Well that’s a mouth full, isn’t it?

I got a sample of Tarte BB Tinted Treatment 12-Hour Primer with my last Sephora order.  I’m so pale that usually when I get a sample card of foundation stuff, I chuck it immediately; however, when I glanced at this, I noticed the “fair” shade was actually pretty fair.  I did just glance at the card, though, and I mistakenly thought this was a typical BB cream.  So, I sat down to do my makeup with this and just went a-slappin’ this all over my face.

As I’m applying this, I’m thinking, “Uh.  What.  This feels like a primer.  With silicone.  And silica.  And it feels WEIRD.  What…….the…………HECK?” Yet, it has color to it.  The fair color oddly matches my skin tone, which is around a MAC N10 or NW10, which is crazy because that never happens.  The strange thing about it is that Tarte claims you can wear this alone as a BB cream/tinted moisturizer type thing, or under foundation.  I’m here to tell you that as a BB cream or tinted moisturizer, it has basically no coverage and a completely weird finish.  I did attempt to wear this by itself with just a bit of concealer (NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer) and the lame thing about that was, it didn’t play nice with the concealer…I feel like primers are supposed to make blending easier, but this made it harder to move the product around.  ANYWAY, as I was applying it, I looked at the sample card a little better and was like, “OHHHHH, you can use this as a primer, too.”  But the other thing about this primer is, it didn’t really seem to fill pores or blur fine lines, so I’m not sure why I would.  My Tarte Clean Slate Poreless primer does that in spades!

This product also has an SPF of 30 and the sample size has about the amount you would need for a full face to get that SPF…except there’s no way you could use that full amount without being a hot mess.  So, you’re not going to get the full amount of sun protection claimed when using this product.  You’re about to see where I’m going with this, but first, let’s see what the claims are on the Sephora website:

Indulge your skin with this powerful multitasker that works as a primer, moisturizer, light foundation, antiaging treatment, and sunscreen to give you a youthful-looking glow. Worn alone or as the perfect base for makeup, this 12-hour, age-defying, oil-free primer offers light-to-medium, buildable coverage that helps even skintone and other skin imperfections while diffusing light to minimize the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and pores. The creamy, silky formula goes on smooth and blends easily, leaving you with a natural-looking, flawless finish with a broad-spectrum, chemical-free SPF 30 that offers ideal protection from the sun’s harmful UVA/UVB rays.

What else you need to know:
Beauty Balms or BB Creams were originally developed as a perfect post-procedure cream used to treat, hydrate, prime, protect, and camouflage the skin. Great for all skin types including those with sensitive skin, these versatile “five-in-one” formulas are designed to do it all: treat with high levels of active skincare ingredients; moisturize and smooth dehydrated skin; prime and perfect skin’s surface; camouflage and color correct the skintone; and protect skin from the sun with SPF. They can be used as a last step for their skincare benefits or used on their own as an instant beautifier.

This product is powered by tripleB complex, a proprietary blend of natural diamond dust, plants, and lipoamino acids that diffuses light and minimizes the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and pores while improving the appearance of skin luminosity.

Research results:
In a consumer panel study:
– 100% of women immediately saw an improvement in the surface texture of skin for smoother makeup application
– 97% of women saw and felt smoother, softer skin
– 91% of women said fine lines appeared minimized
– 94% of women said pores appeared less visible after 4 weeks

Pretty hefty claims for a primer!

In conclusion, basically I have a beef with BB creams in general that are trying to be all things at once, and that is that they usually fail to do any of those things well.  Skipping steps may seem faster, but you’re going to lose out in the end – lose out on sun protection, coverage, the actual function of a good primer, and the skin care benefits you’d get from a great skin care regimen.  Products that claim to “do it all” rarely can.  Since this is a first impression, I cannot speak to the results over time, but I can say that it did not blur fine lines or fill pores and it did not hydrate my skin and I was not able to use enough to get good sun protection and the coverage was slim to none.  I have yet to try it underneath a foundation, but I can tell from the consistency I probably don’t need to…no need to fix what isn’t broken.  I’ll stick with my great skincare (including antioxidant serum, high SPF, and a badass primer) and take that extra 5 minutes to use seperate products rather than trying to use one product that’s trying to be all things.

For reference, here’s me wearing the product just after applying.  It’s hard to tell about the coverage, because I did go in and spot conceal because I just couldn’t stand it, LOL!  It didn’t really control oil and I did have to blot after about 2 hours.

Your mileage may vary with this one, but I’m going to say DEFINITELY get a sample before shelling out $36 for 1 ounce!

Have any of you found an all-in-one product like this that actually works for you?