Tarte BB Tinted Treatment Primer Review & Swatches

Tarte BB Tinted Treatment Primer ($36 at Sephora) is a product that I stumbled upon by accident but I've been absolutely loving it and had to share my thoughts on it with you guys! Before I went on vacation, I was in Sephora picking up some travel sizes of my favorite hair products, mascara, etc. and I saw this in the bins by the register (those things are a major weakness of mine). It intrigued me because it said that it was a BB Primer not a BB Cream...usually BB Creams aren't enough coverage for me but I figured that since this is a primer, I can layer my foundation over it if it doesn't provide enough coverage. Turns out, I didn't even need to because this stuff has some great coverage all it's own! Let's take a look...

Tarte BB Tinted Primer in Light

I purchased the travel size at first, which is $14 and only comes in two shades, Light & Medium. The full size comes in Fair, Light, Medium, Medium-Tan & Tan-Deep. If you're on the fence about trying this (and your skin tone falls into the Light or Medium category) the travel size lasts several weeks and is a good way to try it before investing $36 on the full size.

The BB Tinted Treatment Primer offers broad spectrum SPF 30 and claims to be a 12-hour primer, oil-free moisturizer, pore minimizer, and skin brightener. It's meant to be used either on it's own, or layered under foundation like a normal primer. I honestly didn't think it would give much coverage at all but it easily gave me almost as much as a medium-coverage foundation! Since my vacation, I've been wearing only this and a little bit of IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye concealer under my eyes when I need it, and together they give me a totally flawless matte finish!

This primer has a soft, velvety mousse-like texture, similar to a mousse foundation, and it dries down to a powdery matte finish. I have dry skin but I can actually use this without it clinging to dry patches or accentuating fine lines...but then again, it is summertime right now. It's possible that my skin won't get along with this formula in the winter, so I'll have to report back on it once the weather gets colder.
I like to just apply it with my fingers, which I always do with primers and it works great! It blends so easily and feels like butter going on. It also feels lightweight on the skin once it sets and gives a beautiful soft-focus finish.

I got a sample card with all five shades, so I thought I'd swatch them for you so that you can see what they look like.

Tarte BB Tinted Treatment Primer Swatches

Overall, I was really surprised by this one...in a good way! Lately I've been avoiding anything that says "BB" because I feel like they're usually just over-hyped tinted moisturizers. But this is completely different than anything I've used before in that it's both a primer and a medium coverage foundation in one. I definitely recommend you try it out if you get the chance!

You can see more reviews and purchase Tarte's BB Tinted Treatment Primer at Sephora and Ulta.