Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Review: Worth The Hype?

I'll give you all my pros and cons in this review.

At A Glance

• Brand: Tarte
• Animal Testing Policy: Cruelty-Free, PETA-Certified
• Parent Company: Kose, not cruelty-free
• Product: Double Duty Beauty Shape Tape Contour Concealer
• Vegan: Yes
• Price: $24
• Weight: 0.33 oz
• Shade range: 30 shades
• Where To Buy: Ulta -- tarte.com

Where to buy it?

You can either purchase this concealer from Tarte's official website or from Ulta.

What Is It?

So, Tarte's official name for this concealer is the "Double Duty Beauty Shape Tape Contour Concealer", which gives us a good hint as to how Tarte intended this product to be used.

Double Duty means you can use this product as both a concealer and a contour/highlight. It's available in 14 shades, and the lightest shade is very light and perfect for highlighting pale to light skin.

The claims are that this product is long-wearing and hydrating, and provides "natural, radiant" coverage. I do find it very long-wearing and quite hydrating for being a very full-coverage concealer, but the finish is definitely on the matte side.

How To Use It

Below is an example of Tarte Shape Tape in action using multiple shades. One the left, the concealer is applied without blending. On the right, not only is it blended but it's also photoshopped (#petpeeve).

Multi-purpose products sound like a great concept. The problem here is that you need to buy multiple shades to use this product for all its purposes: 1 shade to concealer, 1 shade to highlight, and 1 shade to contour. I mean, the image above is using 4 different shades. Is this really necessary?! Of course not.

So is this really a miracle product, or is Tarte looking to sell us 3-4 concealers at once instead of just 1? Here's my 2 cents.

Function 1: Concealer

Shape Tape is a perfect concealer. It's very full coverage yet the formula is lightweight. You can cover blemishes easily and blend out the concealer seamlessly and with no dryness or flaking on the skin. They really nailed this formula and it truly is hydrating for providing such an opaque coverage.

I'm someone who needs a crap ton of coverage from my concealer, and Shape Tape gives me just that. Plus, without the downsides of a full coverage concealer.

If you're not a fan of the NARS Radiant Creamy concealer because it's too drying or creases on you, look into Shape Tape instead.

Function 2: Highlighter

For highlighting, it also does a great job. To make sure we're on the same page, "highlighter" in this case means using a shade that's a bit lighter than you skin tone. It's going to act as a matte highlighter (absolutely no glow) on the high points of your face (under the eyes, chin, nose, middle of forehead).

The shade I use to highlight is Fair, and it's pretty damn light. I'm about an NC10 (pale with warm undertones) and that shades shows up light on my skin. I do love using this product to highlight, and I would certainly recommend it for that purpose.

Function 3: Contour

This is where things get "meh". If you use a concealer as contour, it means that the same shade is used by someone a few shades darker than you to conceal. If concealers were available in various tones, it would be great. But generally, deeper shades are unfortunately very limited. Instead of offering both warm and cool tones, brands often limit themselves to warm tones.

This is disappointing because 1) not everyone with a deeper skintone is warm-toned, and 2) it means that you can't use these products to contour. This is exactly what I think is the problem with using Shape Tape as a contour shade.

Those with warm undertones might find a shade that would make for a suitable bronzer, but I'm not sure about a contour. On my skin, there isn't a single shade I can use to contour. Depending on your skintone, you might have better luck.

I also need to point out that this isn't an easy contour to blend out, even if you find a suitable shade. I wouldn't recommend buying this product to use as a contour.

The Pros

• Perfect formula: lightweight, blendable, pigmented, hydrating. It's the best I've found in a concealer.
• The coverage is very full and opaque, with a soft-matte finish.
• It's long-lasting and you don't even need to powder it. It just stays put all day.
• You get more product than other similar concealers (0.33 oz compared to 0.22 oz)
• Great for concealing anything and for highlighting your whole face.
• A little bit of product goes a long way.
• It's vegan.

The Cons

• The wand is too huge and makes for a messy application. You need a very tiny amount of this as it is full coverage, and the wand dispenses way too much.
• The scent is lemony and quite strong. It really smells like fragrance and it lingers for a little while.
• Chances are you can't use this concealer for contour. And even if you find your contour shade, contour requires more blending than highlight. I've tried to use this as contour and it was harder to blend.

Final Verdict: 4.75/5

As a concealer and highlighter, and I think Shape Tape deserves the praise it's been getting. As a contour product, absolutely not.

If you're looking for a full coverage concealer that will cover the gnarliest undereye circles or blemishes, this is it. It's also lightweight, long-lasting (no need to powder) and hydrating.

If you want an amazing highlighter, go for a shade or two lighter than your skin tone. I love using this concealer in the shade Fair as a highlighter.

It's available here at Ulta where it's back in stock. You can also get it from tarte.com here.

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