Tarte Shape Tape Foundation Launches New Shades
Tarte Shape Tape Matte / Hydrating Foundations
The Details
Editor’s Note: I wanted to close the loop after I wrote a post about why beauty brands seem to resist diversifying their shade ranges. Ulta held back the online release of the Shape Tape foundations and said via replies to customers on Twitter that it was to give Tarte time to create more shades.
Well, Tarte did create more shades–three for each formula, which are notated below as “new”–and they did so in about three weeks (sure seems like they could have waited to have a final shade range if it was a few weeks after working on it for over a year). It’s worth acknowledging that Tarte did, in fact, add three additional shades to the medium-tan to deep end of the spectrum, and here’s hoping that the undertones and depths are workable for those the shades are supposed to be for. It’s a start, and it’s proof that together we can have an impact. Like some, I’ll be curious to see if they continue to add shades, whether future complexion products will have a better range to start with, and so on. Time will tell if Tarte “gets it” or is merely trying to placate us.
I don’t anticipate that there’ll be further updates with respect to this particular foundation any time soon, but I would like to hope that 2018 may be the year that we, collectively and as a community, will hold more brands to a higher standard when it comes to releasing new foundations. Tarte isn’t the first, and they won’t be the last, but I think it’s time we raise the bar.
Now online
Shape Tape Matte Foundation, $39.00 (Permanent)
- Fair Sand Fair skin with yellow undertone
- Fair Neutral Fair skin with neutral undertone
- Fair-Light Neutral Fair to light skin with yellow & pink undertone
- Light Neutral Light skin with pink & yellow undertone
- Light Sand Light skin with yellow undertone
- Light-Medium Neutral Light to medium skin with yellow & pink undertone
- Light-Medium Honey Light to medium skin with peach undertone
- Medium Honey Medium skin with peach undertone
- Medium Sand Medium skin with yellow undertone
- Medium Neutral Medium skin with yellow & pink undertone
- Medium-Tan Honey Medium to tan skin with peach undertone
- Tan Honey Tan skin with peach undertone
- Deep Honey Deep skin with peach undertones
- Rich Sand Ultra deep skin with warm undertones
- Mahogany Ultra deep skin with cool undertones
- Tan-Deep Golden Tan to deep skin with yellow undertone (NEW)
- Deep Golden Deep skin with yellow undertone (NEW)
- Deep Neutral Deep skin with yellow and pink undertones (NEW)
Shape Tape Hydrating Foundation, $39.00 (Permanent)
- Porcelain Ultra fair skin with pink undertone
- Fair Beige Fair skin with pink undertone
- Fair-Light Neutral Fair to light skin with yellow & pink undertone
- Light Neutral Light skin with pink & yellow undertone
- Light Sand Light skin with yellow undertone
- Light-Medium Beige Light to medium skin with pink undertone
- Light-Medium Honey Light to medium skin with peach undertone
- Light-Medium Sand Light to medium skin with warm undertones
- Medium Honey Medium skin with peach undertone
- Medium Sand Medium skin with yellow undertone
- Medium Neutral Medium skin with yellow & pink undertone
- Medium-Tan Honey Medium to tan with peach undertones
- Tan Sand Tan with yellow undertones
- Deep Honey Deep with peach undertones
- Mahogany Ultra deep skin with cool undertones
- Medium-Tan Sand Medium to tan skin with yellow undertones (NEW)
- Deep Sand Deep skin with yellow undertone (NEW)
- Rich Honey Ultra deep skin with yellow undertones (NEW)
We love you Christine!
Well said Christine!
Here’s to hoping we can continue to use our platforms and voices to have a dialogue between industry and consumers to create better products for everyone.
Apparently it’s not soooooo hard to produce foundations in darker shades. Tarte did it in 3 weeks. However, that actually proves that Tarte prioritizes it’s light skin clientele and CHOOSES to make the darker ones second fiddle. That choice is what non-brown people need to realize is problematic when they tell us to get over it or to be thankful we were finally acknowledged. That CHOICE is rooted in the rampant racism in the beauty industry.
Bingo. Raise the bar. Needed.
I really want to see swatches of these new shades in the original gradient that popsugar had posted to see how they fit in/balance things.
And still no fair with pink undertones in the matte formula. Many beauty brands cater most of their shades to the mid-toned color range and leave people at the extreme ends of the spectrum out. I’m in my 40’s and I’ve been dealing with this for years. I’m tired of having to mix and tweak foundations all the time like a chemist to lighten and calm down yellow undertones, etc. Many of us pour a lot of money into these brands’ pockets and they all need to do better. Hopefully seeing the backlash that Tarte received with make everyone step up their game.
Weird! I feel like all I ever find is pink based fair tones! I recently found that neither yellow nor pink look good on me, it’s the peach I’ve been needing. So there’s about 3 shades that match me out of all brands! HAHAHA. *shrug*
Me too … I need an ultra fair with neutral undertones. It isn’t an easy thing to find. I fell in love with the TF Peachy foundation but even the lightest was too peach for my skin. I tried adding a white mixer but it changed the formula enough that it doesn’t work like it was meant to.
Totally agree. Love the TF peach formula in that foundation but the color Snow is about 3 shades too dark for me and way too peach. Great foundation though
Yep, it’s totally rare for foundation and concealer to be light, bright, and neutral enough for my skin tone. Brands cater to light – medium skin and ignore medium-deep and deep, fair, and cooler skin tones. It is long past time for this to change.
