Dark-Skinned + The Makeup World…
The Struggles of Having Dark Skin in the Makeup World
~ By Mariam Sikiru, Teen Blogger
The makeup industry is starting to become diverse, but how much of the makeup industry is changing. Every Year black women spend 7.5 billion dollars on beauty products and that number continues to grow. The beauty industry is valued at $532 billion and In the U.S the cosmetics industry made 93.5 billion dollars in 2019. African Americans have a 1.7 trillion spending power but, have no representation in the fields they spend their money in. In the makeup industry, it’s hard for dark skin women to be able to find makeup that matches them, they often have to mix two shades or use contour as a foundation.
A story that hit home was when an influencer named @okaysophi talked about having to use black eyeshadow or black eyeliner to contour her face for some time. But, after the release of Fenty beauty’s new contour stick called “caviar,” she found her shade of contour and has been using it ever since.
These success stories are made possible due to brands being inclusive and not putting the same three “medium-dark shades” for a group of people who should be boxed into 3 shades. The majority of the time those shades have warm, or orange undertones making it very hard for black women to even use them. It turns their skin ashy and sometimes pale white. Many brands started to become inclusive after the successful launch of Fenty Beauty, starting with 40 Foundation shades and developed 10 more shades. Rihanna set the tone for the makeup industry and many began to follow suit.
(Nyma Tang, Tenor.com)
Some Influencers that shed light on the discrimination and the lack of diversity are Jackie Aina, Nyma Tang, Shanygne is also known as Ya Girl Too Much, and many more people who don’t revise recognition.
Here is a list of 10 Brands that are very inclusive and have shades for darker skin toned women.
- Fenty Beauty – https://www.fentybeauty.com/
- UOMA Beauty – https://uomabeauty.com/
- Flesh Beauty – https://www.fleshbeauty.com/
- NARS – https://www.narscosmetics.com/
- Beauty Bakerie – https://www.beautybakerie.com/
(Mariam Sikiru, Photo by E.J. White)
- Anastasia Beverly Hills – https://www.anastasiabeverlyhills.com/
- Too Faced – https://www.toofaced.com/
- Mac Cosmetics – https://www.maccosmetics.com/
- Elf Cosmetics – https://www.elfcosmetics.com/
- Revolution Beauty –https://www.revolutionbeauty.com/us/us/home
It’s 2020, put your money where your mouth is, don’t spend your money on brands that don’t support you nor the values that you hold.
~ Mariam Sikiru, Teen Blogger
