Melissa Meisel, Senior Editor03.21.23
Maureen Kelly started Tarte with a dream of developing “good-for-you” beauty that's never boring.
Fast forward 20 years to a full assortment of award-winning formulas, Tarte has become America’s No. 1 concealer brand and is a Happi Top 30 company, selling one of its famous Shape Tape Concealers every 12 seconds, 10 years after its initial launch.
The latest Shape Tape products released by the beauty brand are Blush Tapes and Shape Tape Correctors, as reported in Happi.
The founder and CEO of Tarte Cosmetics took time to chat with Happi about her latest developments in makeup and skincare.
Happi: What are the biggest beauty trends for 2023 in makeup and skincare and why?
MK: I personally love that so many of the trends so far in 2023 are all about looking and feeling like your best, most confident self. That’s why we’re seeing people lean toward a radiant, glowing complexion—we like to call it juicy skin—and fresh, natural-looking lip and cheek colors that feel like they were picked just for you. And in many cases, these colors can be picked just for you with pigments that adjust based on your skin’s own pH.
Of course, on the other end of the spectrum we’re also seeing the return of “grunge” makeup which is all about the technique that you can use with some core products we’ve all had on the market and in our makeup bags for years—black eyeliner & pigmented shadows.
Happi: How is Tarte meeting these trend demands with new products?
MK: This year it was incredible to watch products in our maracuja juicy family go viral on TikTok – from the volumizing lip plumps to our most recent drop of the maracuja juicy lip & cheek shift that magically adjusts to a custom shade of pink that’s unique to you! I can’t wait to introduce even more innovation to the maracuja juicy family in the next few months.
Happi: How is social media impacting consumers today and how is your company tapping into this?
MK: Tarte has always been a social-first brand – from the early days of bloggers to the rise of Instagram and still now with the takeover of TikTok. We think about social through all aspects of our product development & marketing processes. We use it as both a learning tool to understand what real consumers want out of their products and then as a direct line to connect & build relationships with our communities.
We’ve always been a big player in the eyeshadow palette category, but most recently we released one of our most successful palettes created with the TikTok audience in mind. On the outside, it’s sleek, sexy and chic with a subtle but impactful black and gold “maneater” leopard print; on the inside we curated 24 brand new, pigmented shades in a range of matte & chrome finishes to tap into all the trending looks. The palette instantly went viral, with top TikTokers organically posting rave reviews — like Mikayla Nogueira who called it the “it palette for fall.” It sold out in days. We’re still trying to get it fully back in stock! We decided to keep it in our assortment beyond the original limited-edition time frame.
Happi: What will be the “next big thing” in beauty and why?
MK: The metaverse is definitely an untapped area for the beauty industry. As more and more consumers move to this space, it will be important for us to find ways to engage with them where they’re spending their time.
Fast forward 20 years to a full assortment of award-winning formulas, Tarte has become America’s No. 1 concealer brand and is a Happi Top 30 company, selling one of its famous Shape Tape Concealers every 12 seconds, 10 years after its initial launch.
The latest Shape Tape products released by the beauty brand are Blush Tapes and Shape Tape Correctors, as reported in Happi.
The founder and CEO of Tarte Cosmetics took time to chat with Happi about her latest developments in makeup and skincare.
Happi: What are the biggest beauty trends for 2023 in makeup and skincare and why?
MK: I personally love that so many of the trends so far in 2023 are all about looking and feeling like your best, most confident self. That’s why we’re seeing people lean toward a radiant, glowing complexion—we like to call it juicy skin—and fresh, natural-looking lip and cheek colors that feel like they were picked just for you. And in many cases, these colors can be picked just for you with pigments that adjust based on your skin’s own pH.
Of course, on the other end of the spectrum we’re also seeing the return of “grunge” makeup which is all about the technique that you can use with some core products we’ve all had on the market and in our makeup bags for years—black eyeliner & pigmented shadows.
Happi: How is Tarte meeting these trend demands with new products?
MK: This year it was incredible to watch products in our maracuja juicy family go viral on TikTok – from the volumizing lip plumps to our most recent drop of the maracuja juicy lip & cheek shift that magically adjusts to a custom shade of pink that’s unique to you! I can’t wait to introduce even more innovation to the maracuja juicy family in the next few months.
Happi: How is social media impacting consumers today and how is your company tapping into this?
MK: Tarte has always been a social-first brand – from the early days of bloggers to the rise of Instagram and still now with the takeover of TikTok. We think about social through all aspects of our product development & marketing processes. We use it as both a learning tool to understand what real consumers want out of their products and then as a direct line to connect & build relationships with our communities.
We’ve always been a big player in the eyeshadow palette category, but most recently we released one of our most successful palettes created with the TikTok audience in mind. On the outside, it’s sleek, sexy and chic with a subtle but impactful black and gold “maneater” leopard print; on the inside we curated 24 brand new, pigmented shades in a range of matte & chrome finishes to tap into all the trending looks. The palette instantly went viral, with top TikTokers organically posting rave reviews — like Mikayla Nogueira who called it the “it palette for fall.” It sold out in days. We’re still trying to get it fully back in stock! We decided to keep it in our assortment beyond the original limited-edition time frame.
Happi: What will be the “next big thing” in beauty and why?
MK: The metaverse is definitely an untapped area for the beauty industry. As more and more consumers move to this space, it will be important for us to find ways to engage with them where they’re spending their time.