The Best Tarte Dupes

The closest Tarte dupe is Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky Tubes for Tartelette Tubing Mascara: both are tubing mascaras with shea butter and castor oil that slide off with warm water, and Maybelline’s costs less than half as much. Next is e.l.f. 16HR Camo Concealer for Shape Tape, two full-coverage matte concealers. Third, e.l.f. Halo Glow Contour Beauty Wand stands in for Sculpt Tape, a liquid contour with a cushion tip. For Blush Tape the dupe is Milani Cheek Kiss Liquid Blush, and for Face Tape foundation it’s Maybelline Super Stay Lumi-Matte. A dupe gets you the product type, the finish and the job. It doesn’t get you Tarte’s exact formula or its shade range, and two of the seven matches below are loose ones.

The seven at a glance

Prices are approximate, and they change often.

1. Tartelette Tubing Mascara dupe: Maybelline Sky Tubes

Tartelette Tubing Mascara wraps each lash in a polymer tube instead of coating it in layers of pigment. The formula has shea butter, castor oil and carnauba wax, and the tubes come off with warm water, no rubbing. Tarte says it wears for 24 hours without flaking or smudging, and it’s ophthalmologist tested.

Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky Tubes is built on the same idea with the same two conditioners, shea butter and castor oil. It’s a buildable lengthening mascara, Maybelline claims up to 24 hours of wear, and removal is the same warm-water swipe. It’s ophthalmologist tested as well. The differences are small. Maybelline’s tube holds 0.23 fluid ounces to Tarte’s 0.27, there’s no carnauba wax, and it comes in one shade, Very Black, where Tarte offers brown, navy and a few brights. Our tubing mascara guide explains why this type suits watery or oily lids.

2. Tarte Shape Tape dupe: e.l.f. 16HR Camo Concealer

Shape Tape is a full-coverage concealer with a natural matte finish, made with shea butter, mango butter and licorice root. It’s waterproof, and Tarte claims 16 hours of wear and 12 hours without creasing. Tarte points it at normal, combination and oily skin.

e.l.f. 16HR Camo Concealer reads like the same brief at a quarter of the price: a full-coverage liquid concealer with a matte, crease-resistant finish that e.l.f. says stays put for 16 hours. It’s highly pigmented, so a little covers a lot here too. e.l.f. doesn’t call it waterproof, and it doesn’t highlight the butters Tarte does. Our Shape Tape review names Maybelline Instant Age Rewind as its budget swap, for readers who want a softer, more forgiving finish under the eyes. Camo is the pick if the matte finish is what you’re after.

3. Tarte Sculpt Tape dupe: e.l.f. Halo Glow Contour Beauty Wand

Sculpt Tape is a liquid contour in a tube with a cushion tip. You dot it along the areas you want to define and blend. The formula has mango and shea butters, licorice root and diamond powder, and the tube holds 12 ml.

e.l.f. Halo Glow Contour Beauty Wand is the same format for about a quarter of the price: a liquid contour with a cushion-tip applicator, meant to be dotted on and blended out. Where it falls short is shade range. e.l.f. sells it in five shades, each covering a span of skin tones, while Tarte’s lineup runs to thirteen with separate cool and warm options. If the cheap one doesn’t come in your undertone, it isn’t a bargain. The link here goes to Light/Medium. Our guide to blush, bronzer and contour placement shows where the dots go.

4. Tarte Blush Tape dupe: Milani Cheek Kiss Liquid Blush

Blush Tape is Sculpt Tape’s partner, a pigmented liquid blush with the same cushion tip. It comes in two finishes, satin and glow, and has mango and shea butters and diamond powder. The tube is 12 ml.

Milani Cheek Kiss Liquid Blush is a lightweight, buildable liquid blush for under a quarter of the price. The two formulas start in a similar place, water and isododecane, with glycerin and mica further down. Milani adds rose flower water, watermelon extract and pomegranate juice, and says it can go on lips as well as cheeks. You give up the choice of finish, the butters, and some range: Cheek Kiss comes in six shades. The link goes to Rose Romance. Not sure liquid is your format? Cream versus powder blush sorts that out.

