Swatched: Tarte Holiday 2012 Collection Sets

Unless you've been living under a beauty rock, you must have heard of these fantastic Tarte Holiday Sets. From what I've seen and heard, they've been flying off Sephora shelves so fast it's like UD Naked all over again. Looking at them and how little they cost, I totally understand the frenzy. With most of these sets, you're essentially paying a little over the price of one item for multiple products. The best part? Aside from the blush set, they aren't even mini-sized. 

A portion of my face has been rather odd lately so I haven't been able to take photos of myself wearing makeup. For now, here are swatches of the three sets I have, in case you were hesitating on your purchase (but seriously, why are you?).

Fantastic Foursome 4-Piece Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush Enthusiast Set ($35 for $60 value)

L-R; Angelic, Fantastic, Magic, Stellar

L-R: Stellar, Magic, Fantastic, Angelic

The colors are all exclusive to this set! Angelic is an ivory highlight, Fantastic is a matte cool pink, Magic is a pink-leaning coral, and Stellar is a shimmery light bronzer. Out of the four, Fantastic was slightly chalky (since it's matte) while Stellar required some packing to show up, but I think that's a good thing in a bronzer shade. 

5-Piece LipSurgence™ Collector's Set ($34 for $120 value)

L-R: Escape, Enchanted, Exposed, Sweet, Elite

Tarte included three different formulas in this 5-piece set. Escape and Sweet are Lip Lusters (sheerer, more shimmer), Enchanted and Elite are Lip Tints (more pigmented), while Exposed is a Matte Lip Tint. It's fantastic if you've been hankering to try out a variety of Tarte lip offerings without breaking the bank. My only caveat is it's mostly comprised of warm pinks. I would have liked to see a wider color selection, maybe switch two out for a red and a nude.

Eye Catchers 6-Piece SmolderEYES™ And Skinny SmolderEYES™ Collector's Set ($39 for $144 value)

L-R: Ash Violet, Rainforest Black, Champagne, Gunmetal, Gold, Onyx

Again, the colors are exclusive to this set and not available in their regular line. I can't even begin to explain how awesome swatching these liners felt. Gliding butter! Yet they won't budge! Look at those colors! And that black! I mean, that's what I call a black! 

I guess it felt like a lot of exclamation points. I think the colors are pretty self-explanatory from the swatches and accompanying names, except Gunmetal, which is a taupey brown and not a steely gray as the name would suggest.

From swatching and some light testing, all the items in these sets hold up to the usual Tarte standard. I've been a longtime fan of their blushes, Exposed being my go-to browned rose, and am happy to rediscover their lip pencils and eye liners. I was once a staunch devotee of SmolderEYES in brown and only put it away because I went back to wearing black liners. 

These Tarte sets are available at Sephora and Tarte.com, and I say they're all worth it. Even if you only like one color out of the entire set, you can split them up and give them as Thanksgiving/Hannukah/Christmas/I-Don't-Need-A-Special-Reason gifts. After all, what girl doesn't like receiving makeup?

The products in this post were provided by the company for editorial consideration