheek tint a lot more than the luminizer, because a little luminizer goes a long way, so I feel the cheek tint may run out a lot faster than the luminizer. Not a big deal just something to think about.
I like the color payoff with all of these, nice saturation, pretty shades and both cool and warm tones.
Availability: Sephora.
Pricing: $32.00.
What do you think about these colors? Do you like two-in-one products or prefer things to be separate?
-Kelly
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Welcome! My name is Kelly and Vampy Varnish is a cruelty-free beauty blog.
I agree about the sizing. I was wondering why the tint would be so much smalle than the luminizer. But it’s just so darn cute anyway!
I think Candlelight might work very well for my light-to-medium warm-toned skin! It’s funny how when I was going through the swatches I was thinking about exactly the same thing though: the proportion of the blush and luminizer is not going to work very well for me. I don’t systematically use a highlighter, but when I wear full-face makeup I wouldn’t skip a blush. If I get one of these I’d probably use the blush up way faster than the luminizer. Regardless of that, I’m glad these perform so well!
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I didn’t have any problem with your swatches previously, but these do look amazing! The lighting is great, and I really get a good idea of the colors. It’s hard to take criticism sometimes, so kudos do you for doing so with grace.
Thanks Kate!
I’ve actually always preferred your swatches to those of some other blogs because most swatches I see are unrealistic. Most commonly the lighting is way too artificially bright and sometimes there’s flash photography involved and that makes it seem like the product is a lot brighter and lighter and emphasizes the glitter/shimmer in a shade to an unrealistic degree. Or people will fool with the saturation of their pics until they look like a magazine ad, which is misleading and unhelpful. I love your sincere swatches! I’m not saying that the swatches in this review aren’t good, they are. They don’t look artificial. I do like the group swatches.
Thanks Melody!
I try to get them as accurate and non-artificial as I can!
I agree with Melody!
Kelly, I’ve always appreciated your swatches because I find them very reliable and helpful. And I know it’s a lot of work for you – you’ve done a wonderful job sharing all the information with us, and I know that you’ll only continue to improve.
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I agree with Melody.
And I do like these, I think the first one would be perfect for me, I’m one of those insanely pale people. Now if only they sold Tarte in my country
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I actually live in an old Victorian house and same situation, very dark, very little sunlight even though I have a ton of windows. I use a lightbox and flash when I take photos because pictures just come out really dark without flash. I always think your photos look really true to color (wish I can get the same effect) and same with your swatches.
Just thought I’d throw my two cents in
I’m honestly awful at photos so I’m utterly impressed you live in an older home too and get such clear, crisp photos 
Hi the Muse,
First off thank you, you are so kind.
Secondly I am so jealous you live in a Victorian! That’s my dream house. Sadly my house is only from the late 1980′s yet still a cave!
Being a photographer, I have to say that I have always found your swatches and product shots to be very well done. I have never had a problem with them nor once thought they weren’t up to par. I know how hard it can be to light things in tricky situations and I think you do a fantastic job! Thanks for the great review!
Hi Kaley,
Thank you!
I would definitely buy Moonlight! I’m always on the look out for combined products because I’m in a rush in the morning!
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I need Moonlight in my life!
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These look exactly like a product of Pixi’s at Target that is supposed to be the exact same thing (at $18 a pop, I think?) Do you think you will review those as well for comparison? I feel like when I briefly looked through them the Pixi ones were much more vibrant, so perhaps they are meant as more of a cheek and lip color. Even the packaging is identical, with the cheek tint in the cap. Might prove to be an interesting comparison post!
Love your blog, been a longtime reader but this might be my first comment!
Hi Casey,
In fact, I reviewed the Pixi ones! But they are for lips: http://www.vampyvarnish.com/2011/05/pixi-succulent-lip-twin-swatches-photos-review/
Thanks for commenting!
This is also the same packaging/idea as Hard Candy Undercover Agent concealer. I don’t like this at all for any of these products as it seems like the one product that you will use the most is always the little nub!
i like the look of sunlight….i have yet to own a peachy cheek stain.
I just looked at these at Sephora a few hours ago. I really liked them but I didn’t buy one because of the size issue you mentioned. I too thought the blush portion was too small and the luminizer too big. The colors are really nice though. I kinda wish I had bought the Moonlight which is a really pretty pink color.
