Tarte: Rainforest Of The Sea Foundation Review

Hellooo beautiful! I ordered Tarte’s (fairly new) Rainforest Of The Sea foundation about a week ago and just received it today, so I had to take some pictures of it so that I could have a review up on my site.

PACKAGING: The packaging is gorgeous! The box itself has an ombre effect, and so does the cover for the bottle. Tarte did an awesome job with the sleek packaging. The foundation bottle is frosted glass which screams high-end. Can we talk about the gold print on the bottle as well?! How chic! The color of the cover (pink/purple/gold) automatically makes me think of summertime or some type of tropical getaway. Their design team nailed it. The only negative thing I can say about the bottle is that it has a dropper that dispenses the fluid – a.k.a. probably not going to be your cleanest bottle of foundation, na’mean? Other than that, it’s easy to use. With one click of the button on top of the dropper, the foundation comes out easily (since it is a water based foundation) and it’s even easier to control how many drops you dispense.

CLAIMS: Tarte’s website describes their product as a hydrating, 12-hour wear foundation… “The concentrated, full coverage fluid formula features 20 percent water to quench dry skin as it covers and masks any redness, dark spots and uneven skin tone, while softening the look of pores and fine lines.”

I have problematic, combination skin, and my pores can sometimes be a total killjoy. Because I’m usually using products to reduce and get rid of my breakouts, my skin ends up getting dry patches because of the salicylic acid that they usually contain. My t-zone is blot worthy about 4 hours into a regular day for me, but my mouth and chin area can get so flaky if I don’t moisturize correctly. When I saw that Tarte came out with a water based, HYDRATING foundation that would last for 12 hours, I had to jump on it. Not going to lie, the packaging is what really pushed me to take the plunge.

TEST: To apply this foundation you can either A. apply the liquid from the dropper straight to the brush, B. apply the liquid from the dropper to your fingertips and then dot all over your face, or C. apply the liquid from the dropper to the back of your hand and dip the brush in the product and then apply it to your face. I went with C. Bare faced, I applied the foundation with a dense stippling brush so that I could pack on the most coverage, and I was pleasantly surprised. I used 3 drops. It did an awesome job of covering up any of the redness on my face, but I feel like my pores around my nose were even more noticeable than before. If I’m wearing this out, I’d definitely use Benefit’s Porefessional beforehand.

Here’s a picture of the foundation without flash:

And here’s a picture of the foundation WITH flash:

(I apologize for the grainy close ups. I took these on my DSLR so I’m not sure why it’s not as sharp as the others.)

PRICING/SHADES: Tarte’s Rainforest of the Sea Foundation comes with 1 fluid ounce and retails for $39.00 USD. It comes in 12 different shades. Unfortunately, it seems like they did not make this line WOC-friendly. Their darkest shade is Deep Honey which is still pretty light. I got this foundation in the shade Light-Medium Beige (described as light to medium skin with pink undertones) because I’m going on a cruise next weekend and I wanted to have a foundation that was a shade darker than mine since I figured I’d come home with a tan, but I think this might have been just SLIGHTLY darker than my natural skin tone, so I’m probably going to have to hit those temples with a bronzer anyway.

VERDICT: All in all, just based off my first time use, I really like this foundation! It’s super lightweight even though it’s buildable and is easily used for full coverage. I’m looking forward to see how long it lasts though. Even with a setting powder, my foundations tend to wear off and be almost completely gone (with some splotches here & there) by the eighth hour.

PROS:
– lightweight
– buildable full coverage
– beautiful packaging
– only 4 drops for full coverage

CONS:
– glass bottle (pretty, but can shatter easily. not too great for vacation.)
– maximized pores without primer
– skin tone range

I hope you found this review helpful. Feel free to drop a comment below!

XO,
Val