tarte is a new makeup line designed by makeup artist Troy Surratt and entrepreneur Maureen Kelly. The color choices they have made in their lineup are very young and playful, but I was able to find many choices that were suitable and appropriate for older makeup divas, too. Loads of color choices are bound to appeal to everyone.

Cheek Stain
For starters, I tried Cheek Stain ($23), tarte's entry in the gelstick blushes being introduced by many makeup lines. Offered in three colors, when I visited the tarte counter at Henri Bendel in NYC earlier this month, they were almost out of everything!

I was able to try tickled peach, a lovely peachy pink, and sunkissed, tarte's version of a bronzer. I loved the tickled peach and found it very easy to apply. The container, similar to a deodorant stick, glides right on and is easily blended with your fingers. I've been wearing it regularly for the past couple of weeks and am very pleased with it.

Sunkissed was a little too sun-tanned for my skintone. For a gel bronzer, I much preferred Ramy Beauty Therapy's Afterglow! Miracle Bronzer which is much more natural looking on me.

pressed blush
The color range in pressed blush ($19) runs the gamut from bold to subtle, and the subtle colors were more to my liking. Charisma, which is a natural pink, and Verve, which has more peach in it, were the two colors that worked best for me. With a light hand, they give a nice natural glow and last all day over foundation.

pressed eyeshadows
The color range of pressed eyeshadows ($16) is overwhelming! Thirty-four shades are available from wild to understated. They are packaged in lilac shaded leatherette mini-compacts, which include a mirror. All of the eye shadows can be used wet or dry (I preferred working with them wet). My favorites were Envy, a pale celery green, and Greed, a pale olive. While the colors are lovely, I didn't find anything exceptional about this eyeshadow, but I must admit that I prefer using cream eyeshadow, which tarte does not include in its offerings.

tarte's strong point for me is their range of lipstick. They offer three different types of lip color and I really liked all of them.

Lipstick ($16) comes in 22 shades. My favorites are 10021, a pale pumpkin, Karma, a neutral brown, and Kissy Lips, a brownish pink. All are quite creamy, without being greasy or shiny, and last quite well.

24.7 lip sheer ($16) is a new pigmented lipcolor that is like a highly color lipbalm. I really do like this new kind of lipcolor, as it is very moisturizing, but it lasts and lasts, unlike normal lip balm. Named for the days of the week, I was able to try Sunday, a pale pink, Monday, a rosy brown and Wednesday, a darker reddish brown. All are very natural and easy to wear.

Lip Gloss ($19) is really nifty, considering you get two lipglosses in one double ended package -- one a plain color and the second a complimentary frost. My favorites were Paul & Holly, a peachy/pumpkin duo, and Daisy & Gatsby, two shades of reddish brown which look absolutely great on. The gloss was a little more sticky than I like, but the colors were great.

For an extra bit of sparkle, tarte offers two sparkly powders in elegant glass containers, Golddigger Glistening Powder, which, as the name implies is gold, and is scented with champagne, and Material Girl Glistening Powder, which is silvery and scented with lilac. Quite honestly, I'm a little old for the sparkled look. At $55 a jar, I think this is a product that I could definitely live without.

tarte is definitely worth checking out. The prices are reasonable and the color choices are wide-reaching. They are available at beauty.com, E6 Apothecary, Henri Bendel, Fred Segal Essentials in Los Angeles, E6 in Boston and JD's Cosmetic Essentials in Westport, Connecticut.

Happy Shopping!