Worth the Hype? Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Blush in Exposed

$26     0.20 oz/ 5.6 g

Ingredients: Talc, Zinc Stearate, Tricaprylin, Polyethylene, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Cera Alba, PEG-150 Distearate, Lanolin, Laureth-4, Tocopherol, Polysorbate 20, Tetrasodium EDTA, Potassium Sorbate, Chlorphenesin, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Kaolin, Tin Oxide, Mica, Carmine (CI 75470). (+/-): Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Ultramarines (CI 77007), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Bismuth Oxychloride (CI 77163), Red 6 And Red 7 Lake (CI 15850), Red 27 Lake (CI 45410), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Yellow 6 Lake (CI 15985), Blue 1 Lake (CI 42090)

Availability: Sephora, Beauty.com

Color
Exposed is described as nude. To me it looks like a red tone mauve. It's a very pretty color. It has matte finish. I've seen some people using it as a contour and blush hybrid. I personally wouldn't because of the red tone in it doesn't really look natural as contour. But if you have very fair skin, it might work for you as a 2 in 1 product. This color will be visible on pale to medium complexions.

heavy swatch | blended

Formula
I find the powder a little stiffer than Illamasqua and NARS blush formulas. But it's not hard to work with at all. It goes on smoothly and evenly and it's easy to blend.

Pigmentation
I've heard a lot of people saying that these blushes are very pigmented. However, I don't really agree. To me, very pigmented means you have to be careful and you only dab the brush in the product, tap off the excess, and apply to your cheeks with a very light hand. I did exact that at first. But with this blush I find doing that doesn't give me much color pay-off. I would say you don't have to be that careful and just use it like how you would with other medium pigmented blushes.

I applied it heavily as contour and blended it upward to the apples of my cheeks.

Wear
I wore this blush for 10 hours and the color looked the same as I first applied it. This is no joke a long-wearing product. I don't typically wear my makeup for that long but I'm sure it will easily last 12 hours. After my mascara has smudged all over the place, my eyeshadows have creased, and my foundation has worn off, this blush is the only thing perfectly staying on my face. They ain't playing with the 12-HR claim!

How I Wear It
I really like packing on the color and blend it out and keep the rest of my face, eye, and lip makeup super clean and simple. If I don't use this to contour, I would contour the cheeks with neutral/ grey tone matte bronzer. This way the focus is on the cheek color.

Overall, it's a really nice blush. The color is beautiful and the formula and pigmentation make it very easy to work with. I'm super pleased with the staying power and I'm glad Tarte delivers on their claim, which is pretty rare in cosmetics industry. Tarte Exposed is definitely worth the hype and I highly recommend this product!