As Tarte Cosmetics embarks on 25 years in business, the brand’s creator, Maureen Kelly, remains laser-focused not just on generating sales, but on gratitude.

“I decided to take Tarte on a cross-country kindness tour to lift up the customers, retail partners, creators and everyone who helped make Tarte what it is today,” Kelly told CEW exclusively. “They’re superstars, and I wanted to thank them. We were founded in 1999 on the principles of kindness and giving back. I feel really lucky and grateful.”

The Tarte Kindness Tour, which kicks off in Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2024, is a year-long program featuring activations in 25 cities. Each stop on the tour will include branded trolley pop-ups to interact with consumers, drop-ins at local Sephora and Ulta Beauty stores, creator celebrations, swag giveaways, social media tie-ins, and donations at schools. “This month’s theme is throwing it back to the Nineties, [the time period] when I started Tarte. We’re doing an event in LA with a cover band. Everyone’s going to be dressed in baggy jeans and friendship bracelets. Tarte would not be where it is today without our creators, so they’ll be an integral part of this. I want to make sure we celebrate them at each stop,” Kelly said.

The tour will move to Dallas on Jan. 25, 2024, but the brand is leaving other cities up in the air. “We’re crowdsourcing some of the stops, so a lot of them haven’t been decided on yet. People can follow along on my socials to find out where we’re stopping next,” she added.

When asked about key performance indicators and campaign goals, Kelly told CEW that Tarte is investing in giving back in a big way. “I will consider this tour a success if I’ve personally manifested love and meaningful connections, and if I help people understand that every day is a new opportunity for growth and success. I’ve had Tarte now for 25 years, and so many people have helped me along the way, so now it’s my time to inspire others,” she said. Tarte has also added local schools to its kindness tour. “Teachers deserve to be spoiled and put on a pedestal. Tarte loves teachers. In every city, we’re randomly selecting a local school to surprise with school supplies, Tarte goodies, meet all the teachers in the parking lot and clear their Amazon lists.”

 

To celebrate one of its best-selling items, Shape Tape, a concealer designed to give flawless, full coverage that lasts 16 hours, Tarte is discounting three types of Shape Tape concealer by 50%, the steepest discount in the brand’s history. Since launching over 20 years ago, Shape Tape has held a top-three position in the market globally year over year, with one Shape Tape selling every 12 seconds. The product has personal significance to Kelly, going back to her childhood. “I grew up with very bad cystic acne. I started Tarte because I couldn’t find products that covered my challenging skin. My skin would be broken out, and I’d beg my mom to not make me go to school. For me, it was about creating something to give me the confidence to feel good in my skin. I wanted to give others that confidence,” she added, noting that Tarte will launch other promotions tied to the brand’s marketing calendar later in the tour.

According to Kelly, Sephora and Ulta continue to be Tarte’s biggest retail partners, along with QVC. However, the brand has seen a noticeable jump in TikTok sales from TikTok Shop, the new e-commerce platform launched in Q3 2023. TikTok Shop allows users to purchase products directly from live videos, tagged content, and algorithm-tailored suggestions. “We started selling on TikTok Shop a couple of months ago, and it’s been like a rocket ship. It’s amazing to be able to tag a product and have someone be able to buy it. There hasn’t been a new sales outlet in a really long time. Our Tartelette tubing mascara has taken off and become viral. It was a great seller for us, it’s been like gangbusters. We’re a social-first brand and have always been at the forefront of new platforms, which has just always been important to me. At the beginning of TikTok Shop, everyone was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is such a new thing,’ but really QVC has been doing live entertainment shopping from day one, if you think about it,” Kelly shared.

Kelly said the brand saw a 40% lift in total DTC sales in Q4 attributed to TikTok Shop. “It’s not our biggest retail channel, but it’s fun to have a social media partner that is also a sales outlet,” Kelly said.

Kelly remains bullish about Tarte’s DTC sales. “There’s this virality with it. We’re seeing products sell out on TikTok Shop and people are buying it over on tarte.com. The Maracuja Juicy lips are trending 25% higher on TikTok Shop versus retail, even with record-breaking sales in Ulta and Sephora.”

Despite success on TikTok Shop, the brand’s traditional retail partners are still seeing success.

“ We’re seeing an increase for everyone, like a halo. All boats rise, which makes me so happy.  This is just a new channel that we brought into the mix. We didn’t anticipate this rapid influx of sales, so it was very challenging in Q4. Sales were coming in hot and heavy, so DHL had to add new workers and shifts to keep up with it. That was amazing, because our number one thing is our consumers. If you disappoint them, they’re not going to come back, especially with this younger generation on TikTok,” Kelly added.

Japan’s Kosé Corporation bought Tarte Cosmetics in 2014, a deal valued at $135 million. Kosé reportedly bought Encore Consumer Capital’s stake in the company, as well as the majority of Kelly’s shares. “We’ve had an amazing relationship with Kosé. I’m still doing exactly what I’ve been doing all along. I wasn’t ready to hang up my high heels and just retire to a beach. Kosé acquired us to have us help with marketing knowledge and to be a partner, so they’ve helped fill in gaps that we had internationally. And they’ve really been respectful.”

As for brand strategy and continued growth, “we are going to stay flexible and nimble and react at the drop of a hat. I think when companies get too big, the red tape gets in the way of thriving. Not everything is going to work, but you can’t get too comfortable,” Kelly shared. “You always have to be learning and trying new things. We try to be at the start of a trend, because if you wait, you’re late.”