Maureen Kelly started Tarte from a one-bedroom apartment, and the Tarte CC tinted serum is her newest answer to what a complexion product can be. Here it is next to the skin tints and tinted moisturizers people actually reach for.
Tarte CC Tinted Serum: Maureen Kelly's Newest Complexion Product
Maureen Kelly founded Tarte in 1999 from her one-bedroom New York apartment, after leaving a clinical psychology PhD program at Columbia. Her first product was a cheek stain, and she has said she began the brand because of her own cystic acne, wanting makeup that was good for skin and worked. Since then she has kept turning up with formats nobody asked for and then everybody wanted, like Shape Tape concealer in 2016. The Tarte CC tinted serum is the newest of them. Launched in 2026, it is built on what Tarte calls adaptisphere, encapsulated pigments that shift as you blend, so six shades are meant to flex across a wide range of skin tones. Tarte says it is a category of its own and not a foundation. It is a color-correcting tinted serum with a clay complex, maracuja oil, niacinamide and peptides. I like a brand that will name a new category and then explain its work. Grid one is the Tarte lineup, built around the serum, with a corrector, a matte SPF moisturizer and a concealer beside it.
How the tint is meant to be worn
The second grid is the sheer end of the market, the products people reach for when they want to look like themselves on a good day. Ilia began in a Vancouver garage and pairs its skin tint with mineral SPF 40. Fenty Beauty launched in September 2017 with foundation in 40 shades, and Eaze Drop is its lighter, blurring take. Saie, founded by former Estée Lauder employee Laney Crowell, gives you a tinted moisturizer with zinc and hyaluronic acid. Hourglass was founded in 2004 by Carisa Janes, and Veil is a hydrating tint with sheer coverage. My test for any of these is simple. Dab a little on the cheek and leave the rest of the face bare, then look at it in daylight after ten minutes. The right one should look like skin, not like a layer sitting on top of it.
Skin-first, from smaller labels
Grid three comes from smaller labels that treat makeup as skincare first. Kosas was founded in Los Angeles in 2015 by Sheena Yaitanes, who started at her kitchen table, and its gel cream adds copper peptides to a light gel cream. Counter offers a sheer, lotion-like tint with SPF 20 and a soft vanilla scent. U Beauty gives you a tinted hydrator, and Carte Blanche folds mineral SPF 35 and brightening actives into one sheer step. What I would skip is applying any of these with a heavy brush or a damp sponge over a layer of cream that has not sunk in. The formulas are light, and they pill or slide when the skin underneath is still slick. Give your moisturizer a few minutes, then blend with clean fingers.
Blend it in with bare fingers
The serum wants fingers, and honestly so do most of the products here. Warm a small amount on the back of your hand, press it into the skin, and give it a minute or two to show its final shade. Then decide if you need more. If you are choosing one, choose the texture you will happily wear on a Tuesday morning, because a complexion product is only good if you use it. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Tarte BB Blur Tinted Moisturizer and the Complexion Lineup Around It and Tarte Lip Gloss and the Maracuja Juicy Lip Lineup.
