diff --git a/lib/Test2/API.pm b/lib/Test2/API.pm
index 3f7b79b79..68d5dc676 100644
--- a/lib/Test2/API.pm
+++ b/lib/Test2/API.pm
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ use strict;
 use warnings;
 
 use Time::HiRes qw/time/;
-use Test2::Util qw/USE_THREADS/;
+use Test2::Util qw/USE_THREADS _env_get/;
 
 BEGIN {
     $ENV{TEST_ACTIVE} ||= 1;
@@ -287,7 +287,8 @@ sub test2_ipc_get_timeout     { $INST->ipc_timeout() }
 sub test2_ipc_enable_shm      { 0 }
 
 sub test2_formatter     {
-    if ($ENV{T2_FORMATTER} && $ENV{T2_FORMATTER} =~ m/^(\+)?(.*)$/) {
+    my $env_var = _env_get('T2_FORMATTER', '');
+    if ($env_var =~ m/^(\+)?(.+)$/) {
         my $formatter = $1 ? $2 : "Test2::Formatter::$2";
         my $file = pkg_to_file($formatter);
         require $file;
diff --git a/lib/Test2/API/Instance.pm b/lib/Test2/API/Instance.pm
index 39924fb3a..678366620 100644
--- a/lib/Test2/API/Instance.pm
+++ b/lib/Test2/API/Instance.pm
@@ -163,10 +163,10 @@ sub _finalize {
 
     unless ($self->{+FORMATTER}) {
         my ($formatter, $source);
-        if ($ENV{T2_FORMATTER}) {
+        if (my $env_val = _env_get('T2_FORMATTER')) {
             $source = "set by the 'T2_FORMATTER' environment variable";
 
-            if ($ENV{T2_FORMATTER} =~ m/^(\+)?(.*)$/) {
+            if ($env_val =~ m/^(\+)?(.+)$/) {
                 $formatter = $1 ? $2 : "Test2::Formatter::$2"
             }
             else {
@@ -177,7 +177,8 @@ sub _finalize {
             ($formatter) = @{$self->{+FORMATTERS}};
             $source = "Most recently added";
         }
-        else {
+
+        if (!$formatter) {
             $formatter = 'Test2::Formatter::TAP';
             $source    = 'default formatter';
         }