{"id":646196,"date":"2026-08-19T22:21:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T22:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/646196\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T22:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T22:21:14","slug":"everything-we-know-about-tarte-cosmetics-snatch-stick-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/646196\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything We Know About Tarte Cosmetics\u2019 Snatch Stick Drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n Photo-Illustration: By The Cut; Photos: Getty Images, Tarte\n <\/p>\n

Can a makeup product give you an upper blepharoplasty, nose job, lip flip, and jaw-lift? Tarte Cosmetics seems to think so (or is just trying to rage-bait people in order to get more attention for its latest product). The makeup brand, which is no stranger to controversy, has released the Snatch Stick. To promote the launch, Tarte has dispatched both plastic-surgery-related mailers and \u201cambulances\u201d to influencers, and the brand is getting exactly what it\u2019s after: buzz.<\/p>\n

The product is essentially a crayonlike contour stick with a brush attached on the other end. It comes in five shades and is meant to be used all over the face to \u201cget snatched in seconds for an instant face lift effect, no needles required,\u201d according to the brand\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The plastic-surgery-themed mailers that were gifted to creators were plastered with images of syringes, tweezers, and scissors. The box included two shades of the Snatch Stick as well as an image of the influencer \u2014 allegedly pulled from their social-media pages \u2014 with dashed lines along features like their foreheads, noses, and jawlines. The lines resembled the markings surgeons often draw on patients before plastic-surgery procedures. According to TikTok creator Maria Helen Rue<\/a>, her package also came with a \u201cprescription\u201d for an upper blepharoplasty, rhinoplasty, jaw-lift, and Botox. She went on to say that it was as if Tarte were suggesting that while she needed to undergo those surgeries, she no longer had to thanks to the brand\u2019s new product. \u201cAm I the only one that finds this disturbing?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

There were those who felt like Rue and thought the plastic-surgery imagery was inappropriate for a makeup campaign. Raven<\/a>, another creator, expressed her disbelief that the mailer survived the approval process, and she was dismayed to see plastic-surgery markings on herself \u2014 let alone on the particular photo the brand chose. When that picture was taken, \u201cI had been trying to get myself out of a rut, and that was one of the days where I felt like I looked absolutely amazing,\u201d she told The Cut. \u201cSo to see that they used that photo was just like, dude, come on. Really?\u201d (A spokesperson for the brand wrote, \u201cThe markings were not personalized based on anyone\u2019s face or individual features; they were intended to demonstrate how to use the product.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there were plenty of people declaring loud and clear that they were not offended. Content creator Kelsey Martinez<\/a> didn\u2019t realize that the campaign could be insulting until she went online. \u201cI actually thought it was giving the message that you don\u2019t need surgery, you don\u2019t need Botox, and you can play with makeup and create the same effect,\u201d she told The Cut. \u201cI thought it was a really funny, unique take on a contour stick.\u201d Influencer Rachel Carlisle played into the theme, opening her video<\/a> about the product by saying, \u201cNose job reveal\u201d and taking off a surgical head wrap. And influencer Danielle Elliott declared in a video<\/a> that she didn\u2019t \u201cthink that there is anything wrong with this PR package. As a makeup artist, the only thing I saw when opening up this PR package was a brand showing you where your contour should be placed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brand also sent ambulances that it turned into \u201cglambulances\u201d to influencers\u2019 homes in Los Angeles and New York. The vehicles, designed to address \u201csnatch emergencies,\u201d featured decals of the product and an image of a woman in a surgical head wrap. Inside, creators were asked to lie down on gurneys as makeup artists dressed like medical professionals \u201csnatched\u201d the influencers\u2019 features using the contour stick.<\/p>\n

Reactions were mixed for the ambulance as well; the influencers who posted about their personal glambulance visits seemed more than happy to receive their \u201cconsultations.\u201d \u201cSnatch me up, girl,\u201d said creator Natalie King<\/a> in a TikTok about the experience. She was sent home with some \u201cpost-op care\u201d (a makeup bag full of Tarte products) and ended the video by showing off her results. Influencer Naeche<\/a> gushed in her TikTok that \u201cthis was the best doctor\u2019s visit I\u2019ve had in a while.\u201d Martinez, who received a mailer but didn\u2019t experience the glambulance, told The Cut, \u201cI thought it was a cute way to go and visit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others on the platform were not so pleased. Laura Capon<\/a>, a beauty journalist, said that the glambulance was making little of the actual situations in which people need ambulances \u2014 not to mention the extreme cost and privilege of using one. \u201cI\u2019ve been in an ambulance with my mum when she\u2019s having chemotherapy,\u201d she said. \u201cI have watched an ambulance when my dad\u2019s been in it and not knowing if my dad was dead or alive.\u201d (A Tarte spokesperson wrote, \u201cThe vehicles used were retired ambulances that were no longer in emergency service; no active ambulances or medical resources were taken out of service for the campaign.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Two days before the launch but after the product went viral, Tarte Cosmetics CEO Maureen Kelly doubled down on the campaign in an Instagram video<\/a>, sharing that it was following her \u201cplaybook\u201d for virality. Steps included creating a \u201cscroll-stopping teaser\u201d and a \u201ccrazy PR delivery.\u201d She added that \u201cour creative strategy is to own the \u2018plastic surgeon in a stick\u2019 positioning. Every concept turns the idea of skipping the needles into a viral moment that immediately communicates the product benefit in a very fun, shareable way.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement to The Cut, Tarte Cosmetics said that the campaign was not about encouraging plastic surgery. \u201cThe campaign\u2019s references to cosmetic procedures were a playful way to highlight what contour can do with makeup in a completely temporary, non-invasive way,\u201d the brand said. \u201cThey were never intended to suggest that anyone needs to change their appearance or pursue cosmetic procedures to feel beautiful. We believe makeup is about choice, creativity and self-expression, whether that means a full contour, a little concealer or no makeup at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brand also reported to Modern Retail that it sold 2.4 times the number of Snatch Sticks than expected, and 65 percent of the first round of inventory was gone in that first week. For 42 percent of those customers, it was the first Tarte product that they had ever bought. With those numbers, it doesn\u2019t appear that Tarte\u2019s marketing M.O. will be going under the knife anytime soon.<\/p>\n

The Cut has reached out to Tarte Cosmetics for comment.<\/p>\n

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