I am stunned.

First, you cannot but help but notice the exquisite packaging. It is beyond anything I’ve ever seen in makeup. As I open the boxes and containers, I am stunned by the sheer quality and innovation of Tarte cosmetics.

There are snakeskin textures and little gold chains belted around some items. There are many 2-in1 and multitasking products so that you only have to carry around one thing in your purse.

In purple, beige-y silver and gold wrapping with fun names (Lights, Camera, Lashes! - 3 in 1 mascara, Rock Royalty - bronzer, highlighter & blush Palette and Little Blot Book – shine control to go, to name just as few), this is the most exciting and invigorating line of cosmetics I’ve ever seen.

And then I try them.

And they surpass even my biggest expectations.

I used their gorgeous Picture Perfect eyelash curler and felt, for the first time, ready for my close up. The Lights, Camera, Lashes (With man made purple snakeskin lining the tube! The most extraordinary mascara I’ve ever seen!) give me the lashes I have always dreamed of and I quite honestly feel like a movie star. It was astonishing the difference I saw. After all of these years of dreaming of having starlet lashes and then having them was something I’m likely not to get over soon.

The Rock Royalty palette gives me the bronzed and highlighted look I’ve been craving and wondering how to achieve on my own. It’s so easy and though I have been using similar products for years, never have I looked more like my self, my better self.

It’s weird. It’s like this line knows exactly how to improve everything that I have. I have heard of makeup like this before, but I just thought it was hype. I never thought it would actually come true. And to me, no less.

Now, lip products have always been a problem for me. I have extremely dry lips and although many lines promise to moisturize and quench your pout, I have never found anything to live up to its claims.

Until now.

I try their 24.7 moisturizing lipsheer in Thursday and Summer Fling. It’s like I have completely new lips. Soft and plump and just slightly blushed, they are beautiful for the first time. I look at them for a long time in the mirror, just to be sure they are real and they are mine.

They are. It’s unbelievable.

Not sure that I can believe this can continue, I apply Rise & Shine plumping lip stain, thinking that there is no way that this will work. Not on my lips.

I am apply the stain in Cherry, which is really dark on the applicator. I worry that I will look like Dita Von Teese and wait the 15 seconds until applying the plumping gloss.

I wait about 10 minutes before looking in the mirror. I’m also scared to look.

But then I see before me lips certainly darker than my own, but no scaringly so. They are bodacious and beautiful and I am glad that I am on my way to a seminar. There is no way that I want to keep my new look to myself.

Tarte lists all of the ingredients on their products, which I love, and the descriptions of how to apply are short and to the point while telling you exactly the steps you need to take.

I still have the fat blush brush to try, which comes in a purple snakeskin changepurse and Celebutante, a mosturizing dry-oil shimmer spray.

Like a new haircut that changes the shape of your face, Tarte has changed the way I look.

And although it’s all very subtle, I see the difference and it makes me feel amazing.

I’ve never had that with makeup before. But now I know it’s possible.

I’m a changed girl. And if you look real close, you’ll see it too.