Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush: True Love, Fearless, and Flush

To celebrate getting approved for Tarte's pro discount, I went on a little shopping spree earlier this month during which I picked up the three new shades of Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush that are new for Spring 2014 and will be added to the permanent range (!). Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blushes are solar-baked and, as implied, are infused with Amazonian clay, which Tarte calls "nature's most perfect ingredient." They are supposedly "nutrient rich and skin-nourishing" because of the Amazonian clay, and promise to "restore harmony for a flawless finish that lasts all day." It promises to balance out all skin types, so it absorbs oil for those who are oily, hydrates and restores moisture for those who are dry, etc. Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blushes are housed in mirrored compacts with the corresponding blush shade, and are imprinted with the Amazon River flowing through tropical rainforest. Each blush contains 5.6 grams of product, and retails for $31.
Clockwise from bottom right: True Love, Fearless, and Flush
True Love, Fearless, and Flush

True Love is a medium-dark vibrant watermelon coral in a satin finish. It has a soft, silky, finely-milled texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is lighter and more coral than Natural Beauty, more pink and more matte than Frisky, darker and more reddened than MAC Fleur Power, more reddened than MAC Whole Lotta Love Pro Longwear Blush, lighter and less bright than MAC Salsarose (PRO), and more pink than Illamasqua Tweak.

Fearless is a medium vibrant warm passion pink in a satin finish. It has a soft, silky, finely-milled texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is lighter and more pink than True Love, darker and warmer than Amused, more pink than MAC Fleur Power, darker and brighter than MAC Dainty Mineralize Blush, and brighter and warmer than NARS Mata Hari.

Flush is a light-medium cool-toned pink in a satin finish. (Note: This is an entirely different shade from the original Flush, which was a dark berry shade.) It has a soft, silky, finely-milled texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has medium-high pigmentation and semi-opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is cooler than Dollface, darker and brighter than MAC Well Dressed, lighter than MAC Dame, darker and brighter than Illamasqua Katie, and lighter and more muted than Illamasqua Nymph.

Fans of Tarte's Amazonian Clay Blushes can rejoice at three more lovely additions to their permanent range! Having almost all of the shades from this line, I can say that Tarte is really working at making more widely flattering shades. I actually find it kind of funny that they discontinued the original Flush, which was their darkest shade, and gave the same name to their now lightest blush. On that note, Flush actually darkens and brightens on the cheeks despite looking very light in the pan and in a swatch, so it does show up well even on medium skintones (on my NC30 skintone, it showed up as a natural rosy shade with only a hint of cool undertones), though those with medium-dark to dark skintones will find it starting to look ashy. Both True Love and Fearless are fun and cheerful, though I do recommend using light layers with both as they can go on quite bright. I was reading some initial reviews that these are stiffer and less pigmented than their original formula, but I didn't have any problems with these at all; they went on as smoothly and pigmented as all their other shades. I found that they were easily layerable and likewise easy to blend out. If you're a fan of the Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush formula, these are fun, new shades to look into for Spring!