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i really enjoy your product swatches! not sure where it’s coming from that they aren’t very good.. i always come to your site if i know you’ve reviewed a product because you’re the definition of helpful. you’re so sweet, kelly
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Hi sam,
Aww thank you
I’ve always thought you had good swatches, so I’m not sure where the criticism was coming from.
However, as a baby blogger I’ve been trying to figure out how to get more color-accurate photos myself. I got a really helpful suggestion, which was to include background objects in the photo in order to make it easier to color correct the image; then color correct the image; and then finally do the cropping. I don’t know if that would work with your setup, but it’s helping me (I also wasn’t color correcting at all at first – and color correcting helps my photos a lot, though I’m not sure if it’s necessary with a better camera and better photos).
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Ooooh pretty! These seem like really good options for travel. Any items can that do double duty are always appreciated!
I don’t know why anyone would complain about your photos. If I want to see the true color of a makeup product or polish I come here. Your photos are always accurate to me. The product looks really nice. I do agree that I wish the products were reversed. I don’t use that much luminizer. I’d much rather the cheek product.
I think you do great swatches! My one suggestion, however, would be to swatch on your forearm instead of on your hand – products really sink into the fine lines on hands (not yours specifically, this is just a generalisation for everyone’s hands) whereas on the forearm there aren’t as many fine lines.
Hi Mairyn,
Thanks! There are a few reasons I don’t swatch on my arm. One is it’s nearly impossible to contort my arm and hold a DSLR (my arms aren’t super long or anything. Another is my inner arm is way lighter than skin anywhere else on me so it’s not accurate. And if I could manage it somehow on outer forearm, I would have to shave my arm, haha. Just not feasible unless you use a P&S camera and have long arms.
Ooh, that looks super cute. It kind of reminds me of Maybellines Bouncy Blush
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I like the swatches. I like Moonlight and Candlelight. I wonder if they’re meant to have lumizer used where you’d put luminizer/blush and add just a pop of the blush to the center of the cheeks? Trying to figure out why there’d be such a disparity in the amounts.
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This product looks great! I am looking for a luminizer and I almost decided with Benefit Moon beam. I Have several blushes, so the size of this one doesn´t bother me too much (is always nice to get more product!).
I think your swatches are great, when I see that unrealistic perfect swatches, I don´t trust them. The same with polish, somtiemes the photos are so edited that is obvious. I don´t mean to say that your swatches are “imperfect”!! I love them!
I would like to see how the product looks blended too, (maybe it´s easier than making complete looks with each shade, wich would be perfect!).
Do you think any of the shades can compare to LORAC TANtalizer bronzer? I bought it with the eye palette based on your reviews and is the best eye shadow palette I own!! (And it´s $16 now )
Thanks for the swatches, since I know you wake up at 5 am, I appreciate your posts even more!!
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These look really pretty, x
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I never had a problem with your swatches previously and these look nice as well. I am primarily a polish blogger, but I review make-up products that I love and it is REALLY hard to get good swatch pictures. So, Congrats!
I think I’ll be skipping this product, because I hardly ever use highlighter, and the blush is so tiny!
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I’ve never had a problem with your swatches either. They’ve always looked real to me, whereas certain other bloggers might use flash, damp swatches or other ‘trickery’ to make the product look better than it is. I want to know what things will look like straight out of the pan. I must say you dealt with the situation with grace and humility. I’d probably have sulked for a week
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The swatches that you share are some of the best. I never doubted that you give anything but the closest ‘real’ look possible.
And the macro shot of the tips; I’m beyond jealous! I want to learn to do those types of macro photos.
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I like these a lot. I can’t wait to get them. I’m surprised that the luminzer is bigger but then again, when do we use something up??
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I actually found your blog by people saying how good your swatches were! That being said, you handled the criticism very gracefully, which is fairly rare among beauty bloggers. Kudos to you!
On topic, I may have to get Moonlight, or at least test in out in the store. I have very fair, pink-toned skin and I’ve been looking for a highlighter that would compliment my skin nicely.
Whenever I’m curious about a product I always come here to see if you’ve swatched it b/c I have found your pictures very color-accurate!
I’m not sure about these though… I wish the blush:luminizer ratio were more even. I know I’d end up with a TON of luminizer leftover.
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I never noticed that your photos are dark or gray, to they are great and I always find them helpful, like this time
I love the Moonlight duo