Lifestyle
the best foods for a bikini-ready body
water, water!
H2O is the most important part of any weight-loss plan. Since water makes up about 80 percent of your blood and brain, it is vitally important to good health — plus, it can help beat bloating. Thirst is commonly mistaken for hunger, so staying hydrated will keep you from overeating.
green tea, please
Switch out your coffee for a cup of green tea. Green tea naturally boosts metabolism and may even aid in weight loss. Filled with antioxidants, this little tea bag can keep you healthy and trim.
salad days
Always choose salad when you can! If you know you’ll be indulging in a high calorie meal, try filling up on the salad course first to help cut your intake of richer foods.
soups on…
Not just a delicious comfort food, soups are also a healthy diet option. Dieters who chose soup as a snack before lunch consumed, on average, 100 fewer calories per day than others.
grains
Whole grains are filled with fiber, which is key to maintaining a healthy weight — it can even help you shed some. Whole grains take longer to digest and absorb, which will make you feel full longer, they also work to increase your metabolism.
protein
Eating protein can help you lose fat and build lean muscle tissue. Meat eaters your best option is lean turkey, while vegetarians should choose beans, lentils, and nuts.
oats
Oatmeal is your friend! Steel cut or rolled oatmeal contains vitamins, minerals and fiber. Translation: you’ll stay full, consume your daily does of vitamins and minerals, and, you know, be regular.
fruits and vegetables 
Who doesn’t love a fruit salad or veggie platter?
Filled with soluble and insoluble fiber, fruits and vegetables are a super fat-burning foods. So fill up on as much as you want of them without guilt or remorse. Now that second trip to the fruit salad doesn’t sound like a bad idea after all!
grapefruit
Grapefruit is packed with vitamin C which can help reduce insulin levels, this promotes weight loss. And they’re delicious — like a desert you can consume any time of the day!
May 2nd
working it: celeste’s desk
This week we’re scoping out Celeste’s space. She’s tarte’s retail operations and logistics associate — she makes sure that the right products make it into the right hands at exactly the right time.
Aside from being a logistical mastermind, she’s a true girly-girly and genuine southern belle. Need proof, just check out her desk:
1. tarte’s Amazonian clay 12-hour blushes and shimmering powder: “I am obsessed with these, I use them all of the time.”
2. Press hits: “I love seeing our products in beauty and fashion magazines — my friends text me saying tarte is everywhere this month!”
3. Family picture: “This my dad and me at the Swan Ball. I’m a Nashville native; I miss home all the time.”
4. Inspiration Board: “I keep folders of images that I love and occasionally print out a particularly spectacular one to add to my collection.”
5. A print out of a portrait of her grandmother Celeste Casey Reed: “‘Cecy’ was one of the most amazing women I have ever known. She looks so elegant and glamorous here — Ann Street of Nashville did this portrait.”
6. Flash drives: “Remember that famous Sex and the City conversation ‘When was the last time you backed up?’ I save everything important on flash drives, it’s too easy to lose things these days.”
7. tarte picture perfect™ eyelash curler: “I can’t use any other curler. This one is the best.”
8. Sparkling water or seltzer: “This is a must have for me. I love to add lemons to regular seltzer or just buy the flavored ones. They’re refreshing and delicious.”
9. A wooden lady bug: “Whenever some of the tarte team goes on business aboard, they’ll bring us back souvenirs. This lady bug was part of a little paper holder that said ‘you smell’ – typical professional behavior! I think its been on my keyboard for 4 years now.”
What’s on your desk?
Apr 30th
Moms know best…
Click on Maureen’s note to visit our Mother’s Day beauty gift guide, then use code MOM15 to get 15% off your order.
Apr 25th
our favorite eco-friendly scents
When you’re trying to maintain an earth-friendly lifestyle, some areas are harder to fulfill than others. We would argue that perfume is actually the easiest of all. Many mainstream perfumeries are starting to focus on organic and non-animal ingredients, while other smaller companies have made it their mission to only use plants whose farming won’t endanger the environment. Check out some of our favorite eco-conscious perfume brands below.
With scents this lovely, there’s no reason not to go green.
