Is The NEW Shape Tape Foundation As Good As The Concealer?

When Tarte launched its Shape Tape Foundation last year, it started a big convo! Two things happened: Everyone got excited because the Shape Tape concealer is so bomb (so surely the foundation would be too), and then everyone was disappointed because they only launched with 15 shades, and only a small percentage of those were suited to deeper skin tones – not cool! This time, Tarte covered all bases with their new Face Tape Foundation, $39, which they joked was “The only sequel that’s better than the original!” Tarte has announced they will be removing Shape Tape Foundations from all stores and replacing it with the new version: Face Tape.

Tarte made sure to make their new foundation as inclusive as possible, with a huge collection of 50 shades in 5 undertones: beige, neutral, honey, sand, and golden. So now that at least the shade range is up to the standard we expect, is the new Face Tape formula as good as the Shape Tape concealer it’s inspired by?

What it is: A full-coverage foundation with a matte finish that’s meant to be transfer-proof, sweat-proof, and waterproof. The formula is vegan, alcohol-free, hypoallergenic, and enriched with vitamin E to nourish the skin.

What it does: The formula is designed to absorb oil and shine, help refine pores without flaking or caking, while hydrating the skin with snow mushroom extract, hyaluronic acid, and apple fruit extract.

What we liked: This is definitely a full coverage foundation and helped conceal everything from our acne scars, pimples, and eye bags. We also found that it could be blended out to medium coverage in areas that didn’t need it. The formula blended well with a sponge and brush, although after blending with a foundation brush, we recommend following with a damp sponge, as we did get brush marks. The foundation looks flawless on first application, but it settled into pores through the day.

We’re also big fans of the new packaging; we always prefer pump bottles for mess-free application.

What we didn’t like: While the foundation looked pretty flawless nearly all day, there were a few exceptions. Although the foundation felt hydrating, we did notice that it clung to dry patches and emphasized flaky skin, so we recommend using an AHA-based toner beforehand to polish the skin (we love The Inkey List’s Glycolic Acid Toner, $9).

If you have oily skin, you may want to test this before buying, as the foundation collected in the pores as the day went on and our skin got oilier. The pic below shows how the foundation looked after six hours of wear on oily skin (the skin was primed with the Tarte Base Tape Hydrating Primer, $30, and set with loose powder). However, although this area went patchy, the forehead and upper cheeks still appeared flawless, with just a little gathering in fine lines.

The verdict: We feel like this could be a great foundation for people with ‘normal’ (not oily or very dry skin), which would explain the ton of positive reviews on the website. The foundation also claims to be transfer-proof, however, we only found that this was true if it was set with powder. Our advice? Try before you buy! So, does the Face Tape Foundation match up to the Shape Tape Concealer? For us, not quite.