We, the very large beauty community, did this! If we hadn’t all spoken up, if we had just let it go, these shades might never have been added. It was the efforts of many. From someone with an enormous international forum and an extremely well written blog, Christine, to multiple well respected vloggers like Alissa Ashley, Jackie Aina, etc., to all of us who show up on these sites with our own voices piping up. WE DID THIS.
I’ve seen swatches of the entire range on different skin tones prior to the shade additions and I can’t believe they have the nerve to put medium on some of those shades. They’re light. They’re too light on an actual medium skin tone and light enough to work on a light skin tone. It boggles my mind.
“we, collectively and as a community, will hold more brands to a higher standard when it comes to releasing new foundations”? Really? If expanded shade ranges made money for companies, every single one would make sure they were available. They don’t. Tarte is a great placator and has made several missteps in the recent past, so they know what they’ve got to do to keep their sales up. I have found them to be flat-out dishonest (in emails about ingredients, etc.) and no longer buy from them. And really, Shape Tape can be used as foundation (big tube, big applicator–dot on the face and blend with a damp sponge–it works perfectly and looks great), so adding a foundation with the same name is more smoke and mirrors. (Yeah, I’ve hadd bad experiences with Tarte.)
At this price point, there’s so many better brands. I just don’t even bother with Tarte 90% of the time.
Only time will tell whether the corporate culture at Tarte has changed. I am not rushing out to buy this or any other Tarte product.
Has anyone been paying attention to the comparison of ingredient lists between the hydrating shape tape foundation and the rainforest of the sea foundation? They are identical…. So did they just repackage rainforest of the sea?
I think you mean the Hydrating formula and their Gel formula, because Rainforest of the Sea doesn’t have the same ingredients with either Matte or Hydrating.
Oops you are exactly right! I did mean gel formula!?
Thank you, thank you, thank you Christine!!! Thanks for giving us an update on this and for taking a stand on this. I truly do value your reviews and i love how honest you are! With that said, i will not be purchasing this from tarte. I truly am finished with the brand. I’ve spent literally thousands of dollars with Tarte and i admit that i have ignored that they have come out with very little shades for women of color (partly because i fit into their second darkest shade) but when Fenty came out, right out of the gate and had 40 different shades and undertones, it really lit a fire under my butt. Why should i have to wait for a brand to conveniently fit me into the second launch? Everyone is stepping up their game. Dior, La Mer, Gucci… all thise brands are now becoming inclusive. I didn’t even know till i went on the nordstroms website last night that La Mer added five shades for people of color. Now for La Mer, thats a big deal since at $110 a foundation, that is taking a risk… more of a risk than Tartes $39 foundation. So, since Tarte doesn’t want to step up the game out the gate, then you are left behind. I’ve been dying to try La Mer’s foundation anyway so good riddance!
I don’t mean to take credit away from the “beauty community”, but it seems these shades, and the additional ones that are coming, have indeed been in the works. There is no possible way tarte could have come up with these new shades, and have them ready to go in just 3 weeks. What I think happened, was because this is an ULTA “exclusive”, there may have been a contractual obligation to release the foundation by a specific date, and unfortunately, not all shades were ready, but they decided, for whatever reason, to go forward anyway. This does not excuse tarte for the way things were handled in the aftermath, and if this were the case, honesty would have been the best way to go (unless ULTA barred tarte from doing so). Also, because this is “exclusive” to ULTA, they may have had some part in what shades were formulated, based on their market research. When NYX released the Total Control Foundation, ULTA only had 6 shades available in-store, none of which were deep. ULTA apparently stated that they only put out what NYX sent them, while NYX stated they sent what ULTA requested; because NYX created about 1/3 of the foundation in deep shades, and is owned by L’Oreal (who is leading the way in creating deep skin friendly products), it makes sense to assume it was based on what ULTA wanted…
I could be completely wrong in my theory, but it makes more sense (to me, at least) that it has nothing to do with “systemic racism”; a brand/ company has one goal, and that is to make money. Excluding 1/2 the population is just not good for anyone’s bottom line.
Too little too late. I will continue my no-Tarte-buy for the foreseeable future. There needs to be significant and consistent change before I will re-visit my position.
Honestly, I don’t believe that they created these shades in just 3 weeks. One YTer commented that this whole “limited shade range” was just a marketing ploy and I tidally believe them. They managed to add 3 new shades right before their original launch? Doubtful. Was it a good move? Maybe not so much.
I still find this disappointing. If it only took a few weeks to get the new shades ready, why couldn’t they have released all of them at once? And if the new shades also have the same red/orange undertones as the other dark shades, how practical are they going to be for WOC? I’m glad the beauty community was able to bring about this change, but the bar is already set so low for so many brands. As consumers we absolutely need to and should push for more substantial and meaningful changes across the board.
Here’s the thing- I don’t understand why Tarte just didn’t hold off on the launch until they had a wider variety of shades ready. They couldn’t wait two weeks?
Or held back some of the lighter shades- because it was not just that there was a limited range of dark shades, but endless variations on beige. (Jackie Aina’s video where she and Alyssa Ashley read the names is kind of hilarious.)
It got so much backlash in the online beauty community, it might be irreparable. Were they just wanting any kind of publicity? It’s just silly.