Rihanna x Fenty Beauty may be on to something here.
The Fenty Beauty team kept the line top secret until days before its launch in Sephora on September 8th. Promotional videos boasted of Fenty Beauty’s mission to strive for inclusivity amongst women of all shades. Rihanna also spoke about how important it was for her to make sure all women were included in this launch. The first installment (of many hopefully) includes 40 shades of foundation, virtually a color for everyone. That’s almost unheard of in a first time around launch for a brand.
I recently went to Sephora (again) to find my foundation shade to no avail. I was a tad bit disappointed but later happy when I understood why. Sephora stores are having a bit of trouble keeping up with the demand for the darker shades in the FB range. However, this raises an even more important point. When makeup brands make makeup shades for women of color, they buy!
Cred. Glamour
Women of color (specifically darker skinned women) don’t purchase makeup nearly as often as their fairer skinned counterparts do .- The Beauty Industry
This has been the lie myth that makeup brands have been trying to feed to us for decades. Even with economic stats proving otherwise, big beauty brands have taken it upon themselves to exclude women of color from their shades ranges due to “a lack of demand” .
The rise of social media influence in the beauty industry has debunked and turned this myth on its rearend. It’s a proven fact that women of color spend 70% more on beauty than any other race. However, options available to us have been very limited. Many prominent figures in the makeup world have called brands out on these false accusations, pleading with brands to get their stuff together.
Recently, beauty guru and my personal favorite Jackie Aina announced that she would be working with Too Faced to extend the shade range in their Born This Way foundation line. This particular brand and product has gained popularity via social media but has been often called out for lack of inclusivity.
Youtuber, Nyma Tang, often puts various brands shade ranges to the test on her channel. Nyma knows how it feels to be shut out by a brand based on her complexion. She wishes to change and address these issues through her platform.
In less than a week, Fenty Beauty has pretty much silently called out all the brands that don’t see the value in creating cosmetics for deeper skin women. At this point, I’m not sure what else would need to happen in order for the beauty industry to answer this wakeup call.
With the success of the Fenty beauty launch, do you think big beauty brands will finally get the memo?
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