Unwrapping Tarte’s Bow & Go 3-in-1 Holiday 2013 Collection — Available Only On QVC

Love surprises? Well, do we have one for you today! Eco-friendly, vegan cosmetics brand Tarte Cosmetics  today released arguably its biggest holiday launch to date on QVC:  the Tarte Bow & Go 24-piece Holiday Collection ($49.98 at QVC.com). It’s a TSV offer today only, which means it’s available for only $49.98 (from $61). So what makes this holiday gift set so special? Well, let’s start with the fact that it’s technically three makeup kits rolled into one mammoth gift. In fact, all three components come in their own printed boxes — a small magenta box with a golden botanical print for the LipSurgence lip pencils; a medium-sized box with the very same golden botanical print for the mascaras and liners; and a larger printed purple box for the 16-color eyeshadow palette in the set — and you can stack these up, placing the largest at the bottom and working your way up to the smallest, then wrap a sparkling golden bow around the gift tower (and yes, the ribbon is included!).

Visual impact aside, this kit will literally provide any Tarte lover with a full array of cosmetics  — and at the TSV price, you’re giving them a makeup arsenal for less than you’d spend on most designer fragrances!

So what’s inside each box? As mentioned, the smallest box includes four LipSurgence lip cremes; the medium box contains two smolderEYES Amazonian Clay Waterproof Eyeliner and two Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-in-1 mascaras; and the largest box contains a 16-shade Amazonian Clay Eyeshadow Palette.

Below, I’ve included more details on the shades of each product, as well as more images of the packaging and — of course — swatches. Let’s start with the smallest box and wake our way to the major one! 

LIPSURGENCE LIP CREME QUAD

Though it’s only one third of the Bow & Go holiday set, this could stand alone as its very own gift set. As you can see, the box itself is adorable and the packaging is immaculate so that, as soon as you remove that top lid, you’re confronted with four jumbo-sized LipSurgence Lip Cremes. Each creamy lip color is designed to resemble a jumbo-sized pencil so that, once you remove its golden cap, you’ll see an angled tip. Formulates with castor seed oil, candellia wax,  jojoba seed oil, and shea butter extract, each LipSurgence Lip Creme has a delightfully creamy texture, so that the pencil’s tip glides right onto your lips without any tugging or scraping, leaving behind a rich wash of moisturizing, soothing, natural-looking color. And, since each Lip Creme contains a hint of peppermint, your lips will appear slightly fuller and will have a fresh, minty aroma that’s perfect for smooching under the mistletoe.

This particular 4-piece collection contains the following shades: Precious, a nude mauve with warm, golden undertones and a hint of golden shimmer; Promise, a pomegranate-meets-raspberry red with a demure, all-over luster; Thoughtful, a tawny, date-like brown with mauve undertones; and Wonder, a medium-toned, guava-like pink with warm undertones.

Check out swatches of all four shades below:

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SMOLDEREYES AMAZONIAN CLAY LINERS AND CAMERA, LIGHTS, LASHES MASCARAS

Next, let’s move on to the teal-colored box, which contains two tubes of Lights, Camera, Lashes! mascara in black and two smolderEYES Amazonian Clay Waterproof Liners. If you ask women to name two beauty products they’d take with them to a desert island, chances are one of them would be mascara — and so, with that in mind, this set includes not one, but two full-size tubes of Tarte’s beloved mascara, which contains ProVitamin B5 to condition lashes and make them appear thicker and more substantial; beeswax, which stimulates collagen production and thereby should promote long-term hair growth along the lash line; and mineral pigments that coat lashes for an intensely dramatic effect.

The smolderEYES Amazonian Clay Waterproof Liners, meanwhile, are designed to moisturize and nourish the delicate skin on your lids while also delivering richly pigmented color. The double-sided liners even feature a smudging brush on one end so that you can smooth and blend the color you apply to your upper and lower lash lines.

This particular set includes two neutral shades: Matte Brown, a dark soil-like brown devoid of any shimmer or metallic tones, and Fig, which blends together dark plum purple tones with tawny brown and which boasts a satin-like finish.  Check out what the two liner shades look like:

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AMAZONIAN CLAY EYESHADOW PALETTE

Last, but certainly not least, we have the Amazonian Clay Eyeshadow Palette contained in the large purple box. This palette contains 16 shades with multiple finishes: some powdery and matte, others boasting a lustrous satin finish, and some chockfull of glitter for plenty of sparkle.

The top row of the palette includes the following four shades: Sage Advice, a grayish, muted light green with silver-toned shimmer; Radiant Rosewood, a matte neutral shade with mauve undertones; Playful Plum, a rich, almost wine-like purple plum; and Tickled Pink, a dainty, ballerina-worthy, peachy pink. Check out swatches of these four shades:

The second row of eye shadows, meanwhile, combines metallics and neutrals: Beaming Bronze, a golden bronze color with an all-over luster; Grateful Gray, a sooty gray with an earthy, almost dirty quality to it; Alluring Almond, a greige color (a blend of beige and gray) with a matte finish; and Hot Cocoa, a coppery, reddish brown with tons of golden shimmer. Here’s what these four shadows look like:

The next row of eye shadows combines light, ethereal, pearlescent shades with bolder hues. In this row, you’ll find Pumped Up Purple, a bruised eggplant shade with a sooty matte finish; Buttercream Frosting, a delicious creamy pearl color with an all-over shimmer; Roasted Chestnut, a brown shade that’s strikingly similar to Hot Cocoa but which is slightly softer and features more pink- and red-toned glimmer as opposed to Hot Cocoa’s golden shimmer; and Ideal Ivory, a wispy, yellow-toned nude shade with a matte finish. Below you’ll find swatches of these shades (note that the Ideal Ivory color is almost imperceptible since it blends in with my skin tone:

Last, but not least, the bottom row of this palette features two brown shades: Marvelous Mocha, an über intense brown shade that looks like raw cacao; and Blissful Brown, a yellow-ish brown hue reminiscent of a hazelnut spread. But the standouts in this row are Peachy Keen, a powdery, matte, medium peach tone; and Truly Taupe, a party-ready, extra pearlescent eye shadow that combines taupe and gray tones, then saturates them with silver-toned sparkle. Here’s what the final four look like:

My favorite shades in this particular palette are Truly Taupe, Buttercream Frosting, Sage Advice, Playful Plum, Alluring Almond, and Grateful Grey. Which shades are you loving?

Remember: the Bow & Go is available at the aforementioned special price today only so act quick before the offer takes its final bow!