Whether you love them or hate them, Tarte Cosmetics offers an excellent range of everyday staples. You will have to wade through a lot of new releases to find them, but they are there. Tarte recently discontinued their 12-pan palettes and has just rereleased them in slimmer packaging, adding this one into the mix. The Tarte #trippinwithtarte Amazonian Clay Eyeshadow Palette ($49) is a neutral palette featuring 7 matte shades and 5 shimmer shades. If you prefer warm eyeshadows, I also have a review of Tarte’s Tartelette Toasted Eyeshadow Palette. These shadows have good pigment, but some are better than others. However, they are all buildable, so they can be intensified. After I open the palette, I can immediately smell the vanilla scent. Well, my husband smells chocolate, but I know that the formula has both vanilla planifolia fruit extract and vanillin, so I associate the smell with vanilla. Luckily for me and my sensitive nose, the scent does fade quickly after application. The palette features a fantastic mirror that spans almost the entire size of the palette. The only downside to using the mirror is that the scent of the eyeshadows is in your face. That could be an upside for some, though.

Click “Continue Reading” for the full review, which includes a shade-by-shade breakdown and swatches.

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While I do like this palette, I recommend holding out for a sale. Considering the beautiful packaging and the fact that I believe the palette performs decently, despite some personal preference issues, I think it is priced pretty well. The mattes do deepen in color slightly as they are blended, but the difference is not drastic. There is some fallout with some shimmer shades, and several mattes have excess powder kick-up. Both problems were easily managed by tapping my brush off before application. Key Largo, Bora Bora, and Costa Rica go a little ashy on my NARS Tahoe/Estee Lauder 4W4 Skin tone, but everything else shows pretty well. The shimmers really shine when applied with my fingers, looking much more pigmented that way. Bora Bora and Turks & Caicos have the most shine and impact of the shimmers. They are both a little flaky, but Turks & Caicos is on the drier side, which can lead to a bit more fallout compared to Bora Bora. New York and Necker Island are close to my eyelid color, and I think that causes them to look less impactful on me, but they are still slow to build and already developing hard pan. Even though New York has more visible hard pan than Necker Island, it seems to work a little better every time I use it, whereas Necker Island gets harder to build each time I use it. I have tested this with my two favorite eye primers, MAC 24-Hour Eye Base and Urban Decay Primer Potion, and they both worked well with it. MAC works better for intensifying the pigment of the shades, but the matte blend is easier over Urban Decay. That is my normal experience with these primers, so no surprise for me.

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Shade-by-shade Breakdown

• Key Largo: Smooth and blended well. Not powdery like the other mattes.
• Maldives: Glitter/Mica particles hang behind if applied with my finger, and a slight fallout. Looks smooth and no texture issues. Applies with a brush, but it’s sparse and lacks impact (compared to the previous times of using it with my finger). Has a little fall out.
• Hawaii: Loose and powdery when a brush is dipped in the pan (synthetic and natural brushes), but it is easy to blend. The texture feels smooth when swatching, so the amount of powder it kicked up surprised me. Blends smoothly (synthetic brush), and it can be easily packed on with a natural hair brush for an all-matte look.
• New York: Is hard-pressed and didn’t pick up easily on brushes (synthetic or natural). Applied ok with my finger. Close to my skin tone, but does pick up some shine. It looks smooth. Forming some hard pan, and I’ve removed a layer from the surface once already. Despite the hard pan, it seems to be getting easier to use.

• Bora Bora: This shade appears flaky when swatched on my finger, and it does have some fallout when applied with a brush (synthetic and natural). The texture looks fine once it’s on the lid, with no patchiness. It does accentuate texture a little, but I think that has more to do with how icy the actual shade is against my skin tone.
• Costa Rica: Brushes pick up a lot of powder, but it isn’t hard to control, and there isn’t a lot of dust up in the pan. It looks smooth over texture in an all-matte look. It took a few layers to get enough pigment for my skin tone to wear it as a lid shade.
• Turks & Caicos: The texture is dry and flaky. It looks a little textured on my lid. It has some fallout with both synthetic and natural hair brushes, but it isn’t very noticeable. Easier to minimize the mess when I applied it with my finger.
• Miami: Is loose and powdery and has the most kick up in the pan. This shade is very pigmented compared to Key Largo, Hawaii, and Costa Rica. It built up quicker than I expected the first couple of times I used it. It can work as a soft crease shade or transition if I use one layer and blend that out. If I add a second layer or too much to my brush on the first go, it gets intense pretty quick. It does blend nicely, which is helpful for such a pigmented shade.

