We've been patiently waiting to hear what beauty influencers have to say about Tarte's latest Face Tape foundation, especially Alissa Ashley. The YouTuber was one of the product's biggest critics last year in the midst of the shade-range controversy, and she held nothing back in her review back then. Well, the wait is over, and in typical Ashley fashion, her review was completely uncensored.
We were hoping for a more positive review, but it looks like Tarte might be close to having a repeat of the 2018 Shape Tape disaster. How will everyone else feel? The verdict is still out.
If you recall, a year ago Alissa Ashley read Tarte's Shape Tape foundation for filth.
And she wasn't the only one. The unfiltered beauty YouTuber was among several influencers who were displeased.
Her brutally honesty video about the foundation with Jackie Aina was even more popular.
The video garnered over 4.4 million views, likely because the two didn't hold back at all. In fact, they started the video with that iconic Kanye West line, "George Bush doesn't care about black people." To adjust to the topic on hand, they replaced "George Bush" with "Tarte." Whew chile.
One year later, she's returned to review Tarte's relaunched Face Tape foundation to see if any improvements were really made.
She's the first beauty influencer of color to review the foundation on YouTube, and we anticipate that there will be a lot more to come.
Of course, she began the video by reminding us of her thoughts on the previous launch.
She reflected on her love of the Tarte Shape Tape concealer and her excitement upon finding out that a similar foundation was in the works. Like many, she was saddened once the product was released.
The reason she hated the original launch was, of course, the extremely limited (and light) shade range.
She emphasized that Tarte is a brand that has always gotten away with doing the bare minimum without being reprimanded. However, as the release was post-Fenty, it couldn't avoid the backlash.
She also highlighted the response to the initial controversy from the brand that she deemed unacceptable.
In a statement from the brand last year, Tarte expressed that a larger shade range was already in the works. It also claimed the light shade range was intended to be "winter shades," because most people are paler than usual in the winter. Mmhm.
Then came the part we were all waiting for. Her uncensored review of the newest foundation.
Almost immediately, Ashley made it known that she was unable to find her perfect match among the 50 shades. She determined a close fit, however, the color was still too golden for her skin.
Ashley struggled to find a shade that wasn't either too light or too golden, and ended up picking two shades that were ... kind of close.
She applied the lighter shade from the original launch to the opposite side of her face. The undertone "neutral" was perfect, but she needed a deeper color.
She blended the two shades in hopes of creating her perfect shade, but it didn't quite work.
At first, it appeared that the blending of shades had proven successful, but upon snapping a selfie in different lighting, Ashley described the color as "mask-like."
During the application, she abruptly stopped to say that the texture of the foundation was reminding her of "something" else that had happened before.
We weren't certain what that "something" was, but she promised to revisit it later in the video.
Much to our surprise, that "something" was an intense tingling sensation.
She described her face burning the night she tested the foundation. Initially she thought nothing of it until she removed the product.
The foundation gave her a full-on breakout.
Parts of her face, particularly her cheeks, were inflamed. She also suddenly developed bumps. However, she was slow to blame it solely on the foundation, as she was also cleaning her house at the same time.
Overall, she said that the foundation is not one she would suggest, as she could not find her appropriate shade, nor could she determine if it was giving her that gnarly reaction.
She went on to tell brands to stop the mind-set that women of color should be happy that their skin tone is considered. “Stop telling black people that they should feel lucky to be included….”
