Tarte Cosmetics has responded to the backlash with a promise to "do better."
Tarte Shape Tape Contour Contour Concealer launched in 2016 from Tarte Cosmetics and became an overnight sensation with beauty bloggers everywhere. Now the line has ventured into foundation, and the reaction is far from positive.
The Tarte Shape Tape Foundations were released last week, and people quickly realized the colors are not exactly inclusive.
The tarte shape tape foundation shade range is LAUGHABLE pic.twitter.com/l2LSUFdoSG
— MAKEUP (@glowkit) January 13, 2018
Beauty bloggers and makeup fans everywhere immediately noticed the absence of tone variation. Of all the foundations offered, only, like, four aren’t extremely pale, and the dark ones go from a caramel tone to super dark. The line almost completely excludes people of color.
People aren’t happy with the lack of diversity, and many took to Twitter to express their grievances.
I’d like to introduce some names of the new tarte foundation shades:
— YVNGCORDTRAPL0RD_7 (@Alexislundqvist) January 13, 2018
White
Pale
Bleached eggshell
Intense white
Cracker
Snow
Extra porcelain
The opposite of black
Uncomfortably light pic.twitter.com/rhBje198wX
Many people compared the range to Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty line, which has been praised for its wide range of tones.
Twitter user @chubbybunny23 tweeted, “This is insulting. If a singer can create a 40 shade foundation range, a multinational makeup company that makes millions and whose purpose [is] to create makeup for everyone should have the resources to do the same…”
Following the backlash, Tarte Cosmetics issued a statement via Instagram story that was reported by POPSUGAR:
“You all know by now that we revealed our much anticipated shape tape foundation… and the final shade range that we launched was definitely not a full representation of all of you. It may be too little too late, but we can assure you this was not meant in any kind of malicious way. We all just got caught up in #shapetapenation and seeing your tweets asking for it… We wanted to get the product out as fast as possible, and we made the decision to move forward before all the shades were ready to go. We know there is no excuse and we take full responsibility for launching this way. We lost sight of what’s really important in this industry, and for those who feel alienated in our community, we want to personally apologize. We’re doing everything in our power to bring those unfinished shades as fast as we can, at any cost. WE CAN AND WILL DO BETTER.”
According to POPSUGAR, 10 new shades of Shape Tape Foundation are on the way. We can only hope that they’re more diverse than the pasty colors we’ve already got.
