Beauty brand Tarte Cosmetics hosts yet another one of their infamous brand trips, featuring 50 influencers and their plus ones.
Tarte Cosmetics, a cosmetics brand that has been around since 1999, hosted an influencer-packed brand trip all the way to Dubai beginning on January 18, 2023. Recognized for their popular Shape Tape Concealer that launched in 2016, Tarte has been a well-known brand within the beauty community.
Brand trips are nothing new to the Tarte brand, as they’ve been hosting these trips since back in 2015, though it was comprised of primarily YouTube beauty gurus like Desi Perkins, Nicol Concilio, and Christen Dominique. They’ve also sponsored trips to locations like Bora Bora and Costa Rica in previous years.
Their trips have been known to garner intrigue, start conversations, and have people tune in to just what the brand has in store for influencers on each of their over 20 trips thus far. Thatiana Diaz, the editor-in-chief of media company Remezcla, took to Instagram to call this a, “new era in influencer trips.”
This time around, more of the influencers featured were those who had gained a prominent following on TikTok, the video content platform that catapulted into becoming the most popular app since 2019. Among the influencers were Monet McMichael, Alix Earle, and Meredith Duxbury.
This January’s installment of the “Trippin with Tarte” series involved the influencers taking a first-class flight from New York City to Dubai’s Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah in the Al Wadi Desert. They were greeted with many gifts including beauty products and clothes.
The all-expenses-paid trip has received quite a bit of backlash and controversy amidst all the social media attention it’s gotten. A TikToker by the name of Lindsay Borow (@lblikes) took to the app to call Tarte “tone-deaf” for carrying out such a lavish trip amid an economic crisis. She also noted the trip as “just so unrelatable.”
Users sounded off in the comments, many agreeing with Borow, and saying things like, “I can barely afford eggs, so I’m not interested in their new product.” Tarte makes it a point to have the influence promote their latest as well as most notable products. Another user says it “feels out of touch with the recession and inflation.”
Her Campus reported on the estimated price of the trip, “Currently, a first-class flight to Dubai from JFK in New York is sitting pretty at around $22,000… Combine that with a plus one, and you’re looking at $44,000 for travel per influencer.” This trip is without a doubt one with a hefty price tag.
Content creator and brand collaboration coach Kahlea Nicole Wade brings up a counter argument for the backlash, saying, “People are like ‘Oh this isn’t relatable,’ but what makes influencers, influencers are that they influence and inspire you to live a certain lifestyle.”
Another aspect of the trip that has had TikTok users vocalizing their issues with is the seeming lack of diversity on these brand trips. Beauty and lifestyle influencer Monet McMichael, 23-year-old Afro-Latina from South Jersey seemed to be one of the only people of color on the trip. Despite inviting Monet and a few other women of color on the trip, the overall lack of diversity and inclusion is disheartening to many.
All in all, Tarte’s 2023 brand trip undoubtedly has caught attention, speculation, and controversy over the past few weeks. Whether you agree Tarte should’ve gone through with the trip in the socioeconomic climate we are in now or not, one thing is certain- these lavish trips seem to always attract curiosity and conversation. It will be interesting to see how this trip’s media coverage will affect Tarte’s brand trips moving forward.