5. Tarte Face Tape dupe: Maybelline Super Stay Lumi-Matte

Face Tape is a full-coverage foundation with a natural matte finish. It has hyaluronic acid and snow mushroom extract, plus added fragrance. Tarte describes it as transfer-proof, waterproof and sweatproof with 12 hours of wear, and suggests it for normal and oily skin.

Maybelline Super Stay Lumi-Matte comes in the same one-ounce size for well under a third of the price. Both are water-and-silicone formulas, and Maybelline’s is water-, sweat- and transfer-resistant too, with a claimed wear time of up to 30 hours. Two things separate them. Coverage is medium to full and buildable where Tarte’s is full from the first layer, and the finish is a luminous matte, a touch less flat. Lumi-Matte is fragrance-free and contains niacinamide instead of hyaluronic acid. It comes in 24 shades.

6. Tarte Maracuja Juicy Lip dupe: Milani Fruit Fetish Lip Oil

Maracuja Juicy Lip is a balm, gloss and sheer color in one clicky pen. Its formula has passion fruit seed oil (that’s the maracuja), grape seed oil, vitamin E and a long run of fruit extracts, with added fragrance. The color is buildable and the finish is glossy.

Milani Fruit Fetish Lip Oil is a loose match, because it’s a tinted lip oil and not a balm. What it shares is the brief: glossy shine, a subtle tint and a formula built on oils with vitamin E. Two of Tarte’s base ingredients, hydrogenated polyisobutene and bis-diglyceryl polyacyladipate-2, turn up in Milani’s as well. Milani calls it non-sticky. Expect less color than Tarte gives you and a thinner feel. Passionfruit Coconut, the shade linked here, contains hazelnut seed oil and soybean oil, so skip it if you have a nut or soy allergy. Our lip oil guide covers how oils differ from balms and glosses.

7. Tarte Amazonian Clay blush dupe: Physicians Formula Matte Monoi Butter Blush

Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush is Tarte’s pressed powder blush. It’s built on mica or synthetic mica with kaolin clay in every shade and no added fragrance, and Tarte says it lasts 12 hours with buildable color.

Physicians Formula Matte Monoi Butter Blush is the loosest match here. It’s a pressed powder blush too, with a matte finish that Physicians Formula describes as long-lasting and water-resistant, for about a third of the price. The base is different, though: talc comes first, and there’s no clay. In its place you get murumuru, tucuma, cupuaçu and shea butters and coconut oil, plus added fragrance. If you avoid scented makeup, stay with Tarte.

When the expensive one is still worth it

When shade is the whole point. Contour and foundation only work if the color is right, and Tarte gives you more undertones to choose from in both. A $9 contour that turns orange on you is $9 wasted.

Shape Tape and Face Tape are also waterproof, which neither dupe claims in so many words. For a humid commute, a workout or a long outdoor day, that’s a fair reason to pay more. And if you love the click of the Juicy Lip pen and the way it deposits color, a lip oil won’t scratch that itch.

If I Were You

• If you only swap one thing, I’d swap the mascara. Sky Tubes shares the tubing formula, both conditioning oils and the warm-water removal, and mascara is the product you replace most often.
• If Shape Tape creases under your eyes, I’d skip both matte concealers and read our concealer creasing fix before buying anything.
• If you’re new to contour, I’d learn on the e.l.f. wand. You’ll find out whether you like liquid contour for about $9.
• If fragrance bothers your skin, I’d look at Lumi-Matte, which is fragrance-free where Face Tape isn’t, and pass on the Physicians Formula blush. For a rash or stinging that doesn’t settle, see a dermatologist.
• If you want full coverage in one layer, I’d keep Face Tape. Lumi-Matte gets there, but you have to build it.

Bottom line

Tarte’s reputation rests on a few formats it does very well: a matte concealer, a tubing mascara, liquid cheek color in a cushion-tip tube. All three have close drugstore versions now. Dupe the mascara and the concealer without much thought, and the contour and blush if your shade exists. Think harder about the foundation, where coverage differs, and keep the Juicy Lip and the clay blush if those are the ones you finish.