Cosmetic company Tarte has found itself in some hot water recently following the release of their much anticipated shape tape foundation on January 15. A photo was released on POPSUGAR’s website, and Twitter and other social medias exploded upon seeing the picture only featured two deep shades. Shape Tape Foundation was a follow-up to the cult-favorite Tarte Shape Tape concealer that has been on the market for over a year.

       

Following the launch, not only was Tarte getting blasted on social media, but YouTubers and make-up artists began to comment on the launch and the lack of shades. Youtuber and makeup artist Jackie Aina, with a following of over 2 million subscribers, made a video titled “Black Girls React to Tarte Shape Tape Foundation” where she and fellow YouTuber and woman of color Alissa Ashley responded to the shade range. Ashley had, in her own review of the foundation, found the shade range so appalling, she removed her foundation and did a full face of all-inclusive brands instead of following up with a wear test of the Tarte foundation. Aina’s wear test reveals the undertones of the foundation to have strong orange undertones and completely different shades between the two lines.

       

On the day of the launch, Tarte was hosting a giveaway on their Instagram via the Story feature to win the foundation and with the controversy all over social media, Tarte disabled the comments section on the post revealing the new foundations. Instead of addressing the issue to fans, Tarte released another statement through POPSUGAR stating that they were working on ten more shades and they had wanted to get the foundation out as soon as possible. However, Tarte also stated, “Additional shades are usually added seasonally, which makes sense because your complexion tends to be paler in the winter and darker in the summer months …” which has since been removed from the POPSUGAR article. Tarte completely disregarded that people of color. People began asking that if they were working on the deeper shades, why not wait and release the entire range at once?

       

Following this controversy, another female within the beauty community Temptalia released a photo on twitter with the observation that the new Hydrating Shape Tape Foundation and the already existing Tarte Hybrid Gel Foundation had the same ingredients list. Tarte responded on Twitter saying, “Yes, they have the same ingredients. We used our most hydrating formula as a base but mixed, filled and cured it through the proprietary manufacturing method we created for shape tape concealer. This process gives it a different texture, application and finish.” YouTubers have followed up with wear tests in videos testing this theory and channels, including dupethat, have commented that they have the same wear time and feel to them on the face. Tarte has since removed their Hybrid Gel Foundation from their website.

       

This entire controversy has caused people to call out Tarte for being a white-washed brand because there were so many light shades and three dark shades. Influencers have slammed the brand for not using people of color on their social media and announced that being non-inclusive in 2018 was not going to cut it. Many people on social media platforms have announced that they plan to boycott the brand until they make things right.