Tarte Yellow Mellow

The Scandinavian and Irish blood that gives me my blond hair (which I've desecrated with bleach, but that's what a short attention span will do), blue eyes and a relatively unlined complexion for my age, also gives me a genetic predisposition for rosacea, evidenced by an angry blotchiness in my face when I exercise, a tendency to flush at odd times, and a permanent, if mild, ruddiness in my cheeks. Not the pink glow of health, but a blotchy, hectic pink I would just as soon cover up.

I was very excited to hear about a product by Tarte called Yellow Mellow, that is designed to do just that. It is a combination cream base and powder with a decidedly yellow cast, good for daubing and dusting on those problem areas. Tarte is a very blog-friendly company, and their publicist gamely sent me a sample when I inquired.

The first thing I appreciated about this product is that it's made with non-irritating ingredients, important if you do have sensitive skin or rosacea. The packaging is also nice: the cream is in a compact built into the cap of the powder vessel, and a retractable mini-kabuki brush makes the whole thing quite portable, which is rare for a loose powder. Portability is something you generally want in a product designed to mask complexion flaws, for touching up throughout the day.

What I particularly like about Yellow Mellow is that it is light and easy to wear on days when I do not want to go with full foundation, although it's also an excellent complement to my MAC Studio Fix NC30 on days when I do. And it does a superb job of covering redness. It is not, I'd note, a blemish concealer, but a tone-corrector. A single purpose product that fulfills its purpose.

In the picture above, taken in direct sunlight, the cheek on the right has been Mellow Yellowed, while the cheek on the left is au naturel. Looks like good photoshop work! Just the right amount of coverage. I'm going to the gym later and didn't want to put on foundation, so it's great that this blends so well as spot coverage.

Tarte also included a raft of other cool products (four day mascara?!?) that I will review anon.

Comments

[Alice Bachini-Smith]

woah, 4 day mascara, I need that- please do!

[c drummond]

I am in final stages of creating an all-natural powder that is yellow based for this problem. It also has soothing botanicals, and no artificial ingredients!

Please let me know if you would like to try it, and I'll send you a sample to test out!

[Nancy Rommelmann]

Wow, that's fantastic coverage!
Also, I love the Tarte cheek stain, which I used to cadge my daughter's best friend, who lived with us for a year. She's moved out, taking the Tarte with her. I miss them both.

[Gina]

Where do you get yellow mellow? I try to wear different color clothing and vary my jewelry colors as well to bring out different colors in my complextion.

[Sara]

Have you used Benefit's yellow concealor stick/powder? It was waaay too yellow for me...I wonder how Tarte compares.

[Joy Rothke]

I've always thought that yellow is for covering dark circles, and that green works for redness. I've found the green stuff from Everyday Minerals quite effective in disguising my rosacea cheeks.

[reverta]

That looks fantastic! Perhaps men with rosacea could use this too. You can't tell there is any make-up.

Thank you for the review, I might offer this product to my customers.

I just wrote a blog post about the problem of how rosacea looks in the workplace: http://www.reverta.com/blog/rosacea/rosacea-and-the-workplace/

Bart