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.