The cruelty-free make up and skin care name shouts about its colourful and contemporary brand via its e-commerce website and via Sephora’s online and brick-and-mortar stores.
Taking beauty by storm
Using ingredients such as plant extracts, Amazonian clay, maracuja, coloured clay, superfruits, vitamins, minerals and essential oils, the US cosmetics company utilises its eco-friendly, cruelty-free and hypoallergenic vegan positioning to resonate with the socially conscious consumer.
Its new Rainforest of the Sea range consists of a pigmented highlighting eyeshadow palette make up, along with skin care items such as deep dive cleansing gel, H2O hydrating boost moisturiser and eye patches.
Multifunctionality is also a key priority for tarte when designing its product lines. Its latest offering indicates this through its 4-in-1 setting mist, designed to hydrate and refresh the skin, and a 3-in-1 exfoliating cleanser that provides a solution for oiliness pores, and dullness and uneven texture.
Riding the wave
Including sales in Asia and other markets, Japanese personal care firm KOSÉ's results show that it has increased its overseas sales by 5.8 points to 23.7%. Achieving higher sales in all regions, those in Asia and the US saw a marked increase as a result of the strong growth of tarte. Its parent company also performed particularly well in powerhouse beauty nations, China and South Korea.
Tarte experienced healthy e-commerce and physical store growth in its most recent fiscal year, including in existing and new brick-and-mortar stores owned by renowned distributors such as Sephora and Ulta. Tarte’s own e-commerce site was revitalised to reflect its colourful and modern brand image, and to also improve the user experience for today's beauty buyer.
Parent testing
The vegan brand was acquired by KOSÉ Group in 2014, after the Japanese household name purchased a 93.5% stake in the conscious brand.
Announcing the acquisition in 2014, cruelty-free resource provider, Logical Harmony, quoted Tarte’s Facebook notification stating: “Remember, tarte will NOT be testing on animals, or EVER test on animals. We are a cruelty-free company and will remain one.”
Logical Harmony, however, stated that while tarte was “currently certified as cruelty-free by PETA”, due to an unfinished application for certification with Leaping Bunny, “they will stay” on the resource provider’s list of brands that are cruelty-free “but it will now be noted that their parent company does test on animals”.
Cosmetics Design reported at the time how the decision faced criticism from within the cosmetics industry for potentially jeopardising its reputation as an environmentally-conscious brand.