• Necker Island: Dry, hard pressed, and takes a lot of building. It doesn’t have much shine, but it does perform better when applied over the MAC 24-Hour Eye Base (vs. Urban Decay Primer Potion). Forming some hard pan, and I’ve removed a layer from the surface once already. It’s not getting easier to build in the New York shade, but somehow the hard pan doesn’t look as bad as in New York.
• Puerto Rico: Loose and powdery in the pan, but it has a smooth blend. Smooth on the lid when used as an all-matte lid shade. It’s also a good blending shade when I had some trouble blending the Jackson Hole shade.
• Jackson Hole: This matte is the driest (but not dry-feeling) and least powdery in the palette, which I think makes it ideal for use as a liner. I had more success using it with a natural brush (packed in outer-v and blended out the edges). It does work with a synthetic brush, but I did have to put more effort into blending. When used more precisely in the outer-v or as a liner, I had less trouble.
• tarte island: This shade can also be used as a liner, if careful, because it does have some dust up in the pan and shimmer particles running through it. Tapping of my brush worked enough that I didn’t notice any fall out when using it. I can see the sparkle in this matte when looking closely, but it appears mostly matte to me. You can see the sparkles best in the first swatch picture of all of the shades and in the last image below with a close-up of the pans.

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I enjoy how smooth these shadows look and how easily the mattes build and blend. I personally prefer the mattes over the shimmers, but I can work with the shimmers. I wish that New York and Necker Island weren’t experiencing those hard pan issues and that Bora Bora and Turks & Caicos were smoother. Fortunately, these aren’t things that are keeping the eyeshadows from looking good on the eyes and wearing well. I think the Tarte #trippinwithtarte Eyeshadow Palette would be great for those who want a softer look and need eyeshadows that sit smoothly over texture. Someone who isn’t looking for the highest impact or most sparkly eyeshadows that they can find.

I was able to get the Tarte #trippinwithtarte Eyeshadow Palette for 40% off ($29.40) with a military discount. Tarte also offers 40% off to first responders, medical professionals, teachers, and pro makeup artists. Don’t worry if you don’t qualify for those discounts; Tarte sales are plentiful on their website, so if you are patient, you can get this palette for less than the $49 retail price.

Update October 1, 2025: I’d wait for a sale, but the palette breaks down to just over $4 per shade, and the packaging is very nicely done. So, while I’m glad I only paid $30, I don’t think the price is necessarily bad if you are going to use most of the shades. However, if you are interested in checking these palettes out, I would recommend the Tartelette Toasted Palette (see my review here) over the #trippinwithtarte Palette. Especially if you are close to my skin tone. I’m sure lighter skin tones will have an easier time with the shades in the #trippinwithtarte Palette.

As I mentioned in my Smashbox Mood Board Eyeshadow Swatches post, I prefer the Smashbox formula, but you do get more shades with these Tarte Palettes. It does, however, cost you $10 more to get them. Some other palettes that are closer in price range to Tarte’s 12-pan format include ABH, Nabla, Urban Decay, Lorac, and Lawless, but I haven’t tested them to directly compare their quality or performance.

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Thanks for reading!

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If you’d like to check out more of my content, here are some places to start. 

• Blush Index
• Brands A-Z
• Bronzer & Highlighter Index
• Brush Index
• Concealer Ranking
• Eyeshadow Index
• Foundation Round-Up
• Lipstick Index
• Makeup Storage and Organization Ideas
• My Favorite Makeup
• Powder Round-Up

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