Tarte Amazonian Clay 12

Donecia Pea/ Designed by Cristina Cianci

Gives cheeks a warm, natural-looking glow

Color lasts for 12 hours

Shades can be easily removed from the compact and placed into a custom palette

Difficult to get blush color to transfer to brush

Takes multiple swipes to get basic color pigmentation on the cheeks

Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12-Hour blush in Blushing Bride is a long-lasting blush that gives a natural glow. However, the light pigmentation is almost too subtle on darker skin tones. It takes a lot of brush-swirling to get to the desired, visible shade.

Donecia Pea/ Designed by Cristina Cianci

I was excited when I was assigned to do a product review of Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12-Hour blush. I love using the brand's Tartelette Tease Clay eyeshadow palette, so I was already a fan of its Earth-toned brand of glam. However, blush is often hit-or-miss for me, because it can be challenging finding shades that actually show up on my dark brown skin. So initially, I was leery about trying out the shade Blushing Bride, a rosy pink. But after a couple of tries, a beautiful warm shade of pink began to peek through on my cheeks that lasted all day long.

Star Rating 4/5

Active ingredients Amazonian clay, mineral pigments and vitamin E

Price $29

About the brand Tarte is a cruelty-free brand that specializes in creating chic-but-affordable makeup and skincare. It is known for its use of natural ingredients, particularly Amazonian clay.

I have combination skin with a few blemishes and scarring from my occasional hormonal acne breakouts. When it comes to my blush, I like using matte pink shades that pop well against my dark brown skin and enhance my cheekbones. I don't have a favorite, but I tend to stick with low-cost, drugstore brands like my current blush brand Black Radiance. I replaced it with Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12-Hour blush for the purpose of this review.

I swirled my brush around several times in the pan before I could pick up enough pigment. Then, I smiled to reveal the apples of my cheek and began applying the blush. Next, I blended it in, swiping outward toward the sides of my face, right above my ears. I had to repeat these steps about three times before reaching a satisfactory level of pigmentation.

Donecia Pea/ Design by Cristina Cianci

When I first applied it and only saw a hint of color, I thought this matte, super lightweight blush would be too sheer to ever show up on my face. But after a few more passes with my brush, I began to see the color settle in and give my cheeks a soft, warm, natural-looking glow that I love.

I wore it throughout the day as I worked and ran errands to see if it would hold up. I even fell into an unplanned nap at one point, sure that the blush would rub off on my pillow. But after all of that, the color was still there, just glowing away. In fact, I was impressed to see that the color held on strong even beyond 12 hours.

At $29 for 0.2 oz., Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12-Hour blush is comparably priced to other mid-range makeup brands like Becca and Too Faced. In fact, you get slightly more for your buck with Tarte's blush when compared to Nars ($30 for 0.16 oz.) and Becca's mineral blush ($32 for 0.2 oz). However, the price is slightly steeper than Fenty, Makeup Forever and MAC Cosmetics, whose blushes all fall within $20-$25 range.

I generally stay under the $20-mark when it comes to blush. However, when you consider the 12-hour hold, the smooth texture of the blush, and the clean ingredients, I can see why it's set at this price point.

BareMinerals Bounce & Blur Powder in Mauve Sunrise: Like Tarte, BareMinerals is loaded with safe ingredients and delivers a soft natural-looking finish. This cream-to-powder blush is touted as being so weightless that it can be applied with your fingers instead of a brush.

Black Radiance Artisan Baked Blush in Warm Berry: This drugstore brand is one of my all-time favorite go-to blush picks. This highly-pigmented shade was love at first swipe for me, giving way more long-lasting color per brush stroke when compared to more expensive designer brands.

MAC Powder Blush in Peaches: MAC is one of those tried-and-true brands, especially for women with darker skin tones. Peaches is one of my throwback faves due to its smooth application, long-lasting high color and range. It can go from subtle to full glam in no time.

If you’re looking for a subtle, lasting color that gives off a warm, natural glow, Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12-hour blush is definitely the way to go. However, for those of us with darker skin tones, it's going to take more patience and swiping to achieve the level of pigmentation you want to see. I’ll definitely keep using it, but I may try another shade or stick with my tried-and-true brands for shades that better suit Black skin tones.