Makeup Mondays: BunnyxTarte Swamp Queen Palette

Grav3yardgirl + Tarte Swamp Queen Palette

$45 But largely sold out now

Unfortunately, this was a limited release collaboration and most online retailers (aside from Ebay listings and such) are sold out now, but your local Ulta or Sephora may have one or two left in stock! This palette comes with 9 different eyeshadows, a blush, bronzer/contour shade, and a highlighter. It also includes a brush and a decently sized mirror. Overall, it's a pretty decent amount of product for the $45 it was originally retailing at. I was also lucky enough to get a hold of this palette when it first launched on the Ulta website, so I've had a pretty fair amount of time to play around with it at this point.

PROS

1. Long Wearing
The first thing I have to talk about with this palette is just how long wearing these eyeshadows are! Seriously, I was blown away the first time I tried them out. I put my eyeshadow on at 8am without any shadow primer, and at 9:30pm that night when I took my makeup off, my eyeshadow looked exactly the same. It hadn't creased or faded or slipped at all. And that's held true for every time I've used these shadows. Seriously, if I know I'm going to be in for a long day and night, I turn straight to this palette.

2. Packaging
This a gorgeous palette. Not just the makeup, but the packaging itself is so pretty and unique. Designed to look like wood grain with foiled lettering and a winged gator engraving, it definitely stands out from a lot of makeup palettes that are available right now. The palette and the box have the same look to them, so either one would look great sitting on a shelf or your vanity. There's also a decent weight to the palette, which makes it feel more expensive. And my favorite part is how true to Bunny all of the names are. From the "Does This Thing Really Work?" blush to the beautifully red-toned "Dogman" eyeshadow, the whole palette is really an ode to her channel and her fans.

3. Color Selection
If you're not a rabid fan of neutrals like I am, you may disagree with me here, but I am obsessed with the colors in this palette. At a glance it's easy to write a lot of these colors off as standard netural palette fare, but I don't think that's really fair to the selection. Dogman (pictured above, 4th from the left), in particular, is an amazing eyeshadow. Red seems to be in right now, and Dogman is the perfect shade to give you a wearable amount of that. It's not a true red, which can make your eyes look irritated, but it does have more red tones than any other eyeshadow I currently own.

I'm also incredibly fond of the the highlighter, Gator Wings, and Uncommon (4th and 3rd from the right). Gator Wings is an absolutely stunning highlighter with a pale yellow-gold sheen and Uncommon is a perfectly light, all over color with just enough cool undertones to make it more interesting than your average taupe. There are a lot of really interesting and very wearable looks to be had in this palette, and I'm a huge fan of that.

CONS

1. Blush/Contour/Highlighter Shades
I know Bunny's intentions with the palette were to make it as universal as possible, but the blush and the contour/bronzing shade fall a little short for me. On one hand, the blush, while a pretty color, is incredibly pigmented. I've found I have a hard time using a light enough hand to get a wearable look out of this blush. And that's largely personal preference, because I don't like an intense blusher, but I could actually stand for the blush to be a little softer. And as far as the contour/bronzing shade goes, it's really just not my color. It's a little too warm for my skin tone, so I probably won't be using it for much outside of maybe another eyeshadow. As for the highlighter, it's a beautiful color, but the amount of glitter in it leads to a very heavy amount of fallout. Still use it and love it, but if you're not a fan of glitter, do your best not to touch the highlighter!

2. The Brush
Honestly, I'm just not crazy about this brush. It's fluffier than I like for my 'all over the lid' brushes to be, but the shape of it really isn't conducive to working into a crease. And it's too small and dense for blending, but it's also too large and fluffy to work for your under eye area. Ultimately, I think this is a decent brush for someone who isn't very particular about their makeup brushes, but I personally would have preferred a fluffy blending brush or something easier to work in the crease. Then again, I also haven't used the brush that often, so maybe with a little more playing around, I'll find something I really like it for.

3. Availability
And, of course, probably the biggest con for this palette is that it's pretty much sold out! This was a limited addition palette that had a number of staggered releases at various stores and in various countries, but it's been out for a little while now, so if you're interested, you'll probably have a hard time finding one for the original $45 unless a local store still has a few in stock or Tarte re-releases a handful.

THE VERDICT

If you can still find one of these palettes and you're a fan of the neutral coloring, I highly, highly recommend it! This is the first palette I've tried out from Tarte, and the lasting power of these shadows alone have made me want to get my hands on more. But as far as collaborations go, I think Bunny and Tarte did it right, and they've managed to put out a palette that's beautiful, high quality, and really respects the content creator and her community. So brava!

And if you're interested in a (shorter) review on another of Bunny's limited edition items, I also got my hands on the Texas Toast liquid lipstick. So let me know if you want to see a Makeup Monday on that!