Lush
Lush makes a wide range of pretty scents from organic ingredients and safe synthetics, and, as always, never test on animals. Try Cocktail, a pretty floral.
Rich Hippie
RH’s products are 100% natural and made from organically-farmed flowers in small batches – truly the embodiment of eco-friendly fashion. Try Devotion, a sexy combination of French lemon and Moroccan verveine.
Pacifica
Surfer Brook Taylor loves the earth – so when she decided to make a scent, she made it her priority to honor it. All of her fragrances adhere to strict IFRA regulations and are made from plants that are not endangered. Plus, they smell gorgeous – try Tahitian Gardenia.
Apr 17th
tips for the eco-friendly bride
tartelettes, if there’s one thing I’ve learned while planning my wedding, it’s that this industry loves excess.
Back in the day, brides just had to pick a place, hire a photographer, get a DJ, and find a dress. Now, with bridal blogs aplenty, the minutiae of wedding planning is never-ending; there are about a million ways to personalize your nuptials, from monogrammed napkins to hot-air balloon rides for your guests. Frankly, the possibilities are exhausting – and, oftentimes, wasteful in terms of both expense and the earth. It shouldn’t be surprising that I’ve blocked those sites from my browser until after my wedding.
But there is one thing that I am happy I learned while obsessively poring through the blogs: all the eco-friendly alternatives to normal bridal traditions that are gaining popularity as the DIY and green movements have become mainstream. Here are a few ways to put a green stamp on your wedding while still making it beautiful.
1. The dress
The dress can be one of the biggest single expenses of a wedding – and one of the most important. After all, your wedding will likely be the most photographed day of your life! Every bride wants to look and feel stunning – and you can do so while still maintaining your green sensibility. For those who don’t care to buy new, there are now tons of outlets specializing in used or upcycled dresses. Think about it: a gently-used designer wedding dress, for a fraction of the original price! Good for the earth, and your wallet.
Another option is a new dress made of earth-friendly materials, like natural fibers. Threadhead Creations and plenty of sellers on Etsy are good sources for such gowns.
2. The flowers
Flowers can be a huge cause of consternation for any eco-conscious bride. There’s the waste, the questionable sourcing, the concerns over the welfare of the growers. One solution, of course, is to go local: there are now florists who grow their own flowers and only use what’s in season.
You could also opt for the fake kind, or go DIY and make some sweet paper buds. These can be gorgeous as boutonnières, bouquets, or even centerpieces.
Another option is to forgo florals completely, and use alternative decorations. For my wedding, I’m going for a glow-y, Great Gatsby-esque feel, which means lots of candles and lanterns – and very few flowers.
3. The invitations
So much paper – so much waste! You have to get the word out somehow, though, so here are two good green options. In our Internet-dominated world, it’s becoming more accepted for modern couples to send out e-invites for their wedding. Paperless Post has gorgeous options for all sorts of tastes (from quirky to sophisticated), and the website even mimics the process of opening an actual envelope.
For those who can’t stand the thought of not sending out a physical invite, recycled options abound. There’s also my favorite green invite choice: seed-seed infused paper (Botanical Paperworks is one purveyor) that recipients can plant.
Did you incorporate
Apr 16th
L!fe Happens!
Last night we had the pleasure of hosting a screening of L!fe Happens, a hilarious new comedy written and starring one of our favorite Hollywood up-and-comers, Krysten Ritter. The film is the product of a collaboration between Ritter and one of her best friends Kat Coiro, and was cast and staffed with some of Ritter’s most-talented nearest and dearest, including celebrity makeup artist Amy Nadine.
Nadine, a long time tarte fan — so is Ritter! — used our LipSurgence™ lip tints in every scene!
To celebrate the film’s premiere, we invited a group of beauty bloggers to join us for the screening, which included a Q&A with Ritter and Nadine!
L!fe Happens beauty roll call: in the film Ritter wore our lip tint in spirited, while Kate Bosworth wore our matte lip tint in hope and Rachel Bilson wore our matte lip tint in lucky.
Get tweeting tartelettes and good luck!
Apr 10th
fancy footwork: our favorite vegan shoes
In the realm of eco-friendly clothing, some items are more challenging to find than others — shoes are the toughest. But amidst an oceans’ worth of hippie-mom clogs and straw flip flops, we’ve found a few brands of vegan shoes that are nice to the planet and nice-looking on your feet. Here are four that we love.
