Fenty Beauty -- Where Have Thou Been?

On September 8, pop queen Rihanna launched her first makeup line, Fenty Beauty. The beauty industry was amazed and millions of people across the world waited anxiously to order on the website while Sephora had lines out the door. Fenty Beauty, dropped with 40 foundation shades along with several contour and highlight sticks, a single universal lipgloss, along with multiple highlight shades including the overly anticipated "Trophy Wife." According to thousands of reviews from beauty influencers and makeup fanatics alike, Fenty Beauty is a diverse and authentic line that beats other competitors who have been in the industry for decades due to it's affordable price point as well as its sophisticated quality that one may have not imagined possible for a first launch. Unfortunately, there were still many people who weren't appeased by Rihanna's efforts in the community.

It's no secret that being a minority in the beauty community can be a real hassle. Many men and women struggle to find adequate color matches in products including deeper foundation shades, lip products that appear the same on all skin complexions, and even contour/highlight shades that can correlate with various yellow and red undertones that many minorities tend to have. Women and men in black and brown cultures often have difficulties finding products that work well and match with their chocolatey skin. Individuals with the deepest complexions struggle the most as expensive brands such as MAC, Too Faced, Nars, and Marc Jacobs don't cater to them. Oddly enough, minority women hold the largest buying power and much of that money is spent on cosmetics and skin care products compared to other races.

Fenty Beauty is one of the first and only cosmetics lines that cater to individuals with a multitude of undertones in shades in regards to foundation. Still, there were many people in the brown and black communities who felt that Rihanna should have had more shades for people of color, especially with her being a Black women. Well, those people should probably sit down, be humble, and be grateful.


There are currently over 50 cosmetics brands in the United States alone. A great majority of them don't focus on the minority demographic and leave women of color out of the beauty world (but what else is new). Rihanna made a profound effort to create 40 shades, which isn't a simple task. Brands who have been in the cosmetic industry for several years haven't been able to achieve this goal and people are expecting the pop star to get it perfect on the first attempt. It seems as though women in  black and brown communities would be praising and uplifting her for at least attempting to support them and their needs. Rihanna made a significant impact on the beauty world and I commend her efforts. Unfortunately, you can't please everybody, but hopefully all of the positive feedback of Fenty Beauty will continue to push Rihanna and her team to create more amazing products.