Back when Mac was the only accessible makeup brand for dark skin tones, it was normal for drug store brands to only have a handful of foundation shades, mostly in the pale-medium range, with one dark shade for black people, two if the brand was adventurous. Nowadays, the makeup market is oversaturated with products that do the same things, and yet, inclusive shade ranges are easier to find online than in stores.
Once Fenty Beauty dropped their 25-shade range that included foundations for the lightest and darkest skin tones, beauty brands started to catch on that black people wear makeup too and should be able to go to the store and get a shade that fits them. For a while, the releases felt gimmicky, like Beauty Blender’s 100 foundation shades release that seemingly just wanted to ride that hype train and say they had 100 shades available. That release felt ingenuine and like a mockery of black people who were asking for the bare minimum. Now we’re back to before, where new releases’ darkest shades don’t even work for popular dark skin makeup influencers like Nyma Tang and Golloria.
While all brands should have shades for every skin tone, brands in makeup stores in particular should have a shade for every person who could potentially show interest in the brand. Of course, shopping online is an option for many, but it’s more difficult to shade match online, it’s unfair to have to pay for shipping when there’s a drugstore right down the road, and the time in between purchasing and receiving the product depends on where the product is being distributed from. These factors don’t affect someone who can walk into a store and pick up a shade that same day, and everyone should benefit from the convenience of convenience stores, even those with dark skin tones.
