Tarte emails a birthday gift or discount code on your actual birthday, and it is available at every VIP tier. You must be logged in to apply the code at checkout, which is the step people miss.
What Tarte Is
Tarte Cosmetics is an American makeup brand built around what it calls high-performance naturals, known for Shape Tape concealer, Amazonian Clay foundation and its lip and cheek products. It sells online, through Sephora and Ulta, and through its own site. Tarte and Tarte Cosmetics are the same company.
The Terms
The gift or discount code is emailed on your actual birthday, not at the start of the month, and it is available across the Silver, Gold and Platinum VIP tiers.
Every tier qualifying is the good part. It puts Tarte alongside Origins and Kiehl’s rather than in the tier-gated group with MAC.
The Logged-In Requirement
You must be logged in for the code to apply at checkout.
That sounds trivial and it is the single most common way these codes fail. Guest checkout is faster, most people use it by habit, and a birthday code entered as a guest will simply be rejected without explaining why.
Log in first, then apply the code, then check the discount has actually come off the total before paying.
Timing On The Day Itself
Because the email arrives on the birthday rather than in advance, there is no benefit to watching for it early, and no month-boundary deadline to beat of the kind Morphe and Bobbi Brown set.
The requirement is simply that your birthdate is saved in the account before the day. Add it once and it holds for every future year.
Codes Versus Items, And Why It Matters
Across this month’s beauty lineup the rewards split cleanly. Some brands give an item you can collect: Bath and Body Works up to a dollar value, Kiehl’s a lip balm. Others give a code or discount applied to an order: Origins, Bobbi Brown and Tarte. Charlotte Tilbury’s gift also comes with an order.
An item costs you nothing. A code means you are placing an order, which is fine if you were buying anyway and much less exciting if you were not. Neither is better in the abstract, but knowing which kind you are getting stops the disappointment at checkout.
One Brand, Two Names
Tarte and Tarte Cosmetics are the same company, Tarte Cosmetics being the full legal name. That means there’s only one birthday program to look for, not two.
Q&A
Q: Which tiers get it?
A: All of them, Silver through Platinum.
Q: When does it arrive?
A: By email on your actual birthday.
Q: My code will not apply.
A: Check you are logged in. It will not work at guest checkout.
Q: Is there an advance deadline?
A: None published beyond having your birthdate on file.
Compare This To
IT Cosmetics and bareMinerals are the closest comparisons in this batch, and Bath and Body Works gives a free item rather than a code.
To see where Tarte stands next to the others in its group, our guide to birthday beauty freebies puts them side by side.
More Information:
Verified against the Tarte VIP loyalty program terms and conditions, read first-party.