Stella’s an edgy designer, and champion of animals, a rarity in the mainstream fashion industry. Her shoes combine synthetic materials with high-fashion design – a combination that makes us very happy.
This UK brand lives up to their tagline, “Fashion with compassion,” by using high-quality materials that always promise to be “better than leather.”
Specializing in strappy sandals and cute flats, Mink Shoes is all about sexy kicks and green ethics.
This brand puts out a host of trendy silhouettes (gladiator sandals! wedges! oxfords!) in synthetic materials – and more are very budget-friendly. If you want to splurge, there’s the occasional designer collaboration, such as these booties by Olsen Haus.
Apr 9th
enter our rush hour giveaway & tune into tarte on QVC!
There’s been a lot going on at the tarte offices recently! Spring is here, we’re prepping for summer and we’ve been launching a ton of amazing deals and newness on QVC.
Haven’t had a chance to tune in? Don’t worry, you have another opportunity to catch Maureen on QVC tonight at 7pm EST, and trust us – this is one show you don’t want to miss! She’ll be featuring these incredible products: spring awakening sweet LipLuster & lip scrub (A225777), pure maracuja oil and bonus maracuja concealer (A221899), Amazonian clay 12-hour full coverage foundation SPF 15 and airbrush brush (A216501), lights, camera, lashes! black volumizing lash primer (A221854), lights, camera, lashes! black volumizing mascara duo (A91031), and our Brazilliance maracuja self-tanner and application mitt (A212777) — yes, it’s back!
And the best part? We’re going to give away three of our Amazonian clay 3-in-1 skin smart eye quads (A221857) — featured on tarte’s QVC.com home page – in a ‘rush hour’ giveaway between 4 and 6pm EST today! To enter, just tweet (or retweet): “#QVCgiveaway: win tarte’s Amazonian clay 3-in-1 skin smart eye quad! Read the rules here: ow.ly/a6FFg“
We’ll choose three winners at 6pm and announce them by 6:15 pm EST – giving you plenty of time to get home and tune into tarte on QVC!
Good luck tartelettes!
Giveaway only open to U.S. residents.
Apr 5th
listen up: and work it out!
Summers coming ladies and we’ve put together some hot beats to get your blood pumping for an amazing work out! We jacked the iPods from some of the tartelettes here in the office and created the ultimate fitness playlist.
So tie your laces, stretch it out, and crank the volume…..it’s time to get your butt in gear!
1.) A-Trak feat. CyHi Da Prynce – “Ray-Ban”
“If I don’t have amazing music at the gym, my legs turn into cinder blocks and this song makes me move.” -Jenna, creative marketing manager
2.) ACDC- “Shook Me All Night Long”
“I listen to this song when I work out because I love rock and it gets me pumping” -Nuria, production coordinator
3.) Gwen Stefani- “Hollaback Girl”
“I listen to this right before I start running hard on the treadmill. I swear by it…actually that whole album is great for the gym” – Koryn, community manager
4.) Afrojack- “bang duck”
“The beat just gets me up and moving” – Heather, executive director; operation and product development
5.) Green Day- “Brain Stew”
“I love this song because the guitar in the beginning sounds really bad a**, makes me work out hard” – Jen, contributing editor; tarte blog
Mar 30th
girl’s best friend: celebs and their furry besties
Rachel Bilson walks Thurman Murmen, her adorable mixed breed dog.
Lauren Conrad stays fit walking her rescue pup, Chloe.
Kate Bekinsale has her hands full with two little puppies — yet she still manages to find time to shop, go Kate!
January Jones took a stroll with her furry friend in the cool, spring sunshine near her house in LA yesterday. Apparently, the The Mad Men star walks her dog every day!
Hilary Duff runs errands with her dog Dubois, a beautiful Bernese mountain dog — how cute!
Ashley Olsen carries her adorable French bulldog to her car in NYC. Such a small girl carrying a heavy little pooch….talk about an arm work out.
Amanda Seyfried is rarely seen without her dog Finn by her side. She takes Finn everywhere …even on set.
Mar 28th
