A makeup company with products available at Ulta Beauty released a deep black foundation shade after Black beauty gurus said its initial shade range wasn’t inclusive to darker complexions.
But now the brand, Youthforia, faces backlash after some Black beauty creators said the new dark shade was reminiscent of black face paint.
Golloria George, a Black beauty creator with over 1.4 million TikTok followers, first reviewed Youthforia’s Date Night Skin Tint Serum late last year after the brand released 15 shades. She complained that the original set of shades didn’t match her skin and wasn’t inclusive enough.
After a wave of backlash, the company released 10 more shades, including the darkest, “600.” George reviewed Youthforia’s new darkest shade Monday. In the video, she put jet-black face paint on one cheek and the Youthforia foundation on the other. They looked almost identical.
“When we say that we want you guys to make shades for us, we don’t mean to go to the lab and ask for minstrel show black,” George said in the video. “What we mean is to take the browns that you have made, create undertones and do what you need to do in the lab so it’s a darker shade of brown.” Her review has been liked over 1 million times on TikTok.
Last year, after the original complaints that its shades weren’t inclusive enough emerged, Youthforia CEO Fiona Co Chan apologized, saying, “When I first started Youthforia two years ago, all I wanted to do was create a safe space where individual beauty could be celebrated. And unfortunately with our latest launch, we just fell short of that mission.” Youthforia didn’t respond to a request for comment about the new “600” shade. Ulta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an interview, George said the new black shade “feels like a slap in the face” and “sets the tone” for what’s acceptable in the industry.
“I feel like the beauty industry itself has taken a step backward,”…
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