[Review & Swatch] Tarte Tarteist Lip Paint in Namaste (on NC 10/15 Skin)

Oh, Tarteist Lip Paint, I wanted to love you, but I just don't think it's going to work out. It's not me, it's you.

Let me start off by saying, some people are going to like this product, I'm just not one of them. I'll do my best to explain why this product may work better for some people than others, but like all products, it ultimately comes down to personal preference. 

Disclosure: I purchased this product with my own money. All views expressed are my own, authentic opinions and experiences with the product. This post does not contain any affiliate links.

From Tarte.com:

Paint on pigment to create a tarteist™ lip masterpiece with this full coverage, longwearing liquid lipstick with a lightweight, moussey texture and a non-drying, matte finish. 
The ultra-pigmented, vegan friendly formula comes in an array of on-trend bold and everyday shades with a custom precision wand that luxuriously glides over lips before drying down to a sophisticated, velvet matte finish. 

The cost is $20 for 6ml/.20 fl. oz of product. (The product shown in this review is a deluxe sample size of 3 ml/.10 fl. oz)

Namaste is a peachy pink, though Tarte describes it as a nude. If you have a medium to deep skin tone, it's a nude, but if you're fair, it will just come off as pink.

The packaging is simple and functional, with a standard twist-off top and attached wand. The wand is a bit different, it's a doe-foot applicator, but it's more straight than a typical doe-foot applicator. I've had issues with the packaging leaking oil, but this may just be a problem with the sample size.

The product itself has a pretty strong minty smell, which I actually really like. If you don't like mint or are sensitive to scents in lip products, you'll definitely want to stay away from these. I don't notice the smell after it has been applied, nor do I notice any sort of plumping or tingling sensation as a result of the peppermint oil. Unfortunately, the peppermint oil used in the product can make the lips feel a bit dry. It's a very strange formula in the sense that it feels both oily and drying at the same time. Despite the oil content, it also emphasizes any dry patches you may have on your lips. The moussey, whipped texture is lightweight, and pigmented, so I'd agree with Tarte on those characteristics. However, it applies a bit patchy, and it never dries down, which also means that the transfer is horrible. It appears matte, but feels creamy. For some people, this may be a plus, but if you're looking for a long-wearing liquid lipstick, this isn't it. Even taking a sip of water leads to lip prints left on the cup and the product starting to fade from the lips. I didn't have any issues with this product bleeding out of the lip lines at all, but it did transfer onto anything it touched, and needed to be reapplied about every hour if I had anything to eat or drink. Another problem that I had with this product was that if I tried to reapply on top of existing product to make it look more even, it started to get very cakey in both appearance and feel.

Aside from the smell and the color, I didn't like this product at all, which is disappointing because I like Tarte as a brand and was really looking forward to these.

The bottom line:

You'll like this if:

• You can't stand the feel of normal liquid lipsticks, but want a matte finish
• You don't mind having to reapply frequently
• You like the smell of peppermint

Avoid this is:

• You're looking for a long-wearing liquid lipstick that doesn't transfer easily
• You have a sensitivity to scents in makeup, especially mint
• You didn't like the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams or the Buxom Wildly Whipped Soft Matte Lip Colors. The NYX  Soft Matte Lip Cream actually dries down more than this and was more resistant to transfer, so if those bothered you, these will drive you absolutely insane. As for the Buxom Wildly Whipped Soft Matte Lip Colors, the texture is very similar and neither dry down, so if you've tried one of those formulas and didn't like it, I'm almost certain you won't like the other. I'll have a full review of the Buxom Wildly Whipped Soft Matte Lip Colors posted shortly, but if you've been curious about them, just know they suffer from a few of the same problems that the Tarteist Lip Paint did.