It’s pretty rare that something would wow me enough that it would literally NEVER leave my makeup bag. But such is the case with an awesome palette I discovered last summer! I was at Ulta with a friend and they were promoting the Tarte Clay Play Face Shaping Palette that day and I fell in love. I am all about simple, easy to wear makeup and I’m definitely all about beauty hacks so logically if I’m promised I can do ALL OF MY MAKEUP besides foundation, mascara, blush and a lippie I am ALL IN.
I use this palette for my eyeshadow, eyebrows, contour/bronzer every single day. I am always reaching for this and I know I’m going to hit pan on most of the shades. The kicker? I don’t know if Tarte is going to continue to carry it because I can’t find it anywhere online, but they do have a Tarte Clay Play Volume 2 out. It’s similar, and I think owning both is a good plan if you can snag them.
I wanted to walk you through why I love this palette so much and why it’s an absolute staple in my makeup bag. I’m freaking obsessed with this!
Things I love
Tarte’s Amazonian Clay eyeshadows are a serious gem in the world of beauty. Why? I rarely use an eyeshadow primer anymore because most of them are super sticky and thick and because to be honest, I’m always in a hurry! Ain’t nobody got time for primer AND eyeshadow. These are super long wearing without primer, don’t crease, don’t sweat off, and they’re non-irritating to sensitive skin. LOVE!
All the shades in this palette are matte and it has everything I could need for building an eyeshadow look whether I am looking for smoky or all natural. The shade “smoke” is perfect to fill in my eyebrows. It sets really well if I dampen an angled liner brush before applying. I also like to use brow gel to keep things perfectly in place.
Besides working really well as an eyeshadow palette and to fill in my eyebrows, the palette is really multi-purpose for the rest of my face too! It works great to contour and bronze. All the shades in the original palette are matte. There is even a black shade AND a dark brown, so really I have all that I need. There is a lot of color payoff with the shades but they are still super blendable.
I love that the shades in this palette don’t lean too warm or too cool so they are very versatile for a variety of purposes. I can still bring life to my face with these shades without looking ashy and gray, and without looking sick from using too warm of shades.
All in all? This is my favorite palette for every day, simple makeup.
A few weird things
This palette was barely available for a few months and POOF, it’s gone online. They’ve replaced it with Clay Play Vol. 2 which strangely enough has the exact same packaging, and the exact same shade names on the inside. Some of the colors are different, but most are the same.
Vol. 2 is not as perfect to me. Some of the shades they swap out are the black and darkest matte brown, both of which I reach for regularly (I love the shade Smoke for my brows!) and they replaced many of them with shimmers that I’m not excited about. The bottom row in Vol. 2 does give us a blush, contour, and highlight though!
My foundation / Airbrushed finish powder / My blush / Lippie / Lashes / Highlighter / EVERYTHING ELSE
Long story short: I love this palette and I’m super bummed it’s not available anymore online. Tarte, if you’re reading this, BRING IT BACK PERMANENTLY! Here’s hoping they get the message because it’s really that good. In the meantime, I’ve gotten a lot of use out of Clay Play Vol. 2 even though it’s not quite as much of a soulmate match for me as the Vol